New Blog!

I'm now blogging at www.greathopes.blogspot.com ~ please stop by!

Closing A Chapter

As Maya's 1 1/2 year birthday draws near, I feel the need to close a chapter.. or rather, open a new one.

We have now fully waded into the sea of paperwork that we can aptly describe as the first trimester of a 'paper' pregnancy. We have, once again, rolled up our pantlegs and set out into the sometimes tumultuous, vast rolling waves of the unknown. Having traveled this direction before, we have a bit more confidence, a tad more emotional armor, and the incredibly comforting knowledge that we are being guided in this new leg of our journey by people who we now call friends. We were fortunate to find adoption agencies that were professional, knowledgable, and compassionate. They held our hands through our journey to Maya, and we are calling in their help once more. Not only were the agencies themselves supportive, but they connected us to other families who were making the same journey. I don't know how we would have done this without these 'online' friends (hopefully we will meet some in person soon!) - as some days are just so darn difficult.. and other days are so joyous that you want to shout from the rooftops.. it is incredibly helpful in maintaining sanity when you have a network of people who understand and have been in your shoes.

Yes, I am feeling very reflective today - of where we are and how we have found ourselves here. One year ago at this time, we had just sent in our massive stack of acceptance paperwork (my arm still aches when I think about it), and were beginning the agonizing wait for the Indian legal processes to complete. We were amazingly lucky that it completed by early June.. because every day was a day of dreaming about our baby girl. Every day felt like a month, and every month like a year.

And here we are today.. a joyful family of four (I just cannot leave Tasha, our fur-baby, out) who are anxiously awaiting the day that they become five. Here I am, a MOM!! which continues to thrill and amaze me! Life has changed in so many ways in the past 9 months.. I just cannot find the appropriate words. Maybe, after years of dealing with infertility - hoping, wishing, praying for a child.. it is the overwhelming, all-encompassing feeling of .. peace.

So, in order to put closure on the first leg of our Forever Family journey and to embark appropriately on the second, I plan to begin a new blog. I will be importing this blog into a professionally-bound book that will remain with our family far into the future.
Thanks to all of you who have followed our story.. thanks so much for your comments, your encouragement, your kind words. I hope that all of you who are currently awaiting your own little angel will be blessed with that child in the very near future. Please feel free to follow me to my new blog - I'll post the link on this blog soon, so check back.
"The most important things in life really are family, friends, honesty, beauty, and love and the journey really does matter more than the destination-lessons human beings can evidently learn over and over and never tire of. "

These Feet Were Made For Walking!

Maya took her first REAL steps today!! She has taken one or one and a half steps in the past couple of weeks, but today she finally took two small walks that included several steps at once! Go baby go!