In Wisconsin we can count on the seasons changing, right? I mean yes, we had some pretty amazing weather all the way up to October (and some more even may be on the way), but let’s face it, we know fall and winter are coming. In the last four days the leaves have started that shift from the vibrant green to those amazing golds, fire reds, and burnt oranges. It’s stunning. As the rain continues to fall the leaves will fall with them, and we will be left with bare branches once again. I miss the leaves and green during the winter. But I take some solace that after a few sloppy, soggy spring days the tree’s branches will be peppered with beautiful buds once again.

We get it. It’s been a long time. It’s like we took a complete hiatus from our blog. Let’s face it; some of you are probably wondering if we took a complete break from planning our adoption. No new agency. No new home study. Seems as if we are at a stand still, doesn’t it?

Life has been crazy busy. And although on the outside it may look like we haven’t made any concrete moves towards building our family, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. There is so much that the outside perspective doesn’t see on our movement towards building our family. We’ve been up to a lot the last six months. We’ve truly dug in and explored how we feel about domestic infant adoption. We’ve looked at various agencies and have taken a good hard look at whether or not we are willing to possibly never raise an infant. As we’ve learned, we’ve started to look more closely into adopting sibling groups who are legally freed children from public agencies. We’ve looked at the work it may take to cross state lines. We’ve drafted emails and discussed the positives of having children who are biologically related to one another, while still practically and objectively looking at the difficulties of taking on multiple children at once. We’ve taken a good hard look at early childhood trauma, and the role that that will play in our children’s lives and in ours. We’ve taken webinars, read countless articles, and listened to all parts of the adoption triad to gain new insight and knowledge. We’ve prayed, leaned on each other (like we always do), and have absorbed as much knowledge as possible.

See, it’s kind of like those trees. They look pretty bare in the winter, but you know something is working inside them enough to produce buds after the thaw of the winter and the warmth of the spring. Trust us. We’re moving. We aren’t at a standstill. The further and further we get into this process the more and more we realize that it isn’t our time. And thank God for that…because although this path has been hard and the wait can be tough, we’ve needed the time to be the very best family we can be for our future child/children. So it’s as simple as knowing that the leaves will come and complex as wondering how they change to all those beautiful colors right before falling.

~Chelsea