Today is the day.
It's the day we are officially on the waiting list for our little one. It's the day we've been waiting for since last September, when we sat at an information meeting for a few hours late one Tuesday night. It's the end of a road filled with paperwork and lots of waiting, and the beginning of another journey filled with even more waiting but a little more hope.
Over the last 6 months we've prayed and cried and laughed. We've wondered why things seemed to take so long, then been shocked when all of a sudden our home study was completed. We've grown together. We've been through so many life changes. (Read about them here and here) We went to a training and learned so much about the process, and about ourselves in this grand story of adoption.
Today feels a little surreal, because we've been waiting for so long. Yet I know that we have a winding road in front of us. I know that the waiting will seem even harder at times, and there will be disappointments along the way. What's most surreal, though, is imagining the end of this journey, which begins a whole new path of parenting when we first hold our little one in our arms.
I've poured more and more of my heart into adoption the last few months. Not just our adoption, but the stories that swirl around us every day. Talking about the process so openly has connected us with so many families - from those who know someone in the process to those just thinking about it. We've been blown away, humbled, and blessed by the response of people we've never even met who go out of their way to talk to us about this part in our lives.
Right now it seems so big, and so daunting, and so unreal. Yet I know in a few years, when we've settled down, I will (in some ways) be like every other mom. I'll have moments of utter panic, followed by times of joy as my child (or children?!) grows up. I imagine that we'll go through many of the same struggles that countless others have gone through before us, whether their child is biological or adopted.
At times like this, I get introspective. What will life look like in a year, or five years, or ten years? How many children will find their home inside of ours? What will our family look like?
I know none of the answers to these questions, but I wait with a quiet excitement knowing that some day I will. I'm writing this as much for myself as I am for you, on the other side of the screen, reading this. I never want to forget the anticipation and hope in waiting. When it's been months and we haven't heard a thing, I want to remember that there are blessings in the before, during, and after. I don't want to wish away where I am now to jump to the next place we're going to be.
May patience, ever my most elusive virtue, find me during this new time of waiting. I know in my heart of hearts that the end of this journey will be well worth waiting for.
View more of our adoption story by clicking here.
