National Adoption Awareness Month

(photo taken March 16, 2008)

November is National Adoption Awareness Month. When I think back to where we were last year at this time, we were digging for any scrap of information we could find on our daughter (obtaining her finding ad, joining her orphanage listserv, connecting with other families at our adoption agency, picking the brains of families who had already been through the adoption process and getting to know other families who were traveling near our timeline).
Josie's newspaper finding ad July 2007

Eight months later, I’m still in awe of how much our family has changed as a result of our adoption experience.

(photo taken May 2008)

Josie is definitely an emotional journey of extremes. It's a place where utter joy is paired with sheer exhaustion on a daily basis. How much of the exhaustion is because I’m forty? I’m not using age as an excuse, but I don’t remember being this tired when Emma was a two year old (smile). Emma also didn’t have ongoing sleep issues and her sensory development wasn’t one that required constant exploration/movement either. Chris and I were reflecting the other night on how much we miss sleeping a full 6-7 hours and dinners that don’t require an immediate hose-down afterwards.

(photo taken October 2008)

On the other hand, I can’t imagine life without two daughters. Josie makes our family so complete and I continue to feel blessed on a daily basis to be able to share our lives with our two special girls.

(photo taken August 2008)

One of my favorite publications (Adoptive Families Magazine) has a calendar for the month of November that suggests 30 Ways to celebrate National Adoption Awareness Month. I'm hoping to make time this month to complete a few of their wonderful suggestions.

(photo taken September 2008)

One of my favorite sentences in China Ghosts: My Daughter’s Journey to America, My Passage to Fatherhood by Jeff Gammage is from the epilogue, “Adopting a child from China puts you through a transformation, gathering you up from one place, spinning you around, then setting you down somewhere else, facing backward. It changes your life in ways you never could have foreseen.” What a beautifully written sentence. I couldn’t agree more.

(Photo taken October 2008)

Cheers to all those families who have opened up their hearts to adoption. It's an amazing gift. A special thanks to all my adoptive blogging friends. You've been a wonderful support to me over the last year. I've enjoyed connecting with each of you.

Angela
Barb
Buffi
Caroline
Erin
Gwen
Jeanne
Kimberely
Nicole
Nikki
Robbi
Robin
Shanna
SteffiTammy
Terri

China Ghosts

My patient husband is trying to put down a crying Josie who refuses to give into sleep, while Emma and I are spending some quiet time reading in my bed. I just finished another fantastic book, China Ghosts: My Daughter’s Journey to America, My Passage to Fatherhood by Jeff Gammage. One of my favorite sentences in his book is from the epilogue, “Adopting a child from China puts you through a transformation, gathering you up from one place, spinning you around, then setting you down somewhere else, facing backward. It changes your life in ways you never could have foreseen.” (page 237).



Josie’s adoption is an emotional journey of extremes. It's a place where utter joy is paired with sheer exhaustion on a daily basis. Here’s a child who can smother me with kisses/hugs and then wake up screaming in fear hours later. It’s not anything I could have prepared for prior to our adoption. It’s just something that I'm continuing to work through. It’s made Chris and I stronger and better parents. Connecting with other adoptive mothers, and my blogging support group is what saves me on a daily basis. I also appreciate how my coworkers continue to be sympathetic to my sleep deprivation and ongoing Josie stories.

Chris and I recently met with our social worker to compile information for our six month post-placement report. In preparation for our meeting, we had a list of questions that needed to be answered. It gave us an opportunity to sit down and reflect about the last five months as a family of four. It’s been a whirlwind of activities, emotions and milestones. We both came to the same conclusion. If we were younger, and the adoption process wasn't so long, we’d adopt another child with a medical condition. It’s been a life-altering experience and we are more enriched because of it.

People often tell us that Josie is so blessed to be a part of our family. Chris and I both quick to respond that Josie has blessed us more than we could have ever expected. Now, if we could only get her to sleep through the night and understand that daycare is actually a good thing, life would be GRAND in the Kenward household.