So much has happened since I last updated! The last 5 months have been an emotional roller-coaster unlike anything I could have prepared for. Still, we have survived it. Has it made us stronger? Maybe. Was it worth it? Nope. But, I'm not in control and that has never been clearer than it is now, so I guess that's a good take home lesson. I will give a condensed update to bring you up to speed with where we are now. (And, yes, there's a reason why I suddenly chose to update this today...)
-We moved back to the states and are expats no more! Central IA isn't quite as exotic or exciting as Germany, but it is good. The kids love their school, our neighborhood is fantastic, and more importantly, family is MUCH closer!! We are maybe 70% settled into our new house and that frustrates me, but it's a work in progress and I do make some progress every day (even if it isn't noticeable progress).
-Because of the move, we needed to update our home study. We needed to extend our USCIS approval anyways, so that update is free for the government to review. (Perhaps the only instance of timing being in our favor!) I found an amazing agency nearby that could do a home study update for less than half the price of a new home study! (Everyone else wanted to charge the same amount) Yay!!
-In getting ready to write up the update, our social worker noticed that our old home study had actually expired in March!! Yikes!!! Travelling to China with an expired home study is a major no-no, but we honestly had no idea it had expired! Unfortunately, that meant she would have to do a complete home study, which meant more paperwork, more time, and more money. She worked with us and we were caught up in no time! She drops it off tomorrow evening and we can mail it in to USCIS on Thursday ahead of schedule!
-As a birthday surprise, I saw LuZao get listed again with a new agency. She was even wearing the dress that we sent her, the same dress she was wearing on our Gotcha Day! Her hair was in 2 pigtails with the same holders she had when we first laid eyes on her. She looked exactly the same as I remember her looking! This was bittersweet. The sweet part is that I know she must be doing much better to be eligible for adoption again! (Clearly, she made it out of the hospital!!) The bitter part is that her special need was still listed as "cortical blindness" and there was NO mention of any mental health problems! I immediately contacted the agency she is listed with and told them everything I could about her, sent a short video, shared pictures. I don't want to scare a family away, but I do want them to be prepared so that history doesn't repeat itself! The agency apparently did receive an update from her orphanage a few days later (possibly on account of me getting a ton of people involved but I don't know) and they added the diagnosis of "autism" to her file. I am now satisfied that 1) her family will be properly informed and 2) we now know her official diagnosis so we can have peace that we did make the right decision.
-Now for the reason I am posting this today, exactly 5 months after our first "Gotcha Day". I received a phone call from my agency today. (You know what that means, right?!) They just received 2 referrals from a newer partner orphanage and she said that one of them just might be our one. Yay!! I won't give any details until we have had a chance to have her file reviewed by a doctor and until we have decided one way or another, but I am cautiously optimistic. :-)
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