Sayid--our future son?

So, as it stands at this moment (words carefully chosen because stories, situations and laws change continually here, it seems), we are now planning to go see a boy named Sayid tomorrow--so it will be Sayid or no one that we bring home.  He is 9 years old and has no siblings and, officially, no family (but more on that on a moment).  Here is the lad's picture:

This was the final result of our tumultuous third appointment.  As we've explained, this was high-stakes because this is our last chance.  After a long and tedious two-week wait for this appointment, we had earnestly hoped that some new good 2-member sibling groups were going to come on to the database.  No such luck.  Only the kids who were already there before: two 11-year olds which were older than we wanted, a 7 and 8 year old pair who have turned down three other couples in the past and who are frequently visited by their grandfather, a number of single kids and pairs with major health problems, etc.  We were just about to decide to go for the younger sibling pair, likely to be refused by them, too, when the official pulled out Sayid's picture and explained that he is a devout Orthodox boy who was visited only once before, last year, by an Italian family, and he was going to go with them, but changed his mind because he wanted Orthodox parents, based on his priest's advice.  They also said that his mother died a few years ago and he has no father and no siblings, and no one has visited him in the orphanage.  He is,  by all accounts a good and obedient boy who goes to church of his own choice.  We were both moved to tears at his story and felt this was the boy for us--sounded like we were the answer to his prayers--almost a miracle given almost no foreigners seeking to adopt him would be Orthodox.  The biggest concern, from the information in his file was some kind of cognitive issue, but it wasn't mental retardation.  Weighing it all out after our appointment, we said he was our choice.

We could see right away that our translators were uncomfortable with this choice, and still haven't been able to understand why, exactly.  Our best guess is that it's because they've never dealt with this region and that makes them nervous.  Over the ensuing hours, the stories have gotten crazier and crazier, trying to get us to change our minds.  They've spoken to various people in the region and to the translator of the Italian couple who went last year, and have told us that the boy doesn't do so well in school, so they assume he has a low IQ, that he is actually a gypsy based on someone showing up at the school last year claiming to be his father, who appeared to be a gypsy, then later this theme was expanded to say that he had many gypsy relatives who were coming to the school, at least one of whom was threatening the school with a knife if they let the boy be adopted, so the director is afraid for his safety if he lets the boy be adopted.
  
Having still not dissuaded us, this morning we were told that the boy was not even Orthodox, but that he goes to some kind of sect with which the director seemed to be involved,  that he wants to keeps all the kids in the school for that reason, and that no child has ever been adopted out of this schoothat someone told her that the previous couple that tried to adopt was grilled for hours in his office on religious questions and that all women were forced to wear skirts and head coverings while in the school and that cell phones were not permitted.  These are just the high points in the insanities we've been told.

We began to feel beat down again and considered just coming home, but after so much crazy and conflicting information, we didn't know what to believe and it seemed the only way to find out was to go and see for ourselves.  We decided that, before making our decision (again), we'd request a clear answer at least on the question of whether he was Orthodox.  If so, then it may indeed be that the original story that touched us might be true and it would be worth trying.  Our translator called and at least that one bit of misinformation was laid to rest:  the boy is an Orthodox Christian and attends a church of the Moscow patriarchate--mainstream, vanilla Orthodoxy and by no means a sect.  So how much more was just lies and distortions to dissuade us (whoever it may have come from)?  We shall see for ourselves.

It may be true that the director will do all he can to prevent us from adopting, and it may also be true that the boy has a low IQ.  It may even be true that he has gypsy relatives--but that's a pretty hard one to imagine looking at the picture.  BUT, it may just as well be that the director, himself a devout Orthodox Christian, will be delighted for this boy to have an Orthodox home, even if he has resisted letting him go with others.  And it may be that there is nothing wrong with the boy, whatsoever, and the crazier the stories have gotten, the more I suspect that may be the case.  At this point, we have NO expectations, other than to expect the unexpected, and we are ready, if it is God's will, to be the answer to a little devout Orthodox boy's prayers for parents who share his faith.  Otherwise we come home.  God's will be done.

Written by Mark