I woke up this morning hoping that yesterday was just a dream. It wasn’t. Oatie is gone and we’re still in Ukraine and both Pa and I had random crying jags yesterday at the most seemingly inappropriate times.

We pinned down Dr. I’m-Not-Sure after sending him answers to questions created by Towson University–a guide to tracking childrens’ development while living in an orphanage. We also took loads of video footage of Little Person and the good…no, make that GREAT news is that Dr. I’m-Not-Sure has ruled out FAS. Despite the heaviness in our hearts over Oatie, we managed to breathe a sigh of relief and make our decison about Little Person.

So…with that in mind…(drum roll please)…we’ve decided to move forward with adopting Little Person. We’re thrilled and ecstatic…it’s just that our decision came during a really low point.

For now, I still won’t disclose any personal information about Little Person, given that we’re still in the thick of things, but I will tell you about the experiences we shared over the last few days, which encouraged our decision and warmed our hearts.

I mentioned before, during our first visit with Little Person, that we weren’t getting any eye contact…not even any kind of acknowledgment that we were there. But on Saturday, when we returned the second time, Little Person ran…literally RAN across the room right to Pa with arms in the air so he would lift Little Person up. Little Person was all smiles and I pretty much burst into tears since it was a complete 180 from what we had experienced the day before. Little Person still didn’t make eye contact, but we were armed with a lot of information about the events in Little Person’s life that explains why. Little Person is one hurt little child. We do not suspect physical abuse from the birthparents, but I can almost guarantee that this child was left in a crib for days on end with nothing more than an occasional bottle.

This also explains why Little Person is about a year behind in all facets of child development, including speech, mental, and physical growth. If we could change Little Person’s birthdate back a year, Little Person would be right on target. The key to all of this, though, was tracking Little Person’s development while in the orphanage. Little Person may not be on the growth chart for children the same age, but the child’s growth curve tracks along others.

Another reason why Little Person mistrusts people is that TWO different couples previously (not very long ago, either) spent a lot of time and proceeded with the intent to adopt Little Person and then, for whatever reason…they changed their minds at the last minute. No one can tell us why…and it baffled the entire orphanage staff and the staff at the SDA…but clearly these two couples had left an impression on Little Person, who had bonded with both couples, only to have them leave. This child is loaded to the brim with abandonment issues.

Yesterday, Little Person greeted us even more heartily yesterday, which was so comforting given our sadness over our beloved dog. We played with Little Person for three hours and even though a shopping bag filled with blocks was the highlight, we could defeinitey see Little Person warming up to us little by little.

We have a lot of work ahead of us with Little Person, but we both feel prepared. And Na is pretty darned psyched to be Little Person’s big brother.

So, our next steps are to file oddles of paperwork and apply for a court date and visit Little Person every day, twice a day, while we wait. We are still a lonnnnng way away from coming home. If I had to take a wild guess, I would say that Na and I are still coming home on August 15, but Pa and Little Person will be home sooner than our anticipated date of August 28. At this point, it’s just a guess.