It's National Adoption Week!

There is some great press getting out there for National Adoption Week and I have been able to read some inspiring stories. I thought I should blog during such an important week, but blog what?

We are waiting, waiting, waiting, not even on the first rung, what could I possibly blog about? Then the lovely Twitterette @jinxi1 suggested some eminently sensible topics and it came to me that a summary of even such a short time as a prospective adopter would be useful. After all, it is becoming clear to me that 'waiting' is the very essence of the adoption process for a while!

So where is my head at? We ran full tilt at the process as soon as we knew it was something we wanted to consider and now it feels a bit like running through glue. The rest of the blog lays it out but to cut a long story short we have filled in our first forms and are waiting for our first visit. It isn't likely to happen for a few months. Surprisingly, though, I don't feel that frustrated any more. Instead, I feel a bit like you do when you leave your most favourite food until last, just to eke out the anticipation.

I apologise if you think that comparing a child that needs a home with a plate of food is somehow wrong, but what I'm trying to get across is that I know that there is potentially the most wonderful experience over there on the horizon and it's nice just to look at it for a while before I start moving towards it.

You can, of course, remind me I said this when I'm having a rant in a few months, by the way.

It isn't my head alone that I am talking about either. There is my wonderful, patient, caring hubby - already a fantastic stay at home Dad to our 7 year old son. I know that the two of them are going to deal with it just fine, as I have witnessed this conversation between them:

Son: 'lets talk about adopting a brother or sister'
Hubby: 'well, you know it might take a while, don't you, years even - it's not like going down to the supermarket where they have bar codes on their bums - "bleep - £10.99 please"'
Son: (much giggling)
Hubby: (mimes waving children at a barcode scanner a bit more, with slightly more frantic sound effects)
Son: (now actually laughing out loud) 'no... it's not like that'

There is also a wider circle (not that wide just yet) of people who we have told of our plans. There has been no rhyme or reason involved in who we have told and when, just the right time, place... Perhaps this is why those few people have been wonderful, they are getting excited for us, with us. They realise we are sharing something very special with them.

So, we are ready to wait, because we can see the amazing stories of other adopters unfolding before us and we can only hope that ours will become an amazing story too.