Adoption Obsessive Disorder

Spending this past month in Mexico, filling our home and our days with friends and kids we love, soaking up sunshine, and consuming copious amounts of Mexican food has been a great distraction from my continuing AOD (Adoption Obsessive Disorder, a rather pathetic debilitating condition that afflicts every waiting adoptive parent).   It has been a good way to pass the time and focus our attention away from our “LOA” (our final approval that will indicate imminent travel) wait time.  

Despite the pleasant distractions, I still find my mind and heart occasionally wandering back to the child that isn’t with us on this trip.   It feels like someone is missing from our excursions and outings.  Someone else should be curled up on the couch reading stories with us, someone else should be discovering sea shells at the beach and playing out on the sunny patio.  I am determined (mostly successfully) to live in the moment and enjoy each day,  but as we near the end of our Baja trip I am finding myself looking ahead to our next big adventure….our trip to China where we will finally, after 10 months of praying, waiting, hoping, and loving from a far,  hold our new son in our arms and bring him home. 

I’m also itching to check our mail and see if the final document from the Judge is there waiting for us.  All that remained for Cece’s adoption was for all the paperwork to go to a judge and have him sign it as forever final.  There was nothing left for us to do.   We’re hoping that at some point during our time away she became our official forever daughter.   I guess that beats compulsively stalking the mail man looking for it every day. 

Although we are close to finalizing both adoptions our sitting at home fretting isn’t going to speed anything up so I’m glad that we had this chance to come and take our minds off ourselves for a while.   Although it hasn’t entirely taken my mind off of a certain little boy living in a far away land.   Somehow being here feels even further away and today I’m missing him. 

I’m glad we have things to look forward to once we return to Canada.  With Christmas coming up and 2 adoptions to finalize I’m not quite as bummed out about driving back up to the land of snow and ice as I usually am.  It’s never fun to say goodbye to our friends and life here though.  Although I'm quite happy to say goodbye to the pulgas.  

As American Thanksgiving came up on the calender I was reminded how filled up with the blessings of abundant life and love I am.   I am so incredibly thankful.  I am so blessed by our merciful God, who continues accomplish his perfect will through painfully imperfect people.