Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Waiting for ...


Originally uploaded by 锺樂海



I just found this article in the Joint Council website. It describes exactly what means and what is like to be waiting for a child in International Adoption:

We spend our lives waiting: to get our driver’s license, to finish school, for all the adult pleasures we’ve anticipated. But few of those times require the patience needed to wait for our children when we are in the midst of an international adoption. Once the rush stage is done and all the paperwork has been submitted and sent to our child’s country, the true wait begins — and it is one that makes us weak and strong at the same time.
The weakness comes from feelings of uncertainty (Will it really happen?); of lack of control (especially difficult for those of us who usually cope by taking charge); of insecurity (Will we make good parents? Will our children love us?). The strength comes from learning to trust ourselves and others (our agency and authorities in our child’s country); learning to have faith that something so abstract now will be concrete soon (holding our children); learning all we can during this time (from books, friends, family, and our own instincts).
Only two certainties
In essence, this time of waiting for our children is a combination of fear and happy anticipation, mixed with ingredients of patience, faith, trust in people we don’t know, some sorrow and possibly anger about delays or changes here and abroad over which we have no control, and a large portion of hope. For there are two certainties in international adoption — the first being that eventually we will have our children (not necessarily from the first country we planned on), and the second being that in the meantime there will be delays, possible difficulties, and much less information and control than we would like. If we weather the frustrations, retain our hope, and refuse to give up if we need to change direction, there is no way that we’ll fail to get a child, once our home study is approved.

Waiting

Yep, we are waiting... but now we are waiting for two. We are sending an update request to USCIS and Colombia for siblings up to four years old.



Monday, February 1, 2010

2010


Hi!!!

2010 is the year! Yes, it is the year to renew our adoption paperwork. My hopes of becoming a mother will start maybe in 2011 or 2012, no hurries here :-)

Just a quick recap of the past couple of months. We spent Christmas and New Years in Chile, eating great seafood, drinking the best wine in the world (well, we will have to travel to the rest of the world to make sure this is a true statesman), and enjoying the warm weather!!!! I was there for work, and the company sent my husband so we could be together for the holidays. It is so cool that they could do that as we both work for the same company!

Other than that, we have been working as always and trying to sell our house! So far, nobody wants this beautiful place.

Next update to this blog? Maybe whenever we get the renewal from immigration. Who knows? Maybe before, maybe later...