WAITLIST!!!

We are on the WAITLIST!!!! This is the moment we have been working towards the past 4 months. I was literally bursting with excitement when I got the email at work today. When we had our initial phone orientation with our agency, they told us if we were aggressive we could get through the paperwork stage in 4 months and we essentially accomplished that. I am quite proud of us. It is strange because the past 4 months have been all about work, work and more work to get through all the paperwork and now we enter the wait, wait and wait some more stage. It will be a tough transition. I know for me it didn’t feel like I was really going to become a parent until we reached this stage. Now it feels real. Of course, ask me six months into the wait if it still feels real and I might have a different answer but today it feels real. The average wait times for our agency are currently around 9 months for children under 12 months. We are not putting a preference on the gender.

Before I wrote this post, I went back and read all the posts leading up to this one. I especially loved reading my FIRST POST. I realized that I had set some goals for myself with this blog. I wanted to be able to keep our families and friends posted on our progress, meet other adoptive families that will be able to support us in a unique way and to hopefully raise awareness about adoption and open other peoples’ hearts and minds to the possibility. I am actually quite surprised by how quickly I have met other adoptive moms and the support, friendship and guidance they have offered has been invaluable. I love stalking their blogs for updates on their progress through the process or hearing about how things are going when they bring their children home. I’m not sure if I’ll ever know if I made a difference in terms of raising awareness about adoption but that’s okay. Hopefully, I am planting a seed and if it’s right then the seed will grow.

Even though there won’t be much to report on our personal adoption journey for the next 9 months or so, I still plan on keeping the blog updated as Damon and I continue to educate ourselves about Ethiopia and try to bring awareness about issues pertaining to Africa in general. We’ll also try to do some fun things to help pass the time. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

I know the wait is going to be hard but for now I am rejoicing in reaching this very important milestone! We WILL be parents someday.

It is for us to pray not for tasks equal to our powers, but for powers equal to our tasks, to go forward with a great desire forever beating at the door of our hearts as we travel toward our distant goal. – Helen Keller