Luke is One

Luke turned one year old today. Even though we didn't expect to have him in our arms yet, it has been hard knowing that he is so far away on his first birthday. We made him a cake anyway, and sang Happy Birthday. At least we know that this will be the last birthday he will ever have to spend without his family! We sent him a birthday care package and are hoping it gets to him. They don't guarantee they do, but most parents find that their baby got some of them. This one had a soft, warm one-piece winter coat with feet because we are fairly certain that his foster family doesn't have heat, or at least central heat. We also sent him some toys and books, because he has his legs in splints and the orphanage reports that he can't crawl or pull up or walk. It must get pretty boring for a one year old not to be able to explore the world, so we sent the most stimulating toys we could find. We had to explain in Mandarin that it was for his birthday because they don't celebrate birthdays in China. The wait to get permission to get Luke is becoming extremely...irritating, difficult, painful, you name it. We could get word from China any day and when we do, it will be about 4 weeks until we get on a plane to Beijing. So our estimated time of departure is sometime in the last half of January. We hope that the travel date doesn't get much later because the Chinese New Year falls on February 7th this year and everything in China closes down for two weeks. AAAAGGGG! I tell you what, international adoption is not for the faint of heart. I, Anne, have been extremely mopey, which is unlike me especially at this time of year.