November 12 (lost track of day #'s)

Crazy to think. The highlight of .. well.. almost this entire trip was hearing that Jello is getting fostered. It gets better, he is getting fostered with his little sister! It is so so great for them to get out of the vicious circle of institutionalization and hopefully merge back into the more main stream version of life. This way, they can develop to a fuller capacity than they would in an orphanage. I was not able to spend much time with AU today because he was in school the majority of the day. I left him with a balloon though so that he had something to enjoy. The younger kids were all back in their cribs today because they are very sick. They have varicela and really high fevers. There was just constant crying and a constant stream of doctors, nurses and people coming in and out of the room today. Jello was supposed to be fostered Monday but because of the virus going around it may not be until later in the week. I had no idea that he was being fostered.. the only reason I found out is because I heard the director speaking to the workers and picked up the words ‘Jello’ ‘leaving next week’ ‘going home’. I asked her what she was talking about and she told me. I was completely thrown off guard. One thing about the orphanage is there are some kids that you really connect with better than others. If there were not laws banning international adoption, I would seriously look into adopting him. I absolutely love him and each day I just become closer and closer to him. I have seen him grow, progress, seen his first words, tickled him until he cries, learned how to make him stop crying in a matter of seconds, know his favorite toys, his favorite songs.. and now I just have to say goodbye and some day next week I will come to work and he won’t be waiting at the glass door for me. It definitely is bittersweet.. more sweet than bitter because this is exactly what I want for him. This is so so incredible. I just will miss him, but I would have had to say goodbye anyways. This way, I will have peace knowing that even though I will leave, he is in a better place now. I wonder if I could get his foster family’s email or something so that I could keep in touch.. wish him happy birthday and things.