What Adoption Means To Me

This is the last photo of our family before adoption....the very last. Right after this shot was taken, we loaded into a waiting van and drove 30 minutes to be united with our daughter, Mason-Kate.

We recently watched some new friends become united with their fifth child, a daughter in China. The eldest child put together several videos on their family journey thru adoption. I thoroughly enjoyed watching all of the videos and one particular topic that caught my attention was a segment where each child was asked individually what adoption meant to them. It spawned an idea in me to ask our children what adoption meant to them now....and then I will ask them again to see where their thoughts lie in years to come.

MK's response: "It means we go at China and get Baby M and I be so happy! Agh, when are we ever going to get her?!"

Pryce's response: "Adoption means to me that it's something God wants us to do and add to our family and we get to meet new people and new friends from different places."

Colin's response: "Adoption is a privilege. I am glad that some people, including our family, are fortunate enough to have that privilege."

This pic was taken just moments after we met MK. Wow, our three children have grown! :) We are so glad to be able to go on this journey once more and we are so proud of our children for who they are. Their hearts are so warm and so eager to love their new baby sister!

• Pryce woke up sick on Monday morning. We no longer say our children never get sick rather now we say, "Our children are never well!" It seems true.
• Mason-Kate had her first ballet class of the year. Being that she has had a rough time lately going into new rooms with new teachers, we wondered how she would do for this class. Never fear, Ryan picked her up from co-op, got her suited up with only having to call me once for instructions on her class attire. I think once the clothes were on appropriately, MK danced her way all the way to class. She had a lovely time!
• Colin dissected a beef heart. This is the child who struggled a few years ago with doing an animated hip replacement surgery on the computer. He loved the dissection and now knows all so much more about the heart.
• As we were sorting through all of our adoption documents, we realized we did NOT have one that is essential in our compilation. Sigh. This will set us back a week but all should be moving forward to China as planned in September.
• We were thrilled to hear from friends and family upon their receipt of our family letter about our next adoption. We continue to be overwhelmed by the love, support and encouragement that we have received since beginning this process in the Spring.
• Below are pics from our Adoption Gathering on Saturday. 42+ people came together to celebrate the lives of 9 little ones who are with their forever families, as well as two who are waiting to come home!

Some of the kids gave serious thought to the whole diving board concept.....

....and others did not!

MK had a great time with all of her friends!