BLESSING FROM A NEW FRIEND...

I recently began corresponding with a new friend who is in the process of adopting from St. Vincent and the Grenadines. She said something to me today that will forever stay in my heart; it was something that I truly needed to hear at this exact moment in our journey. More than she probably even realizes, she blessed me richly and the way I had been looking at our adoption journey has since changed. She said:

'Seeing the 1st smile or hearing mama for the 1st time or seeing the child take their 1st step….I thought I needed to be there for all of that. I also thought I needed to get pregnant so I could feel the unconditional love growing inside me! You know what…I really don’t have the desire anymore for that beginning stage. Those feeling that I felt I needed…the 1st smile, the 1st time I hear mama, the 1st step….we will still get to experience all of that! Everything that my son does for US will be the 1st! I have never held my son or looked into his eyes but the amount of love I have for him amazes me! He may not have been growing inside me…but he most certainly has been growing.'

Desiree

FASHION SENSE OR FASHION NONSENSE?

Any guesses as to why Scott bought this shirt?

HOLLAND???

I recently was watching a DVD about the transition that one must go through from infertility to adoption. Although this poem more specifically was written from a parent having to face that their child was born with a disability, the theme of the poem still holds true for one who has dealt with infertility - each must go through the same path of loss, grief and then finally acceptance. It speaks straight to my heart each time I read it; if anything it gives me a little glimpse of hope and reassures me that although things are not how I originally planned for them to be, in the end Holland can be just as wonderful and special of a place to visit.

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WELCOME TO HOLLAND
By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy." But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around...and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills...and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy...and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things...about Holland.