Heart and Soul Preparations

We have been on this adoption journey for almost a year and now we are in the full swing of preparations for what may be a trip to meet our son in a few short weeks! As I have previously posted I have been busy checking on airline tickets, shopping for new little clothes, and picking up the odds and ends that we will need for our trip. One thing I have not talked about however is the issue of accepting what has been given to you even when it is not necessary what you had planned for or expected. We had hoped, intended and prepared for the adoption of two more children, one under the age of 18 months and another up to age 3. It turns out that our soon to be son is almost 3 and by his height on the growth chart he is probably older. We are fully prepared for this, as it was almost a exact same scenario when we adopted our daughter from Ethiopia, so I have the whole toddler transition and age determination thing down pretty well. This is one area where being a child psychologist really helps! I am REALLY excited to get to know his personality and to experience so many joyful moments when we take him for many first experiences with us. The cool thing about toddlers is they do not hold back in their emotions. This can be hard when they are not happy but oh so wonderful to witness when they are overjoyed by new experiences. I am saying all of this because I don't want to give anyone the wrong impression with what else I am about to say. The honest thing is, while I am celebrating that we will soon have a new son in our family, I am also grieving that we will not also be adding a baby and second daughter to our family. All this time my children were asking about babies, and my daughter really wants a little sister. We even bought a new highchair, car seat, baby gates, all that stuff that we have not needed in a long time. Well it turns out we probably will not be needing that stuff now anyways. We are still waiting to hear if there is a possibility for us to receive a referral for a second younger child but it is looking more and more like this will be logistically very difficult. I am not giving up hope, so please pray that perhaps our son will also have a baby sister from his country of birth. In the time being we are preparing for and getting ready for our new big boy regardless of what happens with our request for a baby sister.