Preparations

It seems that parents blog about their adoption journeys when they are able, and I've got a lot of catching up to do. We began the process with prayer and research in August of 2010, and we applied to our agency in February of 2011.  Now, nearly 17 months later, we are preparing to journey to Inner Mongolia to meet our new daughter. She has a minor special need which may require surgery when we get home. Our other daughters are eager to meet her (or as eager as they can be at 2 and 6), and our church is ready to welcome her home too.

Last year was a lot of paperwork. This year has been a lot of waiting. We were able to be matched with a child in December of 2011, but the match didn't happen until April of 2012. I knew that the shared list had come out the night before, but in the rush to get to co-op I forgot to check my email. The email with her first pictures sat unopened until our social worker called Jasper around noon to see if he'd gotten it. I came home from co-op with the girls to find a fairly rattled Jasper. He'd been surprised. I skimmed over her information and photos while our daughters fought in the background. It wasn't the normal silent, tear-filled exuberance I see in other families' referral moments! But it was the next step in a journey.

Now I'm gathering supplies for the trip, reading adoption books with the girls, and trying to be ok with the fact that I will almost certainly miss the first week of class at my university.  We'll get the date for travel in about a month. We'll be more than ready for it then!!

This is how we met Ju Er: