Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Becoming Color Aware

As you may already know, there is a lot of training and reading involved in the adoption process.  Daniel and I had to complete many hours of online training, read articles and even do homework as part of our home study assessment.  One of our take-aways from the training was the idea of being color aware instead of color blind.  When we become color aware we acknowledge that there is a difference but we do not place expectations, stereotypes and labels on people.  Becoming color aware allows us to appreciate an individual's culture, ethnicity and heritage.  I have always felt drawn to people of different ethnicity and really enjoy learning about different cultures, languages, etc. 

As we have navigated our way through the adoption process it has been such a neat experience to see our precious E develop color awareness.  No matter where we go, whether it be the playground, grocery store, mall or even Chick-fil-A our little girl is drawn to children who are of Asian descent.  She often comments on how her little sister might look like a certain individual we encounter while we are out and about.   I absolutely LOVE this.

Just this past weekend we went to Chick-Fil-A and then made a trip to IKEA.  While at CFA, E went to play in the play place.  Immediately she approached a little Asian girl and began to play with her.  Later E told me that she had asked the little girl if she was from Chi.na and told her that she was going to bring her little sister home from Chi.na.  Later that same day while we were in IKEA E spotted a doll that looked Asian and immediately asked if we could purchase it for baby sister. 

We have tried to encourage E in this area of becoming color aware by introducing books and toys that depict Asian children.  We are so looking forward to the day that our sweet Little A joins our family and finds dolls and books in her room with children who look like her.  It is our hope and prayer that Little A would know that we have not become color blind but that we are color aware and that we want to incorporate her heritage into our home. 

What fun it will be to celebrate Chinese New Year and to share in cultural celebrations that are unlike our own.  We are looking forward to creating some new family traditions that will blend both the Chinese and American cultures as we strive to help our daughters become more and more color aware.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Encouraged

One of the most wonderful parts about the adoption journey has been the support and encouragement of friends and family and even people who were strangers to us when the journey began who are now in our cheering section.  Daniel and I both know that we could not walk this road alone.  It is a long road and the journey that led us to this place was even longer (not just time wise but experience wise, if that makes sense).

It is such a blessing to receive phone calls, emails and messages on FB inquiring how things are going, where are we in the process and are there any new developments.  On the days when it seems like we might wait forever we catch a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel and have the opportunity to share our story with someone.

I have been blown away by the kindness of brothers and sisters in Christ whom we know through other friends who have donated time, energy, services and even financial resources to make this possible.  Our concert and silent auction back in April was one such example.  We received auction items from people we have never met, families attended because they heard about the event from a friend and wanted to support us, dear friends reached out on our behalf and on behalf of a little girl whom we have yet to meet.  Our garage sale in May was another such example.  We had 3 garages full of donated items to sell at our sale, much of it coming from people we have never met.  Strangers who have stumbled across our blog have sponsored puzzle pieces to bring our puzzle completion to over 1100 pieces.  Just a little over 800 pieces to go.  AMAZING and so OVERWHELMING!

Thank you does not even seem an adequate response to all those who have come along side and shared in this journey.  We cannot wait to see where this road leads and hope that through our experiences we are able to encourage and support other families as well.

I share all this today because I woke up feeling encouraged.  Hope you are encouraged as well!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

The Latest

I wish I had lots of exciting news to share today but we are still in the waiting stage.  We have now been on the waiting family list a little over 3 months.  This is possibly the halfway point of our wait on this list, possibly not.  There are so many unknowns in the adoption journey but we have such peace as we wait and encounter glimpses of God's hand all along the way.

We received our 797 approval a little over a week ago and are now diligently working to get our dossier authenticated and to our agency in a timely fashion.  Once our dossier makes it to Holt and they approve it, all of our paperwork will make its way around the world and begin the journey through Ch.na.

Just this morning I had a neat opportunity to share about our adoption journey with another mom at E's swimming lessons.  As we continue our wait I am thankful for opportunities to share our story and encourage others to consider adoption and orphan ministry.