Travel Approval!

We have travel approval! We should be in the mid-August group and will find out for sure within the next 48 hours as Holt hears back about our necessary visa appointments. That's the very last bit, the last cog to turn before we buy tickets and lose what's left of our minds.

We've been waiting so long, it is an odd mix of emotions now that we're finally here.

Becoming a parent of three kids is a big change. We've had people tell us it's much more than going from one to two. The boys are old enough now (6 and 8) to entertain themselves, to be helpful and to have glimmers of self-sufficiency. Our first adoption... our first girl... and to have her join us at almost two years old...

Preparing for it is kind of like preparing for the first time leaving home. You can ask people all the right questions, read all the right books, take the classes, and still have no idea what you will really need. She will be unique, and our big day (week, month, year) will be unlike any of the others we've seen described.

One thing I know. Adopting adds layers to the anticipation of a new kid; travel, more paperwork, having a baby in a hotel, meeting a child with expressible opinions and set needs about which we will have no idea. Our daughter will need a thorough check with a specialist when we get her home. She probably won't need further surgeries, but she could. Sometimes kids in the special needs program have other issues as yet undiagnosed. There is simply no preparing for any of this.

We're going to call her Primrose.