Over the Hurdle

 

 

A big thank you for all your kind comments and emails. Within 24 hours I was able to stop all the crying and move forward. Hormones converging with a return to work were not a good mix. Prompted by your encouragement and some things I have been pondering over the last 6 months, I am actually considering some wild possibilities for the future. I still need more time to think and pray, but I believe the winds of change are in the air and I am excited for what the future holds for us.
In the meantime I wanted to show you Abbey with the Judge. She was very serious about all the re-adoption paperwork and acted unusually prim and proper. I am so thankful to have that last chunk of red tape done and now look forward to my last paperwork goal, a US passport for her. Evidently it is taking up to six months to get a birth certificate here. We were very blessed to have our good friends Ashlee, Quinlee, and Margaux join us for our meeting with the judge. They braved a torrential rainstorm and flew naptime to the wind to be there. We celebrated with strawberry milk and giant gingerbreadmen, yum!
Over the holidays we attended a party where Abbey made fast friends with a three year old who taught her a few new tricks. They were running around and hiding under the dinner table when I finally said that we needed to get ready to go. Abbey's little friend held up her hand and said "five more minutes," and I've been hearing that ever since! Abbey is also saying "I love you too, Mama," all the time even though it's not in response to anything I've said, so sweet. This week we attended a party at one of those wild indoor gym places and Abbey was much younger than the other guests. The kids all said she was too young to go on the flying hotdog, a big soft swing thing suspended up in the air. Oh no, she was going to go. So the staff said they could do it slow. Oh no, she was going to go fast like all the big kids. She was laughing and smiles all the way, so now I am thinking maybe she is ready for some little rides at Disneyland.
Last night I went to a Jane Brown seminar on Adoption and the Schools. If she comes to speak in your city, by all means go. It was excellent and I felt that I absorbed a whole new layer of understanding about the adoption and racial issues Abbey will face in the coming years. It was really a push to get there, and hard to leave Abbey for the evening, but so well worth the investment in the future. The wealth of information Jane has as a social worker and as a transracially adoptive parent was so good, not to mention all the experience she has had conducting playshops across the country. I was initially very leary of the playshops and thought that I wouldn't ever be bringing Abbey to one, and came away thinking I will be so happy if she gets to attend in the future. She brought up some issues that I had never thought about, even though I've done so much reading and research. I hope I get to hear her speak again.
Today we've had a lovely playdate with Sini who came to her family from China last January and once again I was amazed to see what love and nutrition can do for a child. We then had a great lunch at our favorite place, Sharkey's (healthy Mexican food : ) We got some cute pants for Abbey at the resale shop and are enjoying some lovely So. California weather. It feels like bliss being together again after the work week.