Waiting

We are at the point now where we have finished most of the paperwork we can do right now.  We have a few miscellaneous things to gather for our dossier, but nothing like the intense, time-consuming forms we have been overwhelmed with over the past few weeks.  So now we are waiting . . . waiting for our FBI fingerprint appointment, waiting for passports to arrive, waiting to see how successful all our fundraisers will be, etc.

This is when it gets harder.  Even though the paperwork was tedious and frustrating, at least we were DOING something.  Something that gets us closer to bringing Kellin home.

As hard as the waiting is for us, I imagine it's worse for Kellin.  For those of you who don't know his whole story, here is is: Kellin was found abandoned in some weeds along a road as a newborn.  He was estimated to be about three days old at that time and was diagnosed with anophthalmia (no eyes, or eyes that did not fully develop).  He is blind.  He spent his first nine months or so in an orphanage before he was fortunate enough to be moved into the care of a wonderful foster care organization that specializes in caring for and teaching children with visual impairments.  I have been lucky enough to be able to exchange emails with someone who knew him during this time.  When he first arrived at the foster care home, he was described as sad and skinny, but during the nine months (or so) that he was able to stay there, he became happy and chubby, and he learned to sit, crawl, and began to walk (with help) and make sounds.

When he was around a year and a half old, he was suddenly moved back to the orphanage.  The description of him that was posted several months later described him as unhappy and not making any developmental progress.  Then when we committed to adopting him, we were able to request an update.  We received a very brief update that said he is not talking but can babble a bit.  He sits but doesn't stand or walk.  He is scared of things and doesn't like to be touched.  His hearing is good.  His weight was reported as about 18 pounds (our youngest son who is the same age as Kellin weighs about 35 pounds).  Even more alarming is that when he left the foster care home at 18 months old, he was reported to weigh about 20 pounds.  So . . . Kellin is not doing well in his orphanage.  And he is stuck there until we come.  He is waiting in much less comfort than we are.  As hard as it is for us, it is nothing compared to Kellin's wait.

So we are working as hard as we can to shorten his wait.  We are pushing through paperwork.  We are fundraising.

As always, your prayers, thoughts, advocacy, and financial support is much appreciated!  Donations continue to come in and we are so thankful for our wonderful support network.