I realized that this Memorial Day marked something of an anniversary for our family. Six years ago, we were at the beginning stages of our adoption process. Six years seems like such a long time in some ways (my soon-to-be fourth graders were in diapers?!), but it also seems incredibly short in others. It’s amazing to me that in just six years, we’ve added five children and are working on bringing home our 6th and 7th! That means we’ll have adopted 7 kids in 7 years. Wowza! Actually, now that I think about it, we’ll have brought 11 kids into our family in a mere 14 years. Wowza again!

I looked back at my journal today to see what had been on my mind before all this adoption craziness started. ;) Here’s an excerpt from my journal, dated 27 May 2002:

"Today is Memorial Day, and I realized this morning that last Memorial Day, we had taken the four kids to the park to play and take family pictures to be included in our dossier for China. We took the kids to the same park today, and I thought a lot about how far we had come in the adoption process. We started things back in April 2001, and here it is, over a year later, and we are still waiting. It’s funny how much a part of our family our baby is, without her even being here. We talk about her all the time and Jonah and Ethan especially seem to enjoy thinking about what things will be like when she gets here. They can recite all the important steps in the process: “Mommy and daddy will go on the plane to China. Grandma will come and stay with us. Our sister will come home on the plane with mommy and daddy. We will teach her how to walk. We will teach her how to talk. She will have black hair and brown eyes,” etc.

"I can’t believe how much we love her already. I tell myself everyday that I CAN’T wait any longer, but somehow, we all just keep going. I think it is weighing especially heavily on my mind today because it’s my “due date.” Our dossier was logged in by the China Center for Adoption Affairs on 28 Aug. 2001, so it has been exactly nine months since the “real” wait began. I keep thinking, there’s supposed to be a baby at the end of the nine months, right? Sigh..."

This morning, Maizie and I were in the kitchen together and I pulled her up onto my lap for a hug. I was struck, as I occasionally am, with how much she’s grown and how much our family has changed since she joined us. We often refer to her as She Who Started It All because we had such a wonderful experience with her adoption and because she has inspired us to keep doing it. :)

I can’t wait to look back on my journal six more years from now!

Further Reading:

International Adoption Blog
China Adoption Blog