Today is again for me another day to reflect. I think back to the beginning...I remember attending the adoption seminar in Camp Hill, PA. Norm and I were so excited to go. We hadn't told anyone so it was a secret trip that night. We were one of the last families to leave. We just couldn't hear enough. At the time we were in the mode of China and that is the choice we made when we walked out the door that night. We looked at each others excitement and knew it was time and this would be the right choice for us to make together. We called the very next day and asked for a packet to be sent as we were ready to commit to adoption. WOW!! What an excitement that filled our hearts. After many phone calls and a preliminary application we found we would not be accepted by the China program due to my health issues. We were upset and felt the bricks in our wall being laid. The agency suggested the "NEW" Vietnam program and it sounded very hopeful and we approached it very optimistically. The process moved along rather quickly as we were very excited to get our required paperwork done as fast as we could and get on that list. Much to our excitement we made it to #5 on the waiting list. Things moved along just not quickly enough for us and in March we received word that there was a boy approximately 3 month old available. Would we be interested....I called my mom first because she is my focus factor and she talked me through it. She made me realize that God wanted this little boy for us. I hung up in glee and called Norm right away. I told him to come home as quickly as he could. He only works next door and it seemed like an hour until he showed up. I told him about our opportunity and we cried together as we made our final decision and called our CM. She answered and we told her "Yes, we want the baby boy". I remember how excited she was and we heard a quiver in her voice. So the paperwork got finished and sent off to Vietnam and what we had no expectation of...the hardest wait of all. It has been 4 months, 3 weeks , and 4 days since that referral and we are still waiting to travel. It is 4 months and 1 day today since our dossier was logged in. This is the gruelling part since we were supposed to be able to travel 3-4 months after log in. It looks like another 9-10 weeks before we go. We have been on the ups and downs of this roller coaster way too long. We have hit almost every brick in that wall that started way back at the beginning and now we just want the wall to crumble and let us through. Derek is growing so much and we have been truly blessed to have gotten updates and new pictures of him periodically but it just isn't like having him home. We'll continue to persevere in this process with our heads held high, our hearts filled with joy, and most of all our arms open wide to accept him into.
We have met some wonderful people along this journey so far and I have been blessed to have found a wonderful friend all the way across the country from me. Our distance from each other hasn't stopped us from growing closer, sharing joy & pain, and anticipating our travel to bring home our babies together. Michelle has been a true blessing to me. She picks me up when I am down and she makes me smile everyday. Her name among many of you on the forum and in blogs that I follow each day have become a part of our family. When I speak your names people know who you are.
I want to thank each one of you who has been praying, encouraging, reading, or even thinking about us as we travel through this wonderful adoption experience. You are all a special part of our lives.
Teresa