It's lonely in the blog world this time

One of the hardest parts of this adoption has been the lack of blogging buddies. When we adopted Thomas there were no blogs to be read. Oh, I'm sure there were some out there, but I didn't know that. It was our first time adopting and there was so much to do! His adoption took only eight months from the very beginning until the day he came home. I didn't have time to search the internet and had no idea that there were blogs.

When we adopted Grace, our agency had a listserv for families to stay in touch. Through that we were able to find blogs. Many, many, MANY blogs by families who were in the Ethiopian adoption process. I found it so helpful to follow others' journeys and was able to email people who were traveling to get their children. Many people were able to take pictures of Grace for us so we could get regular updates. Then there was a glitch! Our adoption was put on hold (along with many others) because of some falsified documents regarding another child--not ours. I can't tell you how helpful it was to have people praying for us, to have a place to beg for those prayers, and to read encouraging comments from people I still hadn't met yet. Then, two months later it was our turn to travel. I loved being able to pack precious gifts sent by families waiting to go get their children. I took photos of all the children who were matched with families--even took a few videos. Those photos meant so much to the families waiting to travel. But this time it's so different.

I've only found a couple of blogs for families waiting to adopt from China. It's a totally different (electronic) world. I don't know if the families are just not interested in keeping up a blog, or if there's some other listserv out there that I haven't heard of. All I know is that it feels so lonely in this waiting. Soon enough we will be on a plane with anticipation growing every mile, to meet our youngest daughter. I will be excited to meet other families in Beijing and Guangzhou--Guangzhou especially! But, I am still sad that I haven't been able to make those lasting adoption-momma friendships that I made during Grace's adoption. P.S. I love you guys! I love learning about how God has called you all to continue adoption, to advocate for the fatherless, to help mothers be able to keep their children, and to spread the Gospel into areas of the world that haven't heard it yet. Keep up the good work and know that I cherish your friendships.