On Friday, D and I had the pleasure of attending a wonderful dinner party. The dinner party was a "waiting and approved" dinner party for families that are waiting to either be matched with a birth mom or are waiting of the arrival of their baby after already being matched. Our adoption agency has a family association in our area and we are delighted to be apart of it. We had the opportunity to have dinner and chat with not only other couples going through our same process but the president of our adoption agency as well as the author of the book Hope Deferred. The author, Andrea Harrington, gave us a brief glimpse into her own adoption journey. She shared with us the blunt honest truth as well as tips that she learned along the way of what adoptive couples should share with others and the details that should be kept private for sanity's sake. I walked away from our dinner Friday feeling hopeful and a little proud.
I left hopeful because not only were there couples "waiting" like us but there were several couples that just completed their adoption match. It helped my head as much as it did my heart to see how wonderful things will be when our time finally does come. It also gave me a sense of comfort because we now have new families that will be apart of our lives from this day forward. There will always be someone we can call when a question arises in regards to adoption. What do you do when the kindergarten teacher asks for a family tree project for school and part of the assignment is to paste newborn pictures of our child that we may not have? What do you do when your child asks you about the night they were born? It dawned on me from the get go that there would be situations that D and I would have to face with our child that biological parents won't. I am relieved that we are not going into this alone, we are far from alone. I know there will be challenges and I know there will be bumps in the road, but that can be said for any family regardless of how they are built only our family bumps will just be a teeny bit different.
I left feeling proud because one of the things Andrea shared with us was that she wished she had found a way to let friends, coworkers and family know general statuses about her adoption process all at once instead of having told anyone and everyone every single nail biting detail only to regret it later when every 20 seconds she was asked "So have you heard anything yet?!." Hence, this blog! She had wished she only allowed a small select group of people to ride the roller coaster of emotions, ups and downs of the journey. It is a daunting ride and most people don't have the heart to sit and watch as your emotions are up and excited one day and deflated and crushed the next when plans change or birth matches have a disruption.
I am relieved I started this blog. I do want my friends and family to know what is going on with our adoption, even if it is just the general overview of it. I realize I don't post on this blog often and that is mostly because there really is nothing to report until there is actually something to report. Yes, odd. I am still learning what I "should" tell and what I "shouldn't" tell. We are a work in progress yet...
I am thankful to my friends and family for caring enough to ask about our process and for being wise enough to know that if I had good news to share, trust me I wouldn't wait 2.5 seconds before sharing it with you. I am thankful to my closest and dearest friend for braving it out and riding this roller coaster with me. The exciting, sad, overwhelming and good parts and even if it is just by text message alone. I am thankful to our parents that are excited about what our future holds and for already celebrating the grandchild that hasn't even arrived in our arms yet. If we haven't told any of you thank you for your support, it is not because we are not thinking it but it is because the words simply fail to do justice of our appreciation. ♥
Always,
April
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