We are ALMOST There

I remember my first post on this blog, click here. It was July 31st, 2009, and I announced T and I's plan to adopt. We had already been in the process for over a month, but we wanted to finish some of the initial paperwork before announcing our plans to the world. I remember being SO happy to write that post. I wanted to share the joy and hope that adoption had brought into our lives.

It's hard to believe that I wrote that just over a year ago, and here I am today, just a little over a week until I fly to Ethiopia to meet our son.

When we first started the process, all the steps involved in adoption were daunting. We had so much paperwork to fill out, so many classes to attend, so many visits with a social worker, and so much money to come up with. There were days early on when I wondered if we would ever have our child.

T was always full of hope and trust though. He would often tell me that he knew we were going to be parents. I wasn't so sure. On a trip to England, he even picked our child (who didn't exist at the time) a onesie displaying T's favorite futbol team's name. A onesie that I will be bringing to Ethiopia next week. When I was full of doubt, T was full of hope.

I remember often wishing that I could see a glimpse into my future. What would it look like? Would this adoption work out? What would my son look like? What would his story be? I so much wanted to just fast forward to when everything about the adoption was a little more certain.

It's amazing to me how much life can change in such a short amount of time. I never would have guessed where my life would be at this moment. I couldn't have guessed it in a million years. I couldn't have guessed that this blog that I created to document our journey through adoption would become a pregnancy, motherhood, life, and adoption blog. I never could have guessed that there would be a Scarlett AND a Khalil.

I also couldn't have guessed how many people have chosen to follow our journey. It makes me feel good. It makes me feel like people truly want this all to work out. It makes me feel like there are so many people out there who don't even know Khalil, yet want wonderful things for his life. Something I've learned is that there are never too many people who can love your children. And I feel like people love and support my children so much. It makes me happy and proud.

So here I am. . . in the homestretch. A part of me feels like this journey is coming to an end. . . but I know it's really just beginning.