Unexpected Surprises

I always love it when unexpected surprises come my way.

  Last week I was doing a word search on the province in Ch*na where Fu Xing is.  When we received his referral paperwork it stated that he was in foster care but that information was 5 months old so we had wondered if he was still there or had he been moved to an orphanage.  At this point, we can't request a lot of information so I just thought I would see what I could find on the Guizhou Province.

 

After searching around for a bit, I found an entry from a blog by L0ve Without Boundaries.  They are an organization that began in 2003, after a group of adoptive parents came together to help save the life of one tiny boy in China.  Since then it has grown into an amazing organization that brings assistance to orphanages in China through education, medical care, nutrition care, foster care, and healing homes and many many other things. 

This Spring they had gone to the orphange where Fu Xing had been to help start a foster care program.  They had chosen 10 children to be involved with the initial program.  As I was scrolling down through the pictures I came across a familiar face.  Our little boy!!  I have to admit that at first I wasn't 100% sure it was him.  This picture was taken of him at 9 months and the only ones we had were from when he was 5 months old.  The description fit him though and I knew it had to be him.  I was so excited to confirm with our agency that he was indeed one of the children in the LWB foster care.

This is a Big Big deal to us.  The following is part of the post that the LWB director had written on her visit to the orphanage and the importance of foster care in regions like Fu Xing's.

"We have seen that foster care in poor, rural areas can change lives in amazing ways. The children in foster care have individual care and attention that cannot be provided in an institution. Their physical needs are met, and their emotional health is supported and fostered through loving interactions with foster parents. The children will have the best opportunity to grow and develop in a family setting. They can be part of the local community, hopefully attend school, and have a much smaller chance of attachment difficulties upon adoption."

We are so very very thankful!!   This is the picture that they had on their blog of him.

Oh my goodness~ we think he is a cutie.  We are also so happy to see those chubby cheeks.  Despite his cleft issues he is obviously getting well fed.  Our agency also was able to send us another picture and I'll share that in a few days.