Where We've Been

Who knows when this journey really began.  Perhaps God has been preparing us for this our whole lives- that is probably true.  What we do know is that about seven years ago we finally decided getting pregnant probably wasn't going to happen and we wanted kids.  Adoption seemed a good option to add to our family and we heard there were lots of healthy baby girls in China who needed a home.  We could apply, do our paperwork, and travel to bring our baby home in about 9-10 months.  However, we had to wait until we turned 30.  So we waited and things changed.  The wait times drastically increased.  We did our paperwork and sent our dossier to China in January 2007.  The wait times have increased so much that we would still be waiting to bring home a healthy baby girl with that dossier if we hadn't taken a detour.
A few months later that same year, I saw a picture of a little boy on our adoption agencies website.  I knew instantly he was my son.  He was three years old and had a special need.  This was not at all the direction we had planned to go, but I was shaking all over and knew he was special.  When Ryan came home and I told him, he said "Call them, call right now!"  Of course, it was like 8 p.m. and they weren't open.  When we did call they said someone else is looking at his file.  We waited two days and then got the call.  He is available.  You can pursue his adoption.
We did and brought Nicholas home that August.  He changed our lives.  He is an amazing kid.
Six months later, we ready to do it again.  We thought for sure this time we were meant to bring home our daughter, Rylie.  But then we saw a picture of another little boy.  And in the summer of 2009, we were finally able to bring Alex home.  We can't imagine life without him.  It was a big adjustment and we looked at our finances and said we have to be done.
But last summer, I watched our friends bring home their second little girl from China.  I cried every time I read their updates and I knew we had to start the process again.  We started looking at every possible option to find something we could afford.  We put our house on the market.  Long story short, here we are.  Finally able to bring home our daughter.  So yes, it has been a very long journey to bring Rylie home but she will be worth the wait.