Feeling Pregnant

This morning, I had an e-mail exchange with a dear friend of mine who moved away from this area a few years ago.  She wrote, "I wish I was there with you as you are preparing to adopt your child.  It feels like missing your pregnancy with Sarah."  It's true that adoption is very much like pregnancy. Early on, there was a decision period to add a child to our family.  Then, there was the wait on God to see if it would happen (and still waiting, really).  Now, there are practical preparations (paperwork, thinking about room arrangements, etc.).  All the while, we are dreaming about our child.  We are wondering what she will look like, what it will be like to see her for the first time, and what it will look like to attach and fall in love with her.  I literally have dreams about her...not knowing exactly what she will look like or act like, but "seeing" her just the same.  And of course, there is inevitable anxiety about her health, our ability to find the time and energy to parent another child well, and our other children's adjustment to her arrival.

So, thanks, my friend, for acknowledging my "pregnancy."