Last minute piece of good news...

We are finishing up packing, printing all the papers that we need to bring with us, running through old to-do lists, and generally running around being a little crazy.  In the midst of all of the last bits of preparation, we got a wonderful piece of news.
The background on this news is that a few months ago, we sent a fruit party for the orphanage and a "forever family" gift for Jaden.  Usually when someone orders a package like that, the orphanage sends a few pictures to assure the gift-giver that it was all received.   We were told that he was going to have a party in December and that they would try to send pictures then.  Well it is, of course, January and we had never heard back and so I sent a follow up letter just asking if he had ever had his party.

This is what I got in response:

Hi Tracy, Can't believe you will be in China next week! So happy for you! We called the orphanage yesterday, the director knew you would visit them during your stay, they were excited.
They had a party for Jaden and took pictures for you. However, the staff in charge was in her biz trip, she will be back in a few days, we could only get the picture by then. The director said since you were going to visit the orphanage, it would be easier to use flash drive to download it directly, besides there are MANY other pictures of Jaden you could download too. Let us know if you wanna receive the farewell party pictures this week, then we'll try to contact the lady as soon as she returns. Thank you.
 




It is wonderful to know that the director is "excited" that we are coming.  Unfortunately, many of the orphanages do not allow, much less welcome visitors.  I have been pretty sure that I wanted to see where my son was raised for the first 44 months of his life.  I expect that it will be hard in some ways.  No matter how hard they want to try, an orphanage is just not a home.  It will hurt to see the institution that Jaden spent his toddler days and nights, I know this.  It may be too hard for Jaden to go back just days after saying goodbye to all he knows.  Some families choose not to take this risk and if our little guy is not adjusting well, we may decide that only one of us will make the trip.  I hope that he is able; I think it may be that first step to healing--to be able to say goodbye and see that he isn't being stolen but lovingly handed over. 


I am now hoping that maybe, just maybe, a part of Jaden's history may now be available to us.  I was saddened that I wouldn't have any true baby pictures to show Jaden as he grew.  The orphanage director sounds willing to give us what they do have and I am so hoping that they have kept some from when he was younger!  Ok, ok, I know that 3 isn't exactly ready to head off to college but I want those baby years back.  We have missed so much, his first smile, his first tooth and his first steps.  I want to be able to experience some of it, even if it is just in pictures.

BTW, we will be in the air in 15 hours!!!!

Zai jian, y'all