Looking Back - Fall 2007

With the holidays arriving right before our eyes, I am reminded a lot of where we were as a family this time last year. It was during the later Fall days of 2007 that our hearts and minds began to think beyond what we had planned for our future. Meaning, we had been planning since April 2006 that our family of 4 would become a family of 5 through adopting a healthy baby girl from China. Last Fall we decided that maybe we could step outside of the box, think larger. I woke up early one Saturday morning and diligently typed our application online for our agency's waiting child program. I selected an age range, I selected several medical conditions I thought our family was equipped to handle, I answered questions about nearby hospitals, I wrote about the steps that Ryan and I would take as parents of two bio little boys in helping them to adjust to a child with special needs, I read over every word that I typed, I retyped some words, and then I hit SEND. Our application to adopt a waiting child had been sent and it was time for us to sit back and wait. After all, that is what you do when adopting, you wait and then wait some more. So, we waited. Not so long after, my niece came to visit for a few nights....she had just turned 3. To me, she was a baby. The boys were so much bigger and could do so much more than she could. So, I called the agency after Emma left and I talked with our Waiting Child coordinator. I told her that maybe we would like to consider a toddler.....our original age range had been 0-18 months but I thought we could branch out and make that age preference 0-2 years. She said great, she would make that note on our application. As we were saying our goodbyes, I said that I hoped she would have a great holiday season. Her reply was "I am sure we will be talking before then." HMMMM. I honestly had no idea about what was to come our way during the 2007 holiday season.