Captain Kangaroo

I have been taking the time to read others' blogs. I have been trying to get a grip on what it will be like when they call us with our referral. It seems like that part is the opposite of the birth process with biological children. With biological children you go through all the work and labor pains before you get to see them. During an adoption, they send you a picture and then the labor pains kick in... scheduling travel, packing, a 20+ hour flight. Both processes, biological and adoptive, are fine with me, I can't say I would prefer one over the other... just that they are different.

The last couple days there have been announcements of referrals with our agency. It is so exciting. Many of these families have been waiting seven or eight months, and then, out of the blue, the phone rings and you just start packing for Ethiopia. Well, of course, there is more waiting and paperwork between referral and travel, but I am sure when these families have baby in arm, all those details of paperwork will be forgotten. Again, a lot like the pain of natural childbirth... I mean if we really remembered that, we wouldn't have more than one child. The joy out weighs the pain exponentially. And some people adopt more than one child, so I have to assume the forgetting is the same with adoption.

I am so ridiculously in love with children lately. I feel horribly bad for my friends who have young children, and even for my own children. I oogle over the young children of my friends, offering popsicles and treats and engaging the children as if I have never seen a young child before. The children are so tolerant, allowing me to fawn over them and carry them around - I suppose a lot of that has to do with the bribery of food - but whatever works. As for my own children, I carry them around too. Angelisa, age 8, Naven, age 5 - carried. Two weeks ago in church I was holding them both, one on each hip. My children, they enjoy it, but I wonder what long term consequences I am creating for myself. I mean, I only have two arms. I suppose if we adopt only one more child, I can move one to my back, at that point Angelisa should be 9, I picture her on my back and another child in each arm. Now if we adopt two more children I'll have to get more creative. Maybe some tips from our friends the marsupials.