Are we there yet?

Nope, not yet. We'd love to tell you that we're patiently waiting for our chance to adopt, but you probably wouldn't believe us, nor should you. While we usually focus on a happy outcome and stay positive, sometimes we are sad, impatient, or doubtful about finding a match. How we're doing with the wait depends on which day you ask and sometimes on which one of us you ask. And then there are days when the answer changes, sometimes even more than once in the same day.

We've been "live" with IAC for almost eleven months. In reality this is not unusual, but we were sure we'd be changing diapers and craving sleep by now. Part of our impatience is because the wait to match isn't the first part of our journey. It's actually been four years now since we first began pursuing our dream to start a family. We began in March 2008, just a few months after we were married. All along we've considered adoption and we've been discussing this seriously since 2009.

The good news is that we've had a chance to learn a great deal about adoption along the way. We learned a lot from researching different adoption organizations, reading books and magazines, and following Facebook pages and blogs. We've also had a chance to meet many helpful people and make new friends along the way. We attend two adoption groups every month and interact with others who are waiting and new parents who recently adopted. These groups help us keep our perspective and we are filled with hope when we see newly formed families who recently adopted.

Several people suggested that we stay busy during the wait and that's exactly what we've been trying to do. We've been working hard, but we've also been pursuing our interests and having some local adventures too. We'll include a few highlights here and we always have more updates and new photos on our Facebook page.

Susan loves craft projects, especially making jewelry with beads. Luckily Mitch has always supported her interest and cheerfully accompanies her to bead stores. There will undoubtedly be little time for craft projects and bead shopping for a while once our little person arrives and that's fine with us. During the wait Susan continues to take classes at a local bead store, Brea Bead Works.  We even had a grand bead adventure when we completed the Bead Shop Hop in September 2011. It was fun to visit so many great bead stores, but even better to enjoy a four day road trip away from home exploring Southern California.

Susan finishing up after a class at her favorite bead store, Brea Bead Works.

Yay! We did the whole 2011 Bead Shop Hop. 29 bead stores in 6 counties over 4 fun days!

We also love visiting museums. Someday we'll be visiting these places with our child once he or she is old enough.  In the interim, we've continued to regularly visit our favorites including the Getty, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Natural History Museum, and more. This has been even better over the last few months with Pacific Standard Time exhibitions going on at sixty different venues throughout Southern California.

Mitch happy to be visiting the Getty Center museum as part of the Pacific Standard Time event.

We also love spending time with family and friends every chance we get. We have so many great memories from the time we've been waiting, including fun times with our little cousins and even a trip to Disneyland with friends.

Halloween crafts with our young cousin Jake.

Hello from Disneyland!

Waiting to adopt isn't easy, but we know we're not alone. We're certainly not the first couple waiting to adopt, and we won't be the last. Luckily we are blessed with a network of family, friends, and acquaintances who continue to support us. We appreciate everyone who listens to us and offers kind words of encouragement. Thanks!