Adoption stories

My mother's friend and I have recently sent in our adoption stories to a woman who is making a book about--our's, and-- other people's adoption stories. Everybody who sent in a story also sent in a photo of something that reminds them of the baby. I sent in a photo of a care bear, since our nursery's theme is, of course, care bears. I just emailed her to ask her about how far she is in the processing of the book, and she recently emailed me back and said it's going fine, and right now she's looking for someone to illistruate the book. I think it's supposed to come out this Fall/Winter. I will find out the name, and post it some time this month. I will even be getting a free copy!!! How cool is that??? I'm also going to be in an article of a magazine, called Discovery Girl.

Here is the story I wrote for it, you can also be looking for it in a book soon:


******BRINGING BABY HOME******


I’m eleven years old, and the oldest daughter in my family. When I heard that we were going to adopt a baby girl, I was happy. I felt like it would give this family a new “adventure”, and make it fun. So, I’d like to tell you about our story from beginning to end. The story (that’s still in progress) to bring Kenzie (our baby) home. It’s full of boringness, and excitement. Here it is:

First thing first. We needed to choose a good agency. An agency that could help us bring her home safely. So my parents looked into it, and found an agency called Great Wall of China adoption agency. They then started on paperwork, and afterwards a social worker came to my home to give the OK for us to adopt. She made reports, and had people look over them. It took forever!!! And, (finally), just as we had thought, (and hoped), the answer was yes. That’s when the real work began. We’d then have to send paper work to Austin, Illinois, and even go to the Chinese consulate in Houston.

But there’s also tons of fun stuff to do, not just paperwork. That’s when I came in. I decided to give myself the job of decorating, designing, and basically “creating” her nursery. My younger sister is a care bear fanatic, and so when we saw some care bear crib bedding she just had to have it for Kenzie’s room. So, it was decided that her nursery would become a place for her care bears that couldn’t fit in my room (that we are now sharing). My dad also recently got her a new crib, and her room is full of little people, Barney the purple dinosaur, Sesame Street, and tons of books. She even has an American Girl Bitty baby (which I bought). I also can not tell you how many times I have had to move everything in her room around, or how it seems to get really, really, messy even though she’s not here yet. One of the things that I’ve also started during this time is a blog. Which you can read at: adoptingfromchina-afc.blogspot.com, but it may not have been updated for a while. Since our life is so busy, but it’s still cool.

Adopting a sister from China meant having to travel there, and I wanted to do just that. So, I asked my dad. And to show him how much I wanted to go there, I came home and made a packing list for China (which is sort of “in progress”). The list includes thing like: towels, diaper rash cream, and small toys for the baby. He said yes, and after Kylie saw a movie about Chinese orphans, she had her mind set on China also. Now my dad is even letting my brother go, but he’s only going because we’re going to Hong Kong Disney land. It’s also cool how almost all of my family is going this list of people includes: my grandma, grandpa, possibly my other grandma, and possibly my aunt and uncle. It’s something memorable, and I think that they should go. It’s going to be so much fun!!!!

Once we finally got our L.I.D (log-in-date), the real wait began. Our L.I.D is November 17, 2005. But right now the CCAA is only on May 30th, (or something like that). What a L…O…N…G… wait! Who knows how long it’ll be till we actually get our referral. But it’s all in good time. Hopefully our “journey” will end in China soon!!!

We also made it to the review room, but it doesn’t feel like were one step head from where we were. It feels like were a step backwards, since they keep extending the wait. After this we’ll be matched with a baby (I think), but it’s so very hard to imagine that it might take a year extra to be matched. Why should it take so long? I’m hoping it will go by sooner than expected!!!

We found a waiting child on the list that my dad wanted to apply for her, so we applied. We applied for a (really) cute two year-old, but I couldn’t look at her photo because I didn’t want to get attached, and then get turned down. Well, we did end up getting turned down, and are back on the regular (long) list for a baby. In a way though, it’s sort of a relief, and we decided it would be best to have a younger one anyway. Especially since most of the stuff we have is for a younger child anyway. In a way, we did it impulsively, she probably went with a family who’s perfect for her.

I hope it’ll go by soon!!! But, I doubt it, since it’s been over one hundred and ninety-four days, and the line doesn’t seem to be moving. But it’s so worth it for my future baby sister. Even though the wait got bumped from six months to almost a full year, my family and I will probably still travel this year. I’m so lucky to be getting a new sister, and the baby we get will be lucky to have us.

One day our journey will end, our journey to Kenzie will be over. But it’ll be the start of a beautiful new one. Full of excitement and fun. Especially if we go for another baby after this. Even though the wait’s long it’s still fun to meet new people, and it teaches you things. It’s a one time experience, and I’m glad I’ll be part of it. Were waiting to bring baby home!!!!