If anyone has any questions about China Adoption that I didn't address during a recent webinar, please
email me or leave a comment here and I'll do my best!
In participating in a recent Webinar for our Adoption Agency, Holt International, of course the moment I was off the phone I was able to think of a million things I wish I said! Like for the person who asked about the plane ride home, I wish I could answer again that those many, many hours from China to the States seem to fly by! You almost wish they were longer as strange as that sounds! It's this moment that is yours and your child's and nobody else quite yet. And yup, the child may cry on the plane but you've had them for two weeks at this point and you'll have found your way to knowing what actions, food, toys offer them comfort. Oddly, even after an 8 hour delay in leaving Hong Kong, I was sad in seeing China become a little dot in the view of the window.
I wish I could have shared how much you love your child once it's placed in your arms but that's I guess one of those mysteries of motherhood. When asked why did we adopt, the short answer is, "How else would I have had my girls?" I just knew my children were "out there" and I always desired and knew it would be through adoption.
A friend who has biological children said she could never imagine "not knowing" the child before you brought the child home. I adore this friend, but I don't think that she "got it!" In an almost giddy way, I embrace the discovery of finding out who my children are...and that stays true on a daily bases. I always knew I wanted to adopt and while I didn't carry our children in my body, I carried them in my heart long before they were in my arms. As corny as it sounds, if the heart is ready, all else falls into place.
You embrace that there are differences from being handed a newborn to someone who has been born for a while, and existed prior to you loving them. It becomes a wonderful odessey of finding out who is this little person is! I suppose there are challenges no matter how one brings their child into their family but patience, love and humor, for me, are key! We went to the other side of the world for our children so even a temper tantrum, while not indulged, is something I embrace as part of the wonderment "of it all!"
Most of all I wish I could have explained how you fall madly in love with this child; this little being and embrace every single peaceful and chaotic moment as part of the fabric of how they have come into your world or is it how we have come into theirs! Much affection/ Collene
