FedEx has landed

This is a very handsome child with a bright smile. He likes to build towers out of blocks, and he is very particular about the "method of building." Evidently, he likes to do things his own way. He also likes drawing on a chalkboard.

He seems to be very normal - running, walking, climbing stairs.

He has a scar the size of a very large coin - I'm thinking a 500 Yen piece, if anyone has ever seen one of those - bigger than a silver dollar or a 50 cent piece - in the center of the small of his back.

According to the file, he came into care with the scar on his back. Which is odd, since it also indicates he was only 10 days old.

He was not taken to a doctor regarding the scar until he was 27 months old. That was last August.

The doctor who examined him diagnosed "post-operative meningocele", which, according to webmd.com, is the least common kind of spina bifida, and "often no further problems arise after correction". Which is reassuring - IF the doctor is right about what the surgery was done for.

The doctor based this diagnosis on "experience and the nature of the scar."

An MRI was done in March of this year, that notes a fissure at L4, diagnosis, "spina bifida at L4." "No other abnormalities of the spine are noted, vertebrae is intact." Followed by two lines of medical mumbo-jumbo that mean nothing to me.

What is astonishing to me, is, after having seen three files from Vietnam, which contined child reports every 90 days or so - there is almost no information on this child prior to August, 2005.

He was found at the mouth of a coal mine, with the scar tissue on his back, on May 12, 2003. For 10 days, they looked for his family. On May 22, 2003, the social workers declared him to be 10 days old (this seem impossible - he must have been at least a few days older - he was born and had surgery, and was FOUND on May 12, 2003.) He was taken into care.

That's it. That's all there is, prior to August 2005. It's like the first 27 months of his life didn't matter.

The file says he was taken to the hospital in August of 2005 so that he could be made available for adoption. I wonder what they thought would happen to him before that?

He is in an orphanage with 700 other children. SEVEN HUNDRED OTHER CHILDREN.

Can I repeat that? SEVEN HUNDRED.

And, uh, China has been SLOWING DOWN their referrals. One orphanage has 700 children in it, and they are keeping families waiting for 11 months and counting.

I'm feeling a little angry about that, reading this. But, that's beside the point. I'm not at the mercy of the CCAA, with the exception of whether or not they will approve my dossier and travel approval, if we accept this child. I'm at the mercy of what some doctors are going to tell me about what is under the scar tissue on this child's back.

And at the mercy of wondering if, a child who lives in an orphanage with 700 other children, for three years, can form an attachment to my family...