I’ve finally got around to collecting a few photos from recent (and not so recent) events. Apologies for my pace on this, April was a bit of a whirlwind; we’ve just had news, as I’m sure some of your children have told you, that our little boy, Jeremiah, has been matched with the family that will adopt him and be his parents forever.
Jeremiah has lived with us for most of the school year and looking after a baby has been a big part of our lives since knowing your child, we’ve obviously become very attached to him. We set out to foster a baby who needed help, not knowing how long it would be for, but knowing that we would not adopt the child, no matter what; there was a lot of soul searching along the way, and sticking to our original plan certainly proved difficult as we grew to love Jeremiah more each day. Watching Hannah and Mimi interact with a 3,6,9 and now 12 month old has been amazing, there is so much beauty in watching your little ones become the big ones, and we know they are a little confused about why we can’t ‘keep him’.
We so appreciated the care Mimi received from her foster family until the age of 13 ½ months, and wondered if we would ever have the resolve to do such a thing. Watching them hand her over to us over four years ago, was heart breaking, we felt like the bad guys, taking her from people who obviously loved her, people who had shared their life, their home, and even their bed with her since she was one month old, we couldn’t help but think there was something wrong with this picture. Then as days turned into weeks, and weeks to months, she became our daughter, and completed our family. I expect something similar will happen with Jeremiah and there are many factors that should make the transition easier for him, and for us:
1. He has been with Caucasians for most of his life, so his new family’s physical appearance won’t be as shocking for him as it might have been for Mimi, living in one of the poorest provinces of China, Guizhou.
2. He has spent time with his new family over the last two weeks, been in his new home, and visited with them.
3. Jeremiah knows English and Chinese, he knows some speak one language, and some the other.
Right now, knowing he is with us for 15 more hours… is very very difficult and I’ve told the kids to expect me in sunglasses the next couple of days…
So anyway, back to the photos, enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=109615
the barefoot librarian 