November 11th, 2009... last year, we were on an airplane - headed to China to get our new daughter!
Over the past year, we've had ups and downs.
Good days and bad.
We've had wonderful moments with friends and family where they have loved our Ping, and we've had moments when people just didn't.
Has adoption been what I expected? Hmmmm...
Not really. I mean, the obvious things are there. We adopted a wonderful beautiful girl from China. So, you know, THAT was what we expected.
However, there were some things we (I) did not expect...
I did not expect to be yelled at in Chinese as much as I have been.
I did not expect our daughter to "hold onto" her orphanage life as much as she did.
I did not expect problems in the Kindergarten class (or at least not the KIND of problems as we've had).
I did not expect to have to work so hard to have Ping like me.
I did not expect to have to cut my hair... or shave... just to get her to give me a kiss.
I did not expect to be starting this all again in less than 1 year home.
I did not expect our daughter G to be such a great Big Sister! She really stepped up her game!
I did not expect Ping to hug so strongly.
I did not expect Ping to cuddle up in bed with us almost every night for 10 months straight.
I did not expect to fall in love so quickly with this beautiful little girl.
And there were some things we (I) did expect, which turned out different... but the one prevailing thought thought this all is... it is good.
It has been an exciting and wonderful year! And as we look towards the next year, it is only going to be even better!
To ask myself the question above again, "has adoption been what I expected?", I would have to answer No *.
But it has been exactly what we (I) needed.
* == Its been different/better than expected, we were expecting much more behavior problems.
Ah you guys.....you got me in tears here. I can't believe we're headed to the same orphanage for Kaleb! WOW! LOVED to see your journey to Ping! Blessings & HUGS!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful video and post. And oh!! you had to play my favorite tear jerker song which I played over and over as I was beginning this journey. The Bible verse at the end is amazing. I will take it and I will use it.
ReplyDeleteYour post brought a tear to my eye. Beautiful post on attachment after adoption. Would love for you to add your story to our Adoption Blog Hop.
ReplyDeletehttp://foster2forever.blogspot.com
Congratulations!!!!! Hard to believe how the time flies!
ReplyDeleteWe loved the video!!!! I didn't cry though....me man....me no cry....me Daddy...me no cry....well ok Clarissa kicking me in a certain spot with her nice new running shoes on may have brought a tear or two...but I digress..perhaps a discussion better suited for my bl.....website.
I just dropped over here from the blog hop and this is beautiful. There's something about seeing, the visual, of the journey. As a mom of seven, it still gets to me...every time. THANK YOU!!!!
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