Last weekend was our 23rd anniversary. Where did the time go? I've been working on photo albums, and that reminds me of where it went: fun, work, stress, laughter, grumpiness, boredom, sweetness, hilarity. But part of me can't believe it, though, that I've now been married longer than I've been NOT married.
For my gift (though he didn't see it this way) Paul said the words I'd wanted to hear: "Go ahead." The reason that was music to my ears is that we'd been pursuing an adoption option since January, which fell through in October. This soured my honey to the whole idea of adopting, which made me sad. It's been tough on Luke being "kind-of" an only child this year -- I'd wanted to get him involved in lots of things, but he didn't want that, so he's bored a lot without his Quinn. And thinking that I'd have an only child from the time Seth turns five and Luke leaves... that's a long time. I was talking to Paul about moving into a neighborhood and finding a private school or something (though the thought of not homeschooling horrifies me) so he can be around other kids more than just the few hours per week that we can do co-ops and play dates.
So I've been obsessed for over a month now with researching AGAIN all our adoption possibilities (this is the third time I've done this). And I've been emailing Paul stuff and talking to him non-stop. I attended an adoption info meeting with one agency, and have been emailing others and joined a Yahoo group about adopting from Peru (which would definitely be our first choice -- IF). In case you didn't know, it's getting SUPER hard to adopt, either domestically or internationally. If we'd made this decision a few years ago, we could have had one of the 4700 Guatemalan kids they passed out in 2007 before that came to a screeching halt. The Hague Convention has caused a dramatic fall in international adoptions -- I'm sure it's prevented some problems, but it's made the process much more complicated and time-consuming, so the reality is that more kids are sitting in orphanages who would otherwise have families. And for us it seems like every time we think we've got a good option, a door slams in our face. But we'll keep trying/thinking/researching/praying. And when I find the most promising avenue, I'll take my spouse's "Go ahead" and run with it.
