Looking Back

What memories will we take away from these past 8 months? I'll give you 10.

1) The many "should we? shouldn't we?" conversations Craig and I had over whether we should kick off the process

2) Filling out the ARS and USCIS applications late at night and arguing over how bad my handwriting is and why I should never be allowed to fill out another joint application as long as I live

3) Dragging a very antsy Andrew from one doctor's office to another to get medical clearances completed and trying to assure the travelling notary that the doctor would be out to sign the forms any moment now. Really, he will. Um, o.k., maybe not.

4) Trying to come up with believable and arguably honest reasons why Aunt Kaity and Uncle Kevin couldn't come over to our house at the same time the social worker was scheduled to be there

5) The elation I felt at receiving what I expected to be the I-171H form from the USCIS (this form clears us on a governmental level to adopt internationlly). The shock and horror I felt upon discovering they had classified our application as "abandoned" due to a clerical error that made it seem like we never appeared for our fingerprinting appointment

6) Being called out by the social worker for the insufficient number of smoke detectors in our house. We now have more smoke detectors affixed to our ceilings than we do lighting fixtures

7) The very pleasant surprise at learning our wait for our child actually began the day our adoption agency, FFC, received our homestudy draft. We had expected it to start much later

8) The surreal experience of half-mindedly watching Andrew do flips on the high bar at The Little Gym while I called one friend after another, asking them to fill out character references for us

9) The countless hours I spent online trying to figure just how the adoptive process works in Taiwan and trying to select an honest, efficient agency with which to work. My naivete and disappointment in learning that so many adoption agencies are really quite crooked and profit-driven

10) Watching Craig choke up as we finally announced the news of our adoption at Andrew's family birthday party on July 7th, 2007. The love, support, and excitement that resounded from all of our family members