End of an Era

Well, it may be a bit shorter than an era, but today I officially withdrew our application for the China Adoption program.

We had talked and Mike and I figured we would withdraw once we were home from Vietnam with Maelie. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking that maybe we would want another child in a few years when our number finally came up in China. Mike always said that one child was enough, and trust me, Maelie is the love of our lives...everyone who meets her is just smitten with her. I couldn't ask for a more perfect child for our family.

But, since we had a place in this huge line waiting for China, it was hard to give that up, too. I told Mike it was like having a ticket to a huge, sold-out concert. Even if we decided not to go to the concert, it's hard to give up those tickets!!! And again, thoughts of a sister for Maelie would sometimes briefly dance in my head.

However, China has been slow-going since we started the program. They are also initiating other regulations, and it is never truly clear if these new rules would affect us or not. We would have to refile a lot of paperwork, pay a few more fees, and we were just told today that China may be increasing the orphanage donation by another $2 grand. Add the extra fees, extra paperwork, extra worrying ontop of having to pay for a trip to China, and for us, it just didn't add up anymore.

So, it's the end of an era. Bittersweet. I know that there are so many people waiting for a child from China that our withdrawl will actually help another family, and a child will not be neglected because of our decision. And, if it wasn't for us starting the adoption process with China, we would not have our Miss Maelie right now. So, no matter what, it's Fate. I believe that.