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Each time I feel hesitant in sharing our personal adoption stories, people come into our lives that affirm these stories need to be told. If we can help even one family on their journey or one of the fatherless find their home, a little bit of vulnerability is worth it.
This is the story of us meeting our daughter for the first time and it begins on September 11, 2016.
That song has been playing through my head today over and over. It is so hard to believe, but we are finally here!! This week 2 years ago, we sent in our application to Holt to adopt this little girl and now our bags are packed and we are getting ready to go on yet another ginormous voyage / adventure to bring Mia into our family. Ty has been super excited all week and today, he’s been jumping up and down saying, “We’re going to get my sister!!”. He has been saying the sweetest prayers for us the last few days too with things like, “Please give Mom & Dad a safe trip to Thailand” and “Help them to be calm and bring my sister home safely”. Love this boy so much!
Speaking of prayers… thank you to all of you who are praying for us. I turned a corner this week and went from being completely overwhelmed to as calm as I have ever been. This is not me, so thank you, already for covering us in prayer for this trip. They are already felt and so very appreciated. The to-do list has been accomplished (although I’m not as happy with our language reminders as I could be), the house is clean, the packing list checked off.
I feel like I finally understand (a little bit) what pregnant women feel when they are expecting their second child. I often heard them say that they look forward to going into labor because it’s like a little getaway. I’ve never understood that until now. I’ve always thought, “You look forward to pushing a human being out of your body?!!”. But as we’ve been preparing for this trip, I am actually looking forward to 24+ hours of travel tomorrow and I’m getting that same “REALLY!?” response like it is the worst thing in the world. I get to spend 24+ hours watching movies, reading, sleeping, being fed, and hanging out with Aaron all by myself! It’s like a really long date in a slightly uncomfortable chair, but I am actually looking forward to it (not so much the swollen ankles that tend to come with this territory).
We worked this week to make sure that today was as normal as a day before a trip to Thailand to grow your family could be (except for this feeling that has been creeping up on me all day – like when you go to a Harry Connick Jr. concert and you have an empty seat next to you and you wonder for a split second if he could actually come sit next to you before the concert starts – or is that just me?). It feels like Christmas. Our bags are all packed and we’ve spent the day as a family of 3 for the last time. We played games, went swimming, I cleaned while the boys watched soccer and football. We had one last round of tacos with the fam and the boys mowed the yard, Ty close behind Aaron mimicking everything he did. We sat outside and soaked in what are sure to be our last few moments of Summer weather here. I will cherish this day always.
Tomorrow, we wake up early, pack up our remaining gear (hoping that it makes it safely on a plane without any hiccups), drop off Ty at my parents, give him one more giant hug, and then we are off. It feels like the most normal thing ever, that we would be getting on a plane tomorrow to go meet our girl. I am sure it is going to be an emotional roller coaster, but for tonight, there is peace. All is well.
