** Countdown to our adoption: Only 21 hours left before we get Matthew. **
BEIJING, China (Monday, Dec. 8, 2008, 5:30 p.m.) – After a briefing with folks at the Holt International Children’s Services office in Beijing earlier today, Pam and I are now ready to begin the most important leg of our adoption journey.
We learned a little more about the China adoption program and about Matthew, our son whom we will meet Tuesday shortly after we arrive in Zhengzhou (pronounced “cheng chow”), the capital of Henan province.
While we still don’t know many details – such as how Matthew was abandoned, where he was found and how he wound up in an orphanage – we do know several important things.
Matthew is apparently an active, little boy. He loves to play with toy cars and balls. He loves to eat snacks. He likes to play with rubber ducks when taking a bath. And he has an infectious smile.
Matthew has been staying in a group foster home in Beijing and is expected to take the overnight train from here to Zhengzhou, a 10-hour trip during which he’ll be able to sleep.
He will be traveling with his caregiver, whom we likely will meet at the Civil Affairs office in Zhengzhou. And, one more thing, our meeting time has moved up Tuesday from 3 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. (or 12:30 a.m. Central Daylight Time).
Besides four recent photos of our son that Holt provided us today (and I posted with this entry), we don’t know much more than that.
Chinese adoptions
Much has been written about the plight of orphans in China, but it looks like at least since our last visit to this country in March and April 2006 practices and philosophies here have changed.
With more Chinese people well off and able to care for children, many are adopting domestically than ever before. Consequently, the China program has had fewer healthy children available for international adoption.
When Pam and I chose to adopt Camryn in September 2004, we waited a year and a half before we traveled to China. We liked the program so much, we decided to adopt again and began official paperwork in fall 2006.
Unfortunately for us and many other Americans hoping to adopt from China, the program started to significantly slow down and wait times for children in the normal process lengthened considerably.
We were eying a 30-month or longer wait.
That’s when we decided to look into the special needs program. And because we were willing to consider a young boy, Holt told us in April of this year that we could be matched with a child relatively quick.
Our match came in June when Holt told us about Matthew. His special need: He has a club foot that was repaired in China and that our own pediatrician said is something doctors in the United States can easily manage.
Final night
Now, some six months later, Pam and I are in Beijing for one last night – the last night of the first leg of our trip – and are less than 24 hours away from meeting our son.
Our flight to leaves Beijing airport at about 10:30 a.m. and arrives in Zhengzhou at 11:50 a.m.; after we check into our room at the Crowne Plaza, we’ll head to the Civil Affairs office to get Matthew.
Then the paperwork begins as we complete the formal adoption on Wednesday and then fly to Guangzhou on Friday to begin work on Matthew’s visa to enter the United States.
It’s been a long journey for me and my wife – one that began May 15, 1999, when we married at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Madison and one that will continue long after this trip to China ends Dec. 18 with our return home.
But we won’t do it alone. We have our faith, our families, each other – and, now, two small children to remind us about the importance of love and life.
Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.
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