This blog was and is my kids baby book of sorts. I started it when we first turned in our initial paperwork for adoption. We had so many people constantly asking for updates, that starting a blog seemed like the best option. If you've ever adopted, you know how hard it can be to repeatedly get asked "Have you heard anything?" when you really haven't and don't have any exciting news to share. So this blog became my place to share news when there WAS news to share.
And then we were placed with Kate. I had so much fun sharing all of her "firsts" with anyone and everyone who would read - her first time rolling over, or sleeping through the night, her first bites of new foods, her first time crawling, then walking, then running. I got to share the first time she said "mama" and my heart exploded.
But I also got to share about finalizing her adoption, and about meeting with her birth parents. I got to share about how our relationship with them grew. I got to share about how we were the family who was completely terrified about the term "open adoption" and then we became the family who would never change the fact that we get to live that term every day. I got to share about how God grew our family and grew our hearts as we lived out His plan for us.
And then we decided to adopt again.
The second time around, we were terrified that we may NOT get to have an open adoption again. What would we do if we were selected by a birth family who did not want to have ongoing contact? How would we explain to our second child that he or she would not get to know their birth family, while still having regular visits and contact with Kate's birth family?
And then we were placed with Karsten and God answered all of our prayers in ways we could only have imagined. Karsten has an amazing birth family, which we've had the privilege of getting to know better over the past four years.
This blog was the place where I got to share all of Karsten's firsts - the first time meeting big sister, the first time rolling over, her first bites of new foods, her first time going to preschool, and her first hair cut. Again, this blog became a baby book and I have loved having it to look back on.
But now my kids aren't babies anymore, so this blog is in a bit of a transition itself. What do I share? What is its purpose? I honestly don't have the answers at the moment. I plan to continue sharing bits and pieces of our life. I plan to continue sharing about adoption, because it's something that I am clearly very passionate about. I don't want this blog to be a hobby that I had for a few years and then one day realize that it's been a year since I last wrote a post. Blogging is clearly not as in vogue as it once was, but for me blogging was never about being cool or popular. I wrote for myself. And that's the reason why I plan to continue doing it.
So until next time, here's a quick picture to remind me why I started in the first place:
