Heartbreaking decision

One of the hardest things in the adoption world is having to let go of a child you have come to love as your own.  Sadly, several months ago we had to release the file of the little girl we had dreamed of for many months.  Due to some new medical complications with one of our children that will require us to do a substantial amount of traveling for treatment we felt we would be unable to provide the stability and structure an older girl with Down syndrome would surely need to help her adjust to her new home and attach to our family.  After a lot of thoughtful consideration and prayer we finally made the heartbreaking decision to release her file.  We pray her forever family finds her soon.  We know they will be incredibly blessed to have her as their daughter!

We ARE still proceeding with the adoption of Hannah's foster brother/best friend from the orphanage, Jacob.  We have an abundance of information about him because of his relationship with Hannah.  Despite his great physical limitations he is mentally very bright.  He is also a lot younger, being only 5 years old.  We don't have any concerns about his ability to handle the lack of structure and routine we will face in his first few months home.  Plus, we know he is being very well prepared for the transition to our home.  Not only that, because he is already attached to Hannah his transition to our home will be easier overall.  He already knows her to be his sister, so it was natural for him to accept us as his family.  He knows us as his Mommy and Daddy and can't wait to come home!

Jacob with some of the things we sent him for Christmas.  We were told he was very happy and excited to get a package from us and that he loved all his presents!  We sent him LOTS of cars, a dinosaur set, some other little toys, the stuffed penguin he is holding, the hat and matching mittens he is wearing, Christmas candy, and most importantly a photo album with over 40 pictures of our family.