Jonathon's Adoption Status

 Our 14 year-old sister Jennifer skillfully painted this for me as a Christmas gift.
Needless to say, I was blown away.

Jonathon, what do you think of your masterpiece portrait?

Late in 2012 Jonathon was finally listed with an international adoption organization, meaning that families could view his profile and pursue him for adoption. In accordance with laws in place to protect children, we are not closely informed of interest or developments and that's fine. When we need to know something it will be related at the appropriate time.

Parents in the international adoption community are quite resourceful, and I know that some interested in China adoption and perhaps Jonathon specifically have been watching our blog. For that demographic, Drew and I want to be absolutely clear that our intent and original expectation was to foster Jonathon until he is adopted by another family. At present we are unable to adopt him because we do not meet several requirements, and we can't know with certainty that we will meet all those requirements in the future. Besides this, we long for Jonathon to live in a place where he can reach his potential with special education, speech therapy, and career opportunities in the future. He will benefit greatly from living in a country that has these programs and professionals to enrich his life. We long to see Jonathon permanently settled into a loving family. He will thrive. I can already imagine his smug little grin when he knows, "these are the ones who came for me, adore me, keep me forever."

We have viewed Jonathon's basic listing on the adoption organization's blog, which advocates for waiting children. It's really bizarre to see his face, which we photographed, and his description, which we wrote, listed on that website. It's happening, I thought, with tears. Soon. He's going to be pursued, matched, and then, leave for his permanent family. We will grieve and we will miss him, but we will also celebrate and wonder at what lies ahead for Jonathon. We will be thankful that for this season, he didn't have to live in an institution or group home; he snuggled right into our family where he was uniquely loved, challenged, understood, stimulated, well-prepared for the next big step!

counting the graces

thank you Father for

you want contrition not perfection

real good and meaningful phone chat connection with my aunt

friends, including a newly engaged couple, and pizza

Drew cleaned the bathroom 

lying on a totally relaxed back in a deep and restful sleep

you seem so tangible today

your astounding answer to my prayer, offered with little hope four years ago