Measuring Up

This week we found out how tall our son is... he is a mighty little man of 2 feet 10 inches.

This was one of the missing bits of information from his file - there were quite a few holes that we are trying to fill in.

How big is that? It is the height of an average two year old.

Vanya also weighs 24 pounds... the weight of an average 18 month old.

If you were to find this height and weight on the World Health Organizations growth charts, he is under the 3rd percentile for his age... he is not even reaching the minimum height and weight charted for his age.

"What is wrong with him," you ask, "that he is not growing as he should?"

Actually, he is exactly where children who grow up in an orphanage normally are for his age. It is very typical to be delayed at a rate of about a third of what the child should be for his age. Since he has spent three years in the orphanage, he has only grown physically and developmentally for two years.

There are several factors that contribute to this... inadequate nutrition, lack of exercise, etc., but the main factor, according to all the experts, is not having a primary care giver. The children in orphanages are delayed and do not grow as fast as they should because they do not have a mommy and a daddy to love and take care of them. Who knew that you really needed love to grow?!?!

And we are ready to love him! We will make him grow so strong and big that no one will be able tell that he was once small and weak. We will fill him full of hugs and kisses... not to mention yummy nutritious food and drink... so that he will have all that he needs to grow.

However, in order to go and get him we need our adoption fund to grow a little more too. We are currently saving toward the second and final international payment. (We never even told you we paid the first one!) The second international fee is a whopper! But God has already been providing through some of those grants I was telling you about!

Second International Fee             $11,000

Bulgarian Lawyer Grant                 -$2,000

Scholarship from Agency              -$1,500

Total Due                                           $7,500

We need to pay this amount when we officially accept the referral in a couple of months. The good news is that we have already saved up about $2,770 of this fee, so we have only about $4,730 to go! Part of me thinks that is a lot… but then the faith-filled part of me says, “Only that little amount?!?! Pssh – that is nothing! God can do that with one hand tied behind His back!”

I also promised that I would let everyone know the cost of our trips to Bulgaria – the first one to visit with Vanya and sign the adoption paperwork, and the second to bring him home (yay!) for once and for all.

 

Tickets to Sofia this fall are about $900/person. That comes to around $3,600 for airfare for the two of us for two trips, plus a one way ticket home for Vanya, which will be an additional $900 according to the adoption agency. They have also estimated that we will need about $3000 for “in-country” expenses - for our hotel, food, and transportation… although I doubt this – they obviously don’t know how thrifty the Elliotts can be!

There may be a few other fees for Vanya’s visa and some miscellaneous forms, but that should be it.

It feels like we are raising a ransom to set him free… and I suppose we are!

If you would like to help us raise this ransom and free our little man from life in the orphanage, we would really appreciate it.  Just see the link on the side of the page called "Donation Options".

Many thanks to all who have helped us come this far!