Finally Final

We've been waiting for so long, sometimes impatiently. But on Monday, December 29, 2014, Wai Hin Huang finally, and officially, became Ryan Samuel Potter. Here are some pictures everybody's been dying to see.

With Mom & Dad

Merry Christmas from the Family

The Line-Up

The Kids!

The Girls & The Boys

 

The Family!

Some Final Funding Needs (an Auction Opportunity)

We now have our son home with us. And we are still raising funds. Ahead are post-placement visits from our home study agency as well as the cost of adoption finalization. While we are not familiar or sure about the total cost, we know that we need nearly $1000 more rather quickly for the post-placement visits.

So, here is a proposal: I have listed two items on eBay to help raise some of the needed funds, and if you are interested you can view and bid on these items. Both of the items have a special significance which I will describe here with a link to each auction.

A couple of years ago, I gave my dear friend, Dave, a copy of What Is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert. I was able to get the author to sign the book (the inscription reads: 

“To Dave—

May God make His Gospel precious to you!

Blessings,

Greg”

Since then, my friend passed away, and the book found its way back into my hands. Knowing how supportive of our adoption efforts Dave had been, his wife has graciously given her permission for us to use this item as part of our fund-raising efforts. In this way we can make Dave a bigger part of our process. (Read my thoughts on the book here.) The book lists with a 99 cent starting bid, and we would love to see the bidding go through the roof, so bid early, bid high, and bid often.

Also from Dave’s collection is a set of “Operation Desert Shield” trading cards (vintage 1991 from Pacific Trading Cards). While these are not boxed, the set includes all the cards numbered 1-110, and are in excellent condition. Again the starting bid is 99 cents, but we would love to honor our dear friend’s memory by saying that his items helped finalize our adoption process.

Thanks for reading; thanks for clicking the links; and thanks for bidding.

Looking Forward To . . .

Gotcha!

Today we help our Little Man say, "Good-bye" to the only home he has known. His bags are packed; he has already had a celebration on a big scale with his friends and caregivers at the Childcare Center; and today in a simple ceremony he will shake hands with his friends one last time and say a final good-bye to his caregivers, and then he will be with his forever family . . . forever!

We had about 3 hours alone with him yesterday in which he was fine until the last 30 minutes when he started crying. He did not push away, but sat in Daddy's lap to cry. We understand that he is trying to process all that is happening to him, and so we ask for prayers that our simple presence with him will begin to be the comfort that he needs. Pray for our ability to find the right distractions to keep him his playful, happy self.

*Update* The Good-bye ceremony went well. When Mommy and Daddy arrived, Little Man came to give hugs, then began to show off because he had company to show off for. One last meeting with the speech therapist, then the "blessing" of the other children (who had already blessed our Little Man earlier this week) and "good-bye" to  . . . the kitchen, the shower, the bed, the OT, PT room, the playground, and a taxi ride to the hotel to deposit the one large suitcase that held all his belongings before a dim sum lunch and outing to the Hong Kong History Museum (which is free on Wednesdays, btw).

There was a long set of crying when he realized that he was to stay at the hotel with us, but that finally subsided and he's tucked in for the night.

Coming soon - the long flight to a new home!

A Word about Attachment

One of the most talked-about issues in the process toward adoption is a development known as "attachment". The term refers to the bonding between a child and his caregiver(s). There are signs of healthy and unhealthy attachment in all kinds of relationships (regardless of whether the relationship between the parent and child is one of biology, foster, or adoption).

Much of our education throughout the adoption process has been concerned with creating the right environment for healthy attachment. Today, as I was reading in some of the early chapters of the acclaimed book The Book Thief ( a novel set in WWII-era Nazi Germany) a passage hit the nail on the head about what creates successful attachment. It was such a good passage that I thought I'd share it with you. Liesel has been turned over to the Hubermanns as a foster child. Hans (her new "papa") gets attachment:

       Possibly the only good to come out of these nightmares was that it brought Hans Hubermann, her new papa, into the room, to soothe her, to lover her.
       He came in every night and sat with her. The first couple of times, he simply stayed--a stranger to kill the aloneness. A few nights after that, he whispered, "Shhh, I'm here, it's all right." After three weeks, he held her. Trust was accumulated quickly, due primarily to the brute strength of the man's gentleness, his thereness. The girl knew from the outset that Hans Hubermann would always appear midscream, and he would not leave.