A Temporary Addition

On Wednesday, Anne received an e-mail from a group she volunteers with here in Shanghai. The e-mail stated that a 3 year-old orphan from somewhere outside the city had been rushed here for brain surgery. The child had a brain cyst that caused hydrocephalus and they had to insert a shunt. The group was seeking a foster family for the girl because she will have two months of follow-up care here with the surgeon.

Anne immediately responded to the e-mail and said we were more than willing to foster her during her recovery. A few hours later we were told to come to the hospital the next day to see the girl and sign a form. And… just… like… that…. we became foster parents.

So beginning late this week, she will come to live with us for a couple of months. We are all very excited (especially Juliet) and look forward to sharing our lives with her so she can recover and go back on the adoption list.

The few people we’ve talked to back home about this already have all asked us the two same questions, so we’ll answer both here in advance.

1. No, we would not be able to adopt her. When you are an ex-pat in China you must live here for at least one year until you are eligible to even submit an application to adopt.

2. No, except for “bye-bye” she speaks no English. However, we’re really not that worried about it because our Mandarin is getting much better as a family - Scott and Juliet know quite a few sayings and words and Anne knows how to say “hello” and “do you take plastic?”