When we first brought Simon home I was pretty positive that I would never have it in me to go through another adoption process. It was hard! I was worn out emotionally from waiting and worrying and then adjusting when Simon got home. As we began to find our normal and see the changes in Simon that came from being loved by a family, though, we started thinking about adopting again. At first we thought maybe we could do it again, and then we thought we probably someday would adopt again, and then we decided we definitely wanted to do it again and that we were ready. At the end of last year, after feeling that we were ready to commit if we found a child that we felt belonged in our family, I saw a picture of this little baby boy. I felt the same way that I had when we saw Simon's picture--an ache in my heart and a whisper that this baby and our family needed each other. When I showed little Louie to Taylor, he said, "That's him! What do we need to do?" Taylor has faith and energy like Peter. When we talked to the kids they were SO excited--they talked about being big brothers and sisters again and how they would love this little boy. Anna told us not to get as stressed out about paper work this time, and Georgia told us all..."I can totally handle two little brothers." and we believe her. :)
We are so excited. We are, I think, a little less stressed this time and even a little more excited, because we know some things to expect. We already have a perfect little son as a result of this process who has changed our family for the better and worked his way deep into our lives and hearts forever. I am so in awe at this part of the path our lives have taken. I never thought I would be a mom to two little boys from China, but I love our story so much and am thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who has a plan for each of His children.
* What we know about our little Louie is that he turned two in January and is in mainland China. He has Down syndrome and, as you can see, is adorable. Right now we are a few months into our process and have completed our homestudy. We are currently waiting for USCIS approval from the US government and then we will submit our dossier to China. We're hoping to travel before the end of the year.
