I Don't Know What to Title This One

The phone lines are working again! Margaret will now be taking little Moses to Blantyre for his HIV test on Monday. We should have the results by May 2nd at the latest. I say this, even though I know this is no guarantee.

Margaret says Moses has a bit of a cough. She took him to the hospital to get some medicine and he seems to be responding to it well. His birth mother is sick with malaria (or a fever of sorts) so Margaret has had little contact with her recently.

Moses and I had a great little chat yesterday morning on the phone. He was sleeping but woke up to say hello. He has a funny sounding cry! I thought he was coughing at first, but Margaret says that's just his voice. Plus, I'm hearing him through static and a 10,000 mile distance. I probably sounded funny to him! Margaret says she's talking to him in English, which is very sweet of her, though we want him to know Chichewa too. Technically, he comes from the Tumbuka tribe, so he should know Chitumbuka as well. I think we'll have to draw a line at Chichewa and English though.

Margaret says they're calling him "Moses Pattison." Dustin and I got quite a kick out of this! They say our last name like "Pot-sun." Moses Pattison.

We may have a picture of Moses as early as Monday. Margaret thinks she'll have access to a scanner. Oh technology, how I love thee. Some good friends of ours are adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia - where the adoption law is much more defined. She mentioned that they're not allowed to post any photos of the child online until the adoption is finalized. So, in keeping with this, we'll likely just e-mail his picture around once we have it.

Now the not so fun stuff. We called and talked to a Malawian social welfare officer yesterday about Moses and our intention to become his foster parents. We met with him in person in January and, fortunately, he remembered us. He told Dustin that it may not be so simple as the mother choosing the foster parents. He made it sound like the child would become a ward of the state, then the government would go down their list and choose the foster parents themselves (meaning, they could not choose us). We were devastated (for all of a minute or two) until we remembered our friend Nancy. Nancy is an American who runs a small project in Malawi. A father approached her, asking her to take care of his daughter because he didn't have much longer to live. She immediately became the child's foster mother and then adopted her several months later. So we know it's possible for the parent to choose the future caregiver. But this interaction is a reminder that nothing is simple in Malawi (at least when government is involved). Fortunately, Nancy has a good relationship with this particular social welfare officer, and she may be willing to be an advocate for us (with him).

Another new piece of info, is that Dustin and I will likely move forward and do a "home study" here in Portland. This involves paying a private adoption agency to study our background, inspect our home and our finances, interview us etc. and then create a court report where they advise whether or not we're fit to foster or adopt. The Malawi government requires us to do a home study there in Malawi, but that process may be quicker and smoother (I emphasize may) if we've already been approved here where the requirements are more stringent.

That's all for today. We'll continue to keep you posted.