His Family Has Found Him...FINALLY!! and his name will be Joseph...

I deliberately chose to not update my blog about our own family for at least a month, hoping that by keeping the handsome boy with the huge, gorgeous smile at the top of my blog posts, somehow his family might find him.

Today it is with great happiness that I share that this child for whom I have thought about and prayed for daily for several months now, has a family who has submitted their Letter of Intent to adopt him. He will gain not only a mother and father, but two older brothers, AND....GET THIS...a 7 month old sister the family is also adopting on the same trip to China.

This is the original family I was in contact with a few months ago when they first saw his photo and read his information. It's amazing how within the China adoption community, two people who have never met in person can become friends. That is what has happened...I admire his new mother very much. As they contemplated this sweet boy she asked all the right questions, which I answered honestly, even when I am sure the answers were difficult to hear. Until you are experiencing something firsthand, it is hard to imagine what something will truly be like. I admire her thoroughness, and her unmoving belief that this little boy was supposed to be her son; she was supposed to be his mother. I remember that feeling very well myself!

I am so thrilled for this little boy, and his new family. I just know this is a family I will stay in contact with always, and as our two special boys grow older, I truly hope they will really know each other in person...

I cannot wait to follow this family's journey to China, to their new son and new daughter, later this summer!

He Needs A Family to Rock Him Too...

First of all, after my previous post ("Journey to a Family of Five") I want to clarify that we are not in the process of adopting the gorgeous little boy whose photo appears above. Sadly, we are not...And he does need a Forever Family!!

Today Aaron had a bit of a stomach bug. Really just the third time in just under a year that he has been ill at all (once about a month after getting home, he spiked a fever for a day which was some virus, one cold this winter, and this one day of a stomach bug), which is amazing because we were warned to expect him to be ill a lot this first year home due to never having been exposed to North American germs...well so far, even after starting preschool, he has done so well. In any case, he vomited once today, and after a bath and some pedialyte, took a 4 hour nap. Afterwards I was rocking him and singing to him (me, loving every moment of it) and he looked at me and said, "Mommy, in China no one rocked me and sang to me. I wish you had been there." (He went on to remind me they gave him candy in China. YES, I know, I wanted to say, You came to us with FOUR cavities...) I cannot imagine not having been rocked for the first 3 years of your life, but it is what it is - it is part of his history, and he gets rocked now by this one very lucky Mommy. However, his comment brought me to tears thinking of a very special little boy in China who needs a family of his own...a family to rock him, and love him, and give him everything a little boy should have...

The truth is, last year at this time if China already had the rule that you could adopt TWO children in one trip, and IF I had seen this little boy (pictured at the top of this post), I do believe we would have come home with two sons...both from Shenzen, both very similar... but that is not how things worked out (and of course the thought of having a 51 month old, 49 month old, and 48 month old makes my head spin....)

It is not my intention to turn this family blog of ours into an advocacy blog, and I am not going to start an advocacy blog of my own. I will continue to advocate for waiting children from China, on RQ and the China adoption Yahoo Groups I am part of. But this child...this boy with the most incredible smile...inside I just feel I must...What if this had been Aaron...what if I had never seen Aaron's photo?

This gorgeous little boy, with the largest most beautiful smile I've ever seen, just turned 4 years old. His DOB is February 23, 2007. He is living at the Social Welfare Centre of Longgang District in Shenzhen City. (This is not the same orphanage as Aaron's but is quite close to Aaron's.) Some of you may remember this little boy as "Bob" from the BAAS Special Focus List. He is now on my agency's Special Focus List, China Adoption With Love (CAWLI) If you or anyone you know is interested in reviewing his file, you can call 1-800-888-9812 and ask for Meg. She is the Waiting Child/Special Focus Coordinator. You can also email at info@cawli.org I normally just put "For Meg" in the subject line.
If anyone has any questions about CAWLI (we used them to adopt Aaron, and are using them again. As many of you know I am very, very picky about things. They have my highest recommendation!!!) If you have specific questions about this gorgeous little boy, please email me at nwalsh528@yahoo.com I am more than happy to answer ANY questions related to this little boy, his file, and CAWLI, and our experience with Aaron...
I posted more specific information about this little boy on the Advocate for WC: Advocate for Waiting Children Group and on RQ...
Also if you have an advocacy blog and you want to include information about this sweet boy on your blog, please email me at nwalsh528@yahoo.com and I can give you more information (SN) and send you the two photos to use on your blog (the photos on my blog are right click protected).