Our Beautifully Ordinary Life

We got an update on Merry last week and it kind of rocked my world – - although not necessarily in a good way initially.

Before I go any further I’ll tell you that she’s fine. She’s actually gained a little bit of weight which is beyond awesome since she is super tiny and really needs to put on as much weight as possible before we start the first round of surgeries.

Oh heck, I’ll just show you. We got a new picture. (YAY!!) She was just over 12 months old when this was taken.

Looks like she has another tooth already, too. Oh how this bugs me since I know that it’s likely no one is taking the time to wipe or brush her teeth for her (and I do realize that’s not the most pressing issue, but still – it’s something a mama does).

The big shocker for us was finding out that she has been moved back to the orphanage already. In fact, she was moved in late December. We don’t really know why – the reason given is that her foster home was too cold for her – but I suspect there’s more to it than that. Heck, she was moved just after we submitted our LOI so the orphanage may have simply moved her to start getting her ready for adoption. She’d lost some weight – a fairly significant amount for an already little one – from one update to another and her little cheeks being so windburned in the last picture could also have been cause for concern for the SWI. All speculation aside, I don’t know. I’ve questioned some folks who might have some info and all I can get from them is that it isn’t uncommon for children to be moved if the foster family’s situation has changed or for any number of reasons. All I know is that I’m sure Merry is reeling from the sudden loss of her foster grandma and all that is familiar to her and that just breaks my heart. So much change for her already and an even bigger change coming soon (although not soon enough for us).

All in all, other than that bomb dropped on us the update was pretty good. She is standing on her own, cruising around the room, and is close to learning to walk as you can see. She is purportedly adjusting well to life in the orphanage. Her orphanage is new (and clean and heated and was recently the beneficiary of funding which allowed some upgrades) and the room she’s in caters to special needs children and has 24/7 staff trained by a US charitable organization. She’s gained over a pound in less than a month which is awesome and (hopefully) indicates that the Ayis are taking the time with her to make sure she’s getting enough to eat.

The update also said this:

She loves smiles and is always in a happy mood. Sometimes she smiles while she is napping.

As you can imagine, this just does my heart good. I think this means we have chosen her name well.

Please, please, please keep her in your thoughts. This little one has been through a lot and we just need her to hang on a bit longer until we can get there. No news on our I-800 approval so I’ll probably start nudging them this week hoping for some action.

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