Always Adoption

Back in 2001, I had an amazing opportunity to volunteer for a month in a Romanian orphanage and children's hospital. At the time, Romania was moving towards getting the children out of orphanages and into foster care homes. I was responsible for training foster care families and orphanage staff on issues relative to occupational therapy such as feeding, sensory integration and childhood development. I also had time to spend time with the children and in some cases, provided occupational therapy services (there is no such thing as occupational therapy in Romania). The staff was amazing, and on the whole, more than willing to learn anything they could to improve the quality of life for these children. They truly cared about the children but there was only so much that they could do when only there eight hours a day.

I can remember spending time in the infant rooms. The children were often fed with their bottles propped on blankets. They missed out on the bonding and socialization that happens when one is fed by a caregiver. When holding the infants, it felt like they couldn't get comfortable in my arms, as if they didn't know how to snuggle. Never once did a baby fall asleep while I was holding or rocking them. They were so used to calming and putting themselves to sleep that they couldn't do it with another person's touch. The older children craved attention from adults, one as adorable as the next, yet they lacked play and social skills that children raised in a loving home have. Being in Romania was hard and leaving Romania was hard...how could I find the balance to leave an impact in a mere month and emotionally separate myself so as not to get too attached?

I returned home with the resolve to adopt one day. There are so many children in the world without a loving family to come home to, a bed to sleep in, toys to play with, and food to fill their bellies. My Romanian experience helped me to realize that adoption was how I wanted to become a mother. At the time, Steve and I were dating. He was more than supportive of me when I decided to go to Romania for a month. And when I returned, he considered and then shared in my desire of adoption being part of our way to have a family.

So for us it has always been adoption...it is our choice, our dream come true, our way of becoming the parents we have always wanted to be.

It's Really Happening!

Sometimes I have to pause and think "this is really happening!". I don't think it will sink in until we arrive at the orphanage and meet our kiddos!! We've decided to keep their Ethiopian names as these were given to them by their birth parents and this will be a connection they will always have with their families in Ethiopia. They will have the middle names Thomas (after my father) and Rose (after Steve's mother). We still can't post their names until after the court date....stay tuned!
We booked our flights and our accommodations in Ethiopia. We are leaving November 5th for home to spend the weekend with our family then depart Philadelphia November 7th for Ethiopia! We have a (few hour) layover in Frankfurt and arrive in Addis Ababa Monday night, November 8th. We will be able to visit "Thomas" and "Rose" Tuesday and can spend 2 hours a day at the orphanage. Our court date is Friday, November 12th. We decided to stay in a guest home as we would like to experience Ethiopia and it's culture as much as possible and feel a hotel might not give us the full experience. So, that is three weeks from today! Wow! It's really going to happen!! We are going to meet "Thomas" and "Rose" in less than a month!

AMAZING NEWS!!!

We have a court date!!!!! It will be November 12th (or possibly the 15th) but either way we are going to Ethiopia to meet our kids in five weeks!!! AMAZING!!!

It's been awhile

It has been a long time since my last post and so much has happened. We were home (back east) at the end of August to visit family and friends, share our news and to celebrate my birthday. We are so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends...our kids are already so loved by many people who can't wait to meet them! Soon after we returned, my Mom and (Joe) Dad came for a visit. Let's just say their visit wasn't a "vacation" for them...they worked so hard to help us get the kids rooms ready. Our little guy's room is blue with an earth/space theme ceiling fan and our little girl's room is pink (I couldn't help it!) with a pastel multicolored fan. Getting the rooms painted makes this all seem more real and more exciting!

The Ethiopian courts were closed for several weeks and just reopened on September 28th. So now our "wait take two" begins as we wait for our court date. We've been told that there are families in our agency that have been waiting several months for a court date so we are realistic in thinking that we won't be given one for a few months....but certainly would welcome one sooner!