Happy 4-Month LID!!!!!

July 29th we celebrated the FOUR month anniversary of our LID! We are ringing the bell, turning "cartwheels", and shouting "Hip-hip hooray!" Whew...four down... ___ to go....

I am also going to say this for the those that get discouraged each month when referrals come in and it's not as many as we'd like, or covering as many days as we'd like: we're all in this together. Those families that just got referrals in the last couple days are part of us...part of this big crazy thing we're going through and they were exactly where we are, a year or seven months, or four months, or whatever ago - they were there, and look what happened! REFERRAL DAY! Let's all hang in there and try to be strong. I know it's hard some days (trust me), but my honest reaction to seeing that the "Stork Landed" was one of total excitement and happiness for that part of our "family" that are finally there. After all that work and worry, and frustration...they're finally there! It's a celebration! Time to be happy! And the good news is, that even though we don't know the end date for each one of us, there will be families, are families, coming along behind us, holding on to our stories and our journeys as their hope and encouragement. We all lead each other. Picture holding on to the family in front of you and peeking around their shoulders each step to make sure you were going the right way and not stepping in a hole, or walking through muck...now picture the family hanging on to you and trusting you to lend support and lead the way. It's a big chain of families holding on to one another and walking along the road of adoption together. Try to lean on the ones around you and the ones ahead of you for strength. And more than anything, believe that the end will be so worth the weight of the load, that you will never in your life regret for a minute the journey to get there.

Happy LID's and Happy Referrals to all my adoption family!

Big Hug xoxo

P.S. More to come about my trip to NYC in the next post.