Yesterday I got some information about the next part of our paperwork. Toni (our Bulgarian translator/attorney) sent several files of documents for us to look at. We'll come home next month with the originals which will be filed with the U.S. I.C.S. (US Immigration and Citizenship Services). I didn't take the time to look at them yesterday, but this morning, I opened up the documents. I was VERY surprised that one was Teodor's file, and it contained updates!!
Dan and I had gotten a similar file with his picture (the one posted here which is the only one we have) back in October. I honestly had NOT expected to get any updates at all. Some of the comments were dated Feb. 8th, 2011, and some were Feb. 10th. We were given the adoption referral from the MOJ on Feb. 11th, but I am not sure if this update has anything to do with that or not.
I was SO excited to learn that in the past year, he has grown 2 inches and gained 8 pounds!! That is such good news because I now feel confidence that he is getting decent nutrician! We quickly marked his height on the doorframe of the door that I mark each of the kids every year. He is right exactly between Leslie and Justin in height, but only weighs 5 pounds more than Leslie. Both Justin and Leslie are tall, so really Teodor is not terribly short at all for his age.
The report also said that he has a tutor who is helping him daily. I'm not sure if that person is connected to his school or his orphanage, but I'm so thankful that he is getting some one-on-one attention from somebody!! And, it said that with the tutor's help, he is doing well in his second grade work.
Another thing that I was shocked about was that it said that he had had surgery on his leg in 2009. In the first report that we got, it said that surgery was recommended, but did not say that it had been done. So, that is very interesting. We'll probably get that followed-up on when he gets home. We already know (from the prior report and this new one) that he'll need an eye exam and glasses.... which makes me wonder..... I wonder if we could get an eye exam for him in Bulgaria. As far as I know, he doesn't have glasses. Yet, he's in the 2nd grade. If he needs them, then I want him to have glasses as soon as possible. His eye problems are fitting in very well with my other 3 girls who have all had glasses for years. I'll have to check into the possibility of our paying for his glasses now. My best guess is that if he needs them, the reason that he doesn't have them is that the orphanage doesn't have the money to buy them.
So, the final shocking news was that Teodor's mother died 6 years ago. We were aware of the fact that information about her might be known. I had even hoped and prayed that we would be able to find out more about her just so that in the future if Teodor wanted to know more about his birth parents, that we'd have something to tell him. But, now we know that she has passed away, and even have the date of her death. Again, more information may be available to us later on. I was just so surprised to get this info. now.
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