Paving the Way

As we continue to journey the unknowns of adoption I continue to be AMAZED at the peace I am experiencing at this point.  My heart is full of JOY as I see the doors opening as we prepare to bring home our older daughters and the possibilities of my increased availabilty in their life.  I will be vague at this time as we are not yet prepared to share quite yet!  But we will be sharing soon.... 

Our desire to adopt older children was very intentional, thought out, and carfeully examined as we explored the country and the agency to work with.  We both felt very confident about the age range and children to pursue.  In fact we decided on Peru and then chose our agency based on the fact that they had a Waiting Angels, now called Priority Adoptions (PA) program.  The PA program specializes in placing young children with disabilities, older children, and sibling groups.  We chose the PA program concurrently for the older children and sibling groups.  We were supported by some, questioned by others, some even visually displayed disappointment, I think for themselves, that we were not bringing home little ones!  All the while     we were questioned , challenged, and presented with multiple hurdles in our pursuit of this older sibling group.  We were told we were a minority for choosing to adopt before having biological children.  We were encouraged to consider another country where we could adopt quicker or where we could bring home children within our approved range.  We followed the advice to "consider" another country and once again determined our hearts were for the older siblings in Peru.  Just because it was a more difficult country or longer than what we were told, we became more confident that it was the very reason to stay the course for our children.  I just might think we have heard ALL the reasons why we are minorities and should know it is not common to adopt before biological children, what is most desired by families, what the popular trends are, and in the end........ joust how"RISKY" it is to adopt older children, that further confirmed WHY we arrived at the decision to parent older children.

Although we were not initially approved to adopt the age range we desired due to the social worker's (SW) clinical opinion that we were too young, we advocated for our daughters and ourselves.  (NOTE: as a clinician I was never informed that being too young was a clinical impression, an alterior motive for sure!) 

ADVOCATE...... that defines me!!!!

QUESTIONING and SEEKING clarification...... that is how I learn

LEARNING....  that is what I love

LOVE....... defends, restores, and empowers and that is what EVERY older child deserves.

The doors were not open to bring home children in the age range that we were approved for!  The very hoemstudy SW who made that errouneous window, one year later, was determined to stand her ground.  After exhausting our options for the moment with the current ageny, advocating, questioning, seeking and more learning..... LOVE WON!!!!! Our girls were ready for their forever family and it became clear that we would need to change homestudy agencies and spend triple the money to get the update!  WE DID and we were approved for even older children than we requested!

As I continue to reflect on this journey and plan their homecoming, I AM AMAZED at how ALL the details have fallen into place.  NOW we are in a pursuit that makes my heart pump faster and the reality of parenting my worthy older daughters as they heal.  I SEE the PAVING OF THE WAY!