new pictures of Judd

I asked for you to pray for an update on Judd. Well someone did. Today we got four new pictures and a medical update from a contact at New Day Foster Homes, a place which we have thanked God for countless times. Here are the pictures and our thoughts about them...

Here is Judd obviously early on at New Day. Little dude. According to the reports, it looks like he was 6 pounds, 18 inches when born. Who knows how old he is here. Still, here he looks like the CCAA picture we received when matched. And have I complained on this blog about how often he is pictured wearing pink? Take a look and this and following pictures. Poor defenseless dude. Yet another reason he needs a daddy.

This is like the face we randomly found on New Day's site in January. Cute face, chubby cheeks. This is the face we have in our minds when we think of Judd. But that's not his face any more...

 

So Judd had surgery. We had no idea. They have repaired his cleft lip, which is usually done before 6 months of age. It is doubtful that his palate has been repaired since that surgery is usually done after a child is 1. But who knows. That is the big news of the day.

This doesn't look like the same kid. We've stared at this face all day. It's unbelievable how different he looks to us. Anne said that if she had seen him in a friend's picture taken in his orphanage (yes, we are stalkers who look at other blogs looking for our child; hey, it worked once before). But this is not the face we've had in our minds. One, his lip is fixed. Two, he's much older and bigger. Three, he has a mohawk. Hmm. And four, they keep dressing him in pink. Daddy's coming to help you Judd!

This is our little man, at least a few months ago. He's 17 months old right now, and it seems that he left New Day at a year old (we believe he is now in the main Hohhot orphange with Half the Sky). My guess is that he is just under a year old here. Total guess.

It's really amazing how different he looks. It's weird for us to have a picture in our head since we got the match in November, now to find out that he didn't even look like that in November. Who knows what he looks like now.

We had two pictures sent to us when matched, and they are now close to a year old. Then we found another small picture online. So, these four pictures more than doubled what we had before today. Strange to have a son who is seventeen months old and have only seven total pictures of him. Strange to know so little about him. Strange to think that you'd not recognize your son in a picture. But adoption is strange like that.

So here is Judd Longshan. This is our boy. Pink clothes, mohawk and all.

moving again

After our paperwork took a long winter’s nap on some Chinese desk, it has seemed to wake up and move again. About dang time. We had heard nothing since November, then a few weeks ago we got our LSC. Last week we got our USCIS (US Citizenship & Immigration Services) approval called the i800. We’ve also received an email from the National Visa Center that we are logged in, meaning our Visa paperwork (no, we’re not talking annual percentage rates, the embassy variety of Visas) should be ready this coming week. Our adoption agency even said we’d be on the next conference call to discuss travel plans. We also have several people generously donate money and are close to our goal. Things are thankfully moving again.

Last week I think it hit us that we are very near the end of this adoption process. Things are moving quickly again. We’ll likely be travelling in May, meaning we are counting in weeks. Soon, we’ll be counting days, not weeks. Soon after that, Judd will be here.

Honestly, the whole adoption process seems imaginary, especially when we heard nothing for months. There is supposedly this little boy on literally the other side of the globe in a place we’d never heard of. We know little about him compared to our boys here. It still seems unbelievable that he’s becoming part of our family. Sure, we daily talk about Judd. He is part of our lives and prayers already, but in a distant sense. Soon this kid won’t be distant. He will sleep in the room across the hall, play with his new brothers downstairs, and be part of our daily lives. That hit home this week. He is closer than he’s ever been. And we are excited.

So thanks for your prayers, encouragement and support. Our only concern is that we get another update soon on Judd, since most information we have on Judd is right at a year old. Pray for that if you think about it. The next steps are getting our NVC Approval and Article 5 letter. Then comes the Travel Approval from China, and travel arrangements begin. Things are thankfully moving again.