Decisions

Decisions are always there waiting for you. During the adoption process it seems families have to make many decisions, which agency, what gender, what age, what country, what special needs, how are we going to raise the money, what are we going to share with friends, will we take our other children or not, will both parents go or not, do I pay an expedited fee, do I redo the bedroom, along with so many other decisions...do we fix the one car we have to sell it and get a car with no payments so the money can go toward the adoption, do we move to a less expensive house so we can put the money toward the adoption, do we dip into our 401k or Life Insurance for the adoption. Not all families have the same decisions as each other. Everyone's story is different. Along the way in most families the husband and wife sit down to discuss the issues, options and make a decision. As a single parent there is no one to discuss with. It is all YOU! You make the decision every single time. Some of them are so hard but you do it because you have to. Some of them are easy. Some of them seem way too hard to decide on your own.

I have a friend who lives about an hour way, she is single, has other children in the home, is adopting from China, is picking up a 3 year old boy, and is traveling in Oct. Sounds just like me, right? Well, we met through facebook and she came to one of my adoption fundraising events (our Barn Dinner and Dance). It is important to have that other person to bounce things off of when you are making decisions or having a hard time. Last night we talked on the phone for almost two hours. It felt so great to be there for her when she needed me. I know God put us in each other's lives for a reason. I can not say the reasons but we know and we understand. Thank you God for the blessing. <wink, I will be your other half...lol>

I love supporting others, advocating for the little ones to find families, watching so many friends during their journey. I even started a facebook support group for those families that had LID in May. We are all in the same exact place in our adoption process but it doesn't stop once you get that child. I know several groups do a secret pal before their child is home but I suggested in my group that we do a secret supporter. After the child is home with the family you are matched up with you send monthly cards to your family supporting them and encouraging them. That is when they really need it to get through the new trials, routines, lack of sleep, doctor appointments, etc. I know I plan to send a card to probably everyone in my group each month. Support and encouragement are important.

I had to make tough decisions yesterday too. We were planning on leaving Oct 8th and staying in Beijing on hotel points but we decided yesterday that we would leave Oct 9th or 10th (depending on airfare and available flights) and go straight to Guangzhou. We would be skipping Beijing and leaving China on Oct 21st as late as possible arriving in FL on Oct 22nd in the evening. That cuts our costs by quite a bit of money. So that being said we now have to start pushing to raise the rest of the funds. Please consider helping us. We have to raise the InCountry fees of $12,500. Please share and help.