Waiting Parents at a Picnic

What do you get when three couples, who have all been matched with a baby born in Korea, but who are all still waiting for paper work to process to bring that baby home, share a lunch table at our adoption agency's annual picnic?

Lots of ooohing and aaahing over pictures of each of our babies, comparisons of what step in the clearance process we are all at, discussions of what baby gear everyone already has or still needs, the best places to get said baby gear, lots of ooohing and aaahing over the babies who have recently come home, laughter at the antics of the older children, and a discussion about the finer points of pestering wasps by freezing them to sedate them, then tying dental floss around the bodies and letting them unfreeze on leashes.

Guess which part the daddies were discussing?

Actually, the wasp thing was a minor part of the conversation, brought up by my mom and the men took off with it for a bit. The rest of the time we were all having a great discussion about our babies coming home.

Yesterday was such a nice day for a picnic and the BBQ was great. It was good to be surrounded by other families with small children who had been born in Korea or China. A great day overall.

Next week we will again drive the two hours up to the agency to attend a Pre-Arrival meeting for the various families who are waiting for their children. We chose to go so soon after our referral, despite not having any of the clearance steps completed because the next Pre-Arrival meeting is not scheduled until mid-October. So even though J will most likely not be able to come home until after that, I didn't want to leave that meeting until the very end of this waiting process.

I was disappointed in the mail all last week, but hopefully, J's Legals will arrive this week and we can move on to the State clearance letter. I can't believe it has only been two weeks since we were matched with our baby. Even though he is not home yet, it seems as if he has been a part of our family forever. We have loved (the concept of) a baby since the start of our adoption journey, now we at least have someone, and a picture of the little man, to direct that love to. In a few more months, we will have a real live squirming baby in our arms who will be the recipient of all the love we have been storing up.