"I can make you 2 guarantees.."

We just received our Ethiopian Manual sent by Gladney that has the process explained through a chart, and includes the Ethiopia Program fees and highlights to inform adoptive parents. It also includes a step by step guide how to prepare our dossier and important contact information. But the Perspective page shed great insight and proved encouraging for us as it stated:

You are about to embark upon the most frustrating, challenging, and ultimately rewarding experience of your life. I can make you two guarantees:

1. If you stick through the frustrations and possible changes, we will find you the child(ren) that is meant to be a part of your family.
2. You will not be happy with this process until your child(ren) has/have come home.

The most important thing that you can do is to keep your eyes focused on the goal.

If you remember that the goal is to bring a child(ren) into your home, then the small frustrations will ultimately seems just that - small.

Talk with families who have been placed through Gladney, go to Gladney Family Association meetings, and surround yourselves with people who truly understand what it is like to adopt internationally. The loss of control you will feel in this process is like no other you will ever know and like no one else can understand, unless they have been where you are now.

Most of all, do your best to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

And when you worry and become frustrated with the paperwork or the wait or the many number of little details involved in adopting from Ethiopia, remember to be thankful that you have the opportunity to worry about the small problems, because that means someone else is worrying about the big ones for you.

Let the journey begin!