I just got a wonderful email from the AWOP director with pictures attached. Our kids are beautiful and we now have pictures of them with Grandma that I’m sure will be a treasure for them when the arrive.
We can’t post pictures of them until they are legally ours, so this is all you get – their hands, holding our family picture.
We are going to have quite the international extended family around here. My brother Phil and his wife Trish are about to submit their adoption agency application this month. Yippee!! They are submitting concurrently to two countries – Kyrgyzstan and China.
Yeah, I didn’t know where Kyrgyzstan was either 🙂 According to Wikipedia, it is a country in Central Asia. Landlocked and mountainous, it is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east. It is a fairly new country to the world of international adoptions.
For those not up on all the adoption specifics – China currently has a 2-3 year wait to receive a referral for a child. So many families chose to apply to China and another country (with a shorter wait) at the same time. So Phil & Trish could have a child from Kyrgyzstan by the end of the year, and then would already be “in line” in China.
We are super excited for them. They are going to be awesome parents!! Phil, you need a blog!
During our initial home study visit our social worker talked about the fact that during the adoption process we need to reach a point where we “claim” the kids as ours. Not just in words as “these are the kids we are going to adopt” but truly claim them as part of our family.
I’m not exactly sure at what point that happened for me, but I had realized it a few days earlier when we received the updated medical profiles on W-boy and B-girl. As I was pouring over the details I was excited to find birthdays. But then my heart plummeted. B-girl had turned seven just 18 days before. I had missed my little girls birthday. I felt horrible. Rationally, I know there was nothing to be done and it wasn’t my fault but I still felt like I had missed a major event.
Well, it seems as if someone else has “claimed” W-boy and B-girl. Today I was going through stacks of papers from the kids and found a folded up sheet. I almost tossed it without looking, but boy am I glad I didn’t. This comes from Noah, our 8 year old, who is a rather quiet and reserved kid (well at least when it comes to emotional stuff).
Can you read that – under “My Family” he has listed 2 sisters and 1 brother. He counted W-boy and B-girl.
It honestly made me cry 🙂
Of course I haven’t told him that, cuz that would be “embarrassing” and he’d roll his eyes at me. Cuz he’s 8.
*Updated: Okay, I just showed this to Mark and the first thing he noticed? He doesn’t list his mom and dad. So I guess he’s not claiming us. Probably cuz we’re embarassing 🙂