Paperwork coming to an end, Almost

After putting together our first dossier back in 2005, I swore I'd probably never do this again. Three + years of updating immigration stuff, home studies, social worker visits. Then came the process for Sami, which was not even close to what it took to get our China dossier prepared. But not any less difficult as I though I might be doing it for no reason. Can you fault me for thinking it might not happen? Then I was compelled to pick up and search for our Penny. I went into the process much different this time, very positive but a little guarded. I thought I'd be able to conquer this dossier much faster and with less stress. Well faster yes, not as fast as I thought due to hold up here and there, less stress, no. As many of you know, we go through so many ups and downs throughout the adoption process. Once your done with your dossier, you wait for either your child to be referred to you, or your waiting for your next of many more approvals. I think for many of us that go through the adoption process more then once, especially with special needs, we love the feeling of making a difference. When you get home with your child and realize how perfect they fit into the family, you think about "what if you never did this, your child might still be in an orphanage cold, hungry, sad." I came across the Starfish poem today as I thought about our waiting Penny and how we're going to give her such a wonderful life. I'm so happy and proud to be able to go to China and adopt our children. I am always grateful to Sami's birth mother. Again, I couldn't imagine our Sami living a life not as it is now.