The Start...

Earlier this week Nghia and I attended our first adoption meeting, Introduction to Domestic Adoption. We listened to a social worker carefully outline the long process we will need to go through in order to adopt our baby. We received a folder packed with information, as well as our initial application.
When we walked back to our car after the meeting, I felt like we had officially begun this exciting process. But the truth is, our journey began a long time ago...

I have always wanted to adopt a baby. Many years before Nghia and I met in 2004, I always knew it was something I was meant to do. I hoped I would be lucky enough to have biological children as well (I wanted to experience a pregnancy.), but I knew that no matter what, I would adopt a child. There was a feeling deep inside of me, a voice that I could clearly hear, that told me that at least one of my children would not grow inside of me. I can't explain this feeling, but I can say that it has always been strong and my desire to adopt a baby is something I have always talked about very openly and honestly.

I consider it a small miracle that I married a man who has the same feeling. Perhaps Nghia didn't spend years thinking about adoption, but when I first began telling him about my profound desire to one day do it, he was immediately open to the idea. I don't think I will ever be able to adequately express how grateful I am for this, that my partner is so willing and excited to do something so many people feel reluctant to consider. Nghia doesn't believe in God or that everything happens for a reason, but I do, and I believe with every ounce of myself that he and I were meant to be together. Our amazing biological children, Khai and Avi, are meant to be with us, and there is a baby whose spirit is somewhere out there right now, who is meant to be a part of our family. That baby will complete our family, he or she will be our third child, and Khai and Avi's sibling. When the time is right, that baby will begin to grow inside of a woman we don't yet know, but we will always be connected to in the deepest possible way. This woman, whomever she may be, is already one of the strongest women I will ever know. She is the real hero in this, the person solely responsible for completing our family. The gratitude I already feel towards her cannot possibly be adequately described.

The day after the meeting I began working on our initial application. When this is completed, we will mail it to the agency and a social worker will be assigned to our case. Shortly after that we will meet with her and she will help us navigate the next steps in this process. Our next meeting after that, an all day education course, will take place in November. After that we will have several more classes, several more meetings, many more forms to fill out and essays to write... If we stay on top of it (and of course we will) we will be done in February. And that's when the real waiting will begin...

Khai and Avi