Creating Families

I received two very happy emails today (those just make my day!) from families who are settling in with their children from our Hope Journey programs. One was from a family who is the very first to arrive home with a child from our Hope Journey 2 program and they are doing wonderfully! Another was from a family who adopted a little girl from our first Hope Journey program and she gave me permission to share some of her thoughts with you:

"Frankly, before we met Rhianna, I read so much and worked myself up for every worst case scenario possible. I took everyone's advice and "expected the worst." I fully expected our adoption to be the hardest thing of my life for the next 2 years at the very least. And yet I still wanted Rhianna. But I think because I was geared up for a rough, rough time, every thing that really did happen was so much better. Before meeting Rhianna, I never let myself "hope for the best" - I just didn't dare. That sounds bad because I like to think overall I'm a positive person. But in hindsight, I really am glad I expected it to be so much worse than it was. We have had some challenges, but nothing like I had expected. The first month was the hardest for me - probably a combination of fatigue, and the life change for both me and Rhianna. But the joys have far-outweighed anything hard....




I check the ASIA blog about once a week and I see Marci advocating so hard for those sweet kids. I wish I could tell everyone how much joy our Rhianna has brought into our family. It's not always easy - but then our bio boys aren't always easy and I'm not sure it's any harder - just different. I don't know if adoption is for everyone, but it certainly has been for us. We cannot imagine our lives without our little girl."
 
I think in the adoption world, you just have to believe in the red thread. I have to say that recently I have heard from so many happy families whose children are adjusting so beautifully. I thought along the same lines as the person quoted above and have been pleasantly surprised. I firmly believe in preparing for the worst and hoping for the best...these Hope Journey programs have been an incredible surprise with the numbers of successful older child and special needs adoptions!