The most popular question that seems to be asked is, "Is it harder this time or easier?" People who ask this question are really asking two questions. They want to know if, since we have already adopted from China one time, the paperwork is easier. No. We had to do every little thing over again. We requested birth certificates, our marriage certificate, obtained new medicals, got fingerprinted three more times - like fingerprints change, right? - everything had to be done again. We used nothing from MK's adoption. When asked, "harder or easier?," people are also referring to the wait. With MK, we waited 11 months, switched to special needs, received her referral 5 weeks later and we were on a plane to meet her 3 months after first seeing her little face. This time, the wait has been more intense. It has made me anxious, to say the least. For five months, we have waited, knowing a face, knowing a smile, knowing our daughter/sister. It is just different.
I like to compare this wait and MK's wait to our pregnancies with the boys. With Colin, our first, he was active. He kicked and kicked and kicked, he entered this world kicking, literally. We expected him to join us on the later end of my pregnancy. Instead, he came 10 days early. With Pryce, our second child, he was sleepy. He slept my entire pregnancy. I remember drinking Coke to get him to move. I would have to push one side of my stomach to get him to kick me even the slightest bit, you know, just to make sure he was ok. And then he would sleep some more. We expected him to arrive prior to his due date because, you know, his brother had so we just figured he would too. He surprised us and arrived on his due date, not early or late. Both pregnancies were same but they were different. With Colin, we knew nothing. With Pryce, we knew more, had heard more, we anticipated more and had experienced more. Our adoptions have been just like our pregnancies, same but different. With MK, we knew nothing going into the process and we learned as we went along. With Maddox, we know more, we hear more, we anticipate more and we have experienced more. It is same but different.
Currently, our family is awaiting our Travel Approval. This part of the process, both times, has been compared to the ninth month of pregnancy - I am ready to pop! We want to meet her, hold her, we want to count her tiny little fingers and toes, we are all just curious about her. When we receive our TA, we will then be permitted to schedule our travel to China to meet little M. We are praying and hoping that this will be soon!
