Family, Friends, Food, and Funds

It is official! We are in line for adoption with China. Yesterday we received, via e-mail, notice of our Log In Date. The LID is a little earlier than we anticipated. We were logged in to China on October 18th, 2007. It may not seem like much, but we are so excited about this development! We are still looking at probably 2009 before we get our referral for adoption. With a little luck it could be our Christmas present next year. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for that, but won’t place our expectations there.

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Of course, a referral will mean it is time for our biggest expense of the entire adoption process. We will not be sitting on our laurels until then. Not only are we saving our pennies, but we are now entering fund raising time. An adoption is an amazing expense. There is a reason some countries have been accused of profiteering off their orphan problems. If we had enough rights as adoptive parents here in the U.S., we would have kept it here and kept our expenses down. But in a way we are doing something for a child who might not even have the opportunities of an American orphan. We would like to take as much of the financial burden as we can ourselves, but this is also an opportunity for others who are not interested in adopting themselves to help bring a family and a better life to an orphan.

On Sunday, Dec. 2 The Potter’s Hand church in Camdenton, MO (at the Lake of the Ozarks) held a special benefit dinner for families adopting orphans. The dinner was hosted by Tupelo Honey’s, my in-laws Tiffanie’s and James’s restaurant. Half of The Potter’s Hand’s proceeds were donated to our adoption.

Tiff’s buffet consisted of Roast Pork Tenderloin with Cornbread Stuffing, Shepherd’s Pie, Fried Catfish, Salad, Potatoes, Green Beans, Cherry Cobbler and Bread Pudding. Several members of The Potter’s Hand acted as drink servers and bus boys. Angie and I joined them. Angie took drink orders (and panicked when her sister told her she wouldn’t need a note pad to remember them) and I bussed tables. We talked to several couples who had either adopted themselves or had sons or daughters who had adopted some of their grandchildren.

Angie’s entire family showed up in support and James gave me score-by-score updates of the Giants game from his cell phone. I was shocked at the end of the evening to learn the Giants had beaten the Bears. Not one of the reports James had given me throughout the evening was good. I’m glad I was doing something other than watching the game. It was much more bearable that way (no pun intended).

At the end of the evening the church had raised over $800 (our portion will cover one tenth of our plane ticket costs), and Angie and I had gained a whole new set of friends and support group for our adoption. Being adoptive parents is like being part of some giant fraternity, and everyone I’ve met from it has been so kind and helpful. I hope after we have our daughter Angie and I will have the same opportunity to reach out to other adopting families in the same way so many have reached out to us to lend a hand.

A big thank you to Craig and Cindy and everyone at The Potter’s Hand and even bigger hugs and praise to Tiffanie and James for their delicious food and a wonderful place to eat, be with and make new friends.