Inspirations

Throughout this adoption process we have obviously faced lots of questions and Damon and I welcome them. We are eager to tell people all about our adoption and to draw attention to the needs in Ethiopia. As we were driving to my college reunion, Damon said, “Get ready to answer lots of questions about the adoption.” We smiled at each other as he said it though because it is fun to share. Of course we have only been on the waitlist for 2.5 months so maybe as it goes along we’ll tire of some of the questions but for now I enjoy sharing my excitement with others. I was happily surprised the other day when someone asked me if we had any particular inspirations or defining moments that led us to adopt and specifically why we picked Ethiopia. I hadn’t really thought about our decision in terms of inspirations but it was a fun trip down memory lane.

I realized there are a few things I can point to that really touched us and helped us hit send on the initial online application to Gladney. We had been talking about adoption off and on for a while but towards the end of 2008 we were discussing it in more concrete terms. Damon started researching agency websites and I really started getting into reading blogs of women who had adopted or were in process of adopting. Most of the blogs that I read initially were families adopting from Guatemala. I’m not exactly sure how I found these blogs but I was totally hooked and I went back through their archives and read them like novels. I can’t talk about my inspirations to adopt without acknowledging the importance of blogs. Another big thing that happened was that last year I reconnected with one of my best friends from middle school, Valerie. We exchanged a few emails and I found out that Valerie and her husband had adopted a boy from Guatemala. What are the odds!? We got together when I was home for Christmas and it was a defining moment for me. She didn’t know at the time that Damon and I were thinking about adoption but I peppered her with questions and she was a great resource. I also got to know Henry, her son, and he was such a joy. I was instantly part of the Henry fan club. Valerie and Henry have such a good mother-son relationship and he is clearly a happy and loving kid. Looking back, I truly believe that Valerie and I were meant to rekindle our friendship. She was one of the first people I told when we made our decision and she has been a huge support! I am so very grateful.

The other big moment was a day I will never forget. Damon did most of the research on adoption agencies and he had landed on Gladney. I came home from work and Damon told me he had something he wanted me to watch. We went over to the computer and he pressed play on a video that was on Gladney’s Ethiopian website. I had been thinking about adopting from Africa as I envisioned us on our journey so I was very eager to see what he had to show me. Damon warned me that when he watched it earlier that he got a little emotional. I will tell you that I could count on one hand the number of times I have seen Damon cry in the 10 years we have known each other so I knew this had to be big. The video was of a young couple and their trip to Ethiopia to meet their son. There were shots of them on the flight over, the streets of Addis Ababa and of where there son was found abandoned. The part that struck a chord was the end when they were sitting in a waiting room and a Gladney staff member brought their son into the room. It was such a touching moment and I realized I was watching them become a family. I had tears streaming down my face and I looked up at Damon and he said, “I want to adopt from Ethiopia.” It was one of my favorite moments in our marriage.