The latest pictures of Stanley show that he is getting bigger and seems to be walking around great! He looks healthy and happy and it seems as if he is still staying at the orphanage director's house, rather than the orphanage in Les Caye. I still don't know why he was moved, but I am not complaining- I know that the environment of her home has to be better than PAC.
When we began this journey in August 2008, we thought we'd visit and meet Stanley and then we'd travel again a few months later to pick him up. Now, as we get ready to make the third "visit" trip to see our little guy, the wait is really weighing on us. We are struggling to process all that we are missing in our little guy's life. He is walking and no doubt, talking. We have just learned that our next trip will be sometime during the beginning of December. We are so excited to learn that instead of treking down to Les Caye, where the orphanage is, we will be staying in a hotel outside of Port au Prince with the kiddos! That means less travel (and traveling costs) for the parents and more time with Stanley. Apparently, this hotel is a bit nicer too.
We still have NO news about the status of his file. We have yet to exit IBESR. We try desperately, like all the parents out there, not to obsess over why some files are moving and ours hasn't. We don't even know if we need dispensation yet. Our agency coordinator assures us that after a very slow summer at IBESR, the director is back at work and she sounds hopeful that we will hear news soon.
It is starting to sink in that we will probably miss his second birthday (in April). At this point, it is taking approximately 6 months from the time you exit IBESR and we would have to exit very soon for him to be home by April. After 4 years of trying to build a family and 13 months of trying to bring him home, I am getting tired of saying "by this time next year" and not really believing it. We also now have to go through the process of updating our homestudy, getting refingerprinted, etc. because those documents will be expired before he comes home. The added costs are really just a kick in the teeth because they are a reminder that this is taking WAY longer than we had planned.
One thing we can do to help us during the wait, it to begin collecting goodies to bring to the orphanage. This time around, we have decided to try to get most of it donated so that we can keep our costs down. As always, we are collecting:
* Size 2 & 3 diapers
* Peanut butter; beef jerkey; other high-fat foods
* Baby formula
* gently used shoes- especially for toddlers learning to walk!
* Infant/toddler toys- especially those that don't require batteries
* gently used bouncy seats/Bumbo seats/playmats
As the trip dates near, I'm sure we'll want to go stock up on things to fill every space in the suitcase, so if anyone would rather give us shopping money, that is great too!
Hopefully, our next update will be an exciting one!
