July 7, 2007 - Not Sherlene

I didn't wake up in the wee hours of the morning to "MOMMY!!!" Still a touch of the virus lingering, but for the most part, much better today! YEAH! :)
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We found out yesterday that we will not be able to adopt Sherlene. Her labs results became available, and there was one we were not comfortable with. That's always a possibility with babies, until their labs are back, and they will allow us to choose another child. They are going to identify another baby around her age that would pair well with Ralph. All of his referral information and labs turned out fine. He's healthy as can be - or at least the things they test for, which are HIV, syphilis (RPR), Hepatitis B (HBsAg), and sickle cell trait (Hemoglobin Electrophoresis).

Jock and I were talking about it again this evening, and it's strange how this hasn't been bothering us too much. I think we hadn't grown too attached to her yet, and maybe in the back of our minds we didn't allow ourselves because her labs weren't back yet. Also, maybe we knew she's not who God has chosen for our family, and we're waiting and praying to see who else He has in store for us for Kaylen & Ralph's baby sister...

Will let you know if we hear anything else. I assume it would be this coming week at the earliest. The facilitator director did tell me it probably wouldn't be this weekend, so that gives me hope that it could be fairly quickly, but you never know. She said, "We turn away 80 children per month. There is no shortage of children available. I will contact the orphanage, but I may not hear anything until Monday. I will try though. We will look for a girl in the same age range." I think they're full at the orphanage. (I presume partly because of the recent delays in processing of passports so legally adopted children can't come home to their families).

The "turning away" comment brings a tear to my eye when I think of the desperation of the parents and/or other relatives/friends that must love these children so much to be so unselfish to give them up for adoption because they are unable to care for them. Also, watch for another post about Ralph's arrival at the orphanage - a few of the other adoptive families were there on the May/June mission trip and have shared with us...