Our Son, Nathenael Thornton

See the video I will be posting below!

This an been a very emotional day for us and so many of our friends. 14 families were scheduled for court today, only 4 passed. I am thanking God right now that we were one of the lucky families that did pass. If only everyone knew just how lucky we are. There has been devastating news from our agency today, I am not sure how much info I can share. My heart is breaking for the families that have received this horrible news and the babies that will be without them for even longer. I am praying for you guys and I will do all I can for you and your little ones. God IS with you during this difficult time and He will carry you through this.

I humbly would love to introduce everyone to our new son, Nathenael. His name was given to him by the orphanage director and means "Gift from God". He truly is a gift from God and I will be forever grateful to him for such a precious gift. We will be keeping his name and will call him Nathen for short. We decided after much family discussion that the name Nathenael is a really long name and would take forever for a 5 year old to learn to spell so... His name is spelled a little different than we would usually spell it in the US but I like it that way.

We know little about him other than he was found abandoned and was turned into the orphanage on Christmas Day. He started off VERY small and malnourished but has thrived and grown so much since being in the care of the orphanage and the House of Hope. He does have a birth defect to his left hand. The fingers are just shorter and stop at the top segment or nuckle, from what we have been told and can tell from photos. It is likely due to ABS or "Amniotic Band Syndrome" which occurs when the limb of the child gets tangled into the amniotic sac and that part of the body is unable to develop. We expect him to do well and gain as much use of the hand as possible through occupational therapy and maybe finger lengthening surgery as he gets older.

We have been told from traveling families he is very smiley and happy and is doing great! We can't wait to get him home. We are still praying for the May 28th Visa date, if so we will leave May 24th and come home June 3rd. If not the Visa appt will be June 11th. We should have our travel dates confirmed in about a week. Wow, we could be leaving in only 2weeks!

Please pray for the other families who's adoptions are in jeopardy right now. I will post more info about the situation once I am able to and have more information.