Our adoption: Week 23 (ish)

My heart has hurt too much to post on Friday, but here is our weekly update.  I'm also adding the "what we're waiting for" section here, too.

How Far Along: 23 weeks (written on Sunday instead of Friday)

How I'm feeling: longing, emotional, hurting, aching to hold my baby, concerned
Gender: a little boy
Total of bills so far: $11,685.71

(You can see what bills we've paid in the sidebar.)
Total money raised: $7704.26

Favorite Moments: This last week, we found out Sammy's been in the hospital for a couple of weeks at least following a highly specialized surgery.  The fact that he had surgery came as a complete surprise.  We've been waiting to hear since Thursday morning any status update on him and his condition.  We hope he is recovering well.  Supposedly, he will be going back to the orphanage very soon if not heading back as I write this.  In the midst of all of this, we did get 5 baby pictures of Samuel which were such a gift.  And we got some answers to questions we sent a couple months back which were fun to read through as well.  

Things learned:  That even amidst the heart ache this week, I really truly know that I believe God is the Perfect Father for Sammy and it is totally in His power to be with Samuel right now taking care of him.  That my sadness and tears do not change what I know to be true.  That I could care less about breaking 3 out of my 4 ceramics projects this week knowing my baby is in a hospital on the other side of the world and I can't go to him... a silly vase just doesn't hold a candle.  That I have a very great professor who doesn't care that I broke 3 out of the 4 projects this week and isn't going to fail me.  :)
What we're waiting for:  LID - That means Logged-In Date.  When China officially recognizes that we've sent them our dossier, they will give us a logged-in date.  After we get that, then we sit tight and wait for their approval.  

What I am looking forward to: Hearing that Sammy is okay.  Learning about what the status is on his health.  Just plain finding out what is going on with him right now!

Adoption picture:

Check out my sweet baby as a tiny 2 month old!

Adoptive parenting is different than biological parenting.  This can really alarm people when I tell them that.  Someone asked recently what is an example of something we'd do differently in parenting an adopted child versus a biological child.  We haven't let our kids suck their thumbs.  We've just tried to make sure they have something else to fulfill that sucking need, but I've always been against the thumb-sucking.  So, here's a perfect example of a difference:

If Sammy comes home sucking fingers as a way to self-soothe, we aren't going to sweat it. We will try and help him learn that we are there to help soothe him so he doesn't have to rely on himself only, but if he's a thumb sucker, then so-be-it!  :)

And, isn't that just such a stinkin' cute boy laying there sucking his fingers?  I mean - MY WORD!  SO CUTE!  And it's nice to see his space... I bet that type of mat is used to keep things cleaner although it doesn't look very comfy.