Our Story

I've been waiting to start a blog about our upcoming adoption trip to China for a very long time. Three years, to be exact. The time has finally arrived. With a login date of 3/15/06, we hope to be traveling to China to adopt a daughter in the next 3 - 4 months. So, I may still be a bit premature in beginning a blog, but I couldn't wait any longer.

I'll start with a bit of history. John and I started seriously considering our plans for a family in 2005. Why did we decide to adopt? Our primary reason is to provide a home to a child who already exists in this world. We hesitated (I probably more than John) to bring a new child into existence when the world is full of children who desperately need homes.

While considering the possibilities for adoption, John met a family with an adopted child from China. It got the ball rolling - we visited the agency, went through the orientation, and knew that our hearts were captured by the orphans in China. We couldn't turn back. We began the paper chase, and completed our paperwork in February 2006. At that time, we were told our wait would be 6 - 8 months. So our plan was to be home with our baby by Christmas 2006. Little did we know...

As the wait increased, we realized that our plans for a family anytime soon were diminishing. Turns out that a 9-month pregnancy is much shorter than the wait to adopt from China. We decided to try for a biological baby, and sure enough - little Jack was born June 2007.



What would we have done without Jack? He is the light of our lives and has made our wait more than bearable. In fact, there have been times when we wished the rumors of a speed up to be untrue. We contemplated putting our China file "on hold," but decided to let it go. We thought we might have pseudo twins, and wondered the implications. Never did we think the wait would take us to spring of 2009.

We are now anxiously, but cautiously, preparing our lives, house, and hearts for a new sister for Jack. It's been a real roller coaster, and sometimes it's hard to jump back on. Looks like our ride might almost be over (or is it just beginning?). But I'm still a bit cautious.

Have you ever read Dr. Seuss's Hop on Pop? It's a bedtime favorite for Jack. The last few pages of the book begin with, "Father, Mother, Sister, Brother..." This is Jack's favorite part - he gets a big grin on his face when I say, "You're going to be a big brother!" or "You are going to have a little sister!" We can hardly wait to meet her and welcome her into our family...