So we went to the information session for adoption at Cradle in Evanston a couple weeks ago.
It was a nice sunny cool fall morning. Pete and I walked to Cradle which is about 10 minutes walk from our house hand in hand. We felt like we were going to meet our child even though it was just an information session.
The room was full. Everyone had an excited and yet anxious look. I felt my heart was going to jump out of my throat. I had no idea what to expect. Will we fill out the application right there right then and start our adoption process? Who will be our child?
The information provided by the adoption counselors was amazing and more than I expected. There are so many issues to consider to adopt; whether you think you are ready or not. Adopting domestically or internationally? Adopting age restrictions in different countries. Different regulations regarding to the adopting family in different countries. Open or close adoption. Adoption support groups. And we have not talked about adopting fees yet.
In the end, Pete and I asked a question that we were most concerned. How do we adopt a baby from Taiwan? We were told that Taiwanese adoption was either closed or had very strict policy. We might have to consider adopting children from different countries or in the U.S.A.
We walked home quietly and had so much to think. I started to make phone calls to Taiwan and see what we could do. It turned out that Pete and I had to be married for 5 years before we could start the adoption process in Taiwan.
Pete suggested that we looked into other countries or even into Ardythe and Gale Sayers Center for African American Adoption (named after NFL Hall of Famer and Cradle adoptive dad, Gale Sayers, and his wife, Ardythe, is dedicated to finding homes for African American babies). I said I had to think about it. The reason I wanted to adopt a child from Taiwan is that I could somehow make a connection for this child. With an African American child, I was not sure if I could be the best mother. Pete reminded that the reason we wanted to adopt was to help another child in the world and regardless what race, we should do what we could do. I agreed with him but I asked him to give me some time to think about it.
10 days later. I found out I was pregnant!! It was totally unexpected and a big surprise! Like I said before, Pete and I had been trying but we were not very diligent and feverish. We were both very busy during that time. Family trip, business trip, and other obligations made us not able to try our best, but I got pregnant after we kind of start our adoption process.
Since I am pregnant, we decided to put the adoption aside for now. We still want to adopt; just a little later until 2-baubau is a little older.
Pete and I’s life is full of surprises and every year we have one major event happened. Two years ago, we got married. Last year we bought our house. This year we are going to welcome our 2baubau.
We are one lucky family.
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