Deciding to have a baby is like planning a trip to Australia; You've heard it's a wonderful place, you've read many guidebooks and feel certain you're ready to go. Everyone you know has traveled there by plane. They say it can be a turbulent flight with occasional rough landings, but you can look forward to being pampered on the trip.
So you go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for a ticket to Australia. All around you excited people are boarding planes for Australia. It seems there is no seat for you; you'll have to wait for the next flight.
Impatient, but anticipating a wonderful trip, you wait and wait and wait.
Flights to Australia continue to come and go. People say silly things like, "Relax. You'll get on a flight soon." Other people actually get on a plane and then cancel their trip, to which you cry, "It's not fair!"
After a long time the ticket agent tells you, "I'm sorry, we're not going to be able to get you on a plane to Australia. Perhaps you should think about going by boat."
"By BOAT!" you say, "Going by boat will take a very long time and it costs a great deal of money. I really had my heart set on going by plane."
So you go home and think about not going to Australia at all. You wonder if Australia will be as beautiful if you approach it by sea rather than air. Finally you decide to travel by boat.
It's a long trip, many months over many rough seas. No one pampers you. You wonder if you will ever see Australia. Meanwhile, your friends have flown back and forth to Australia two or three more times, marveling about each trip.
Then one glorious day, the boat docks in Australia. It is more exquisite than you ever imagined, and the beauty is magnified by your long days at sea. You have made many wonderful friends during your voyage, and you find yourself comparing stories with others who also traveled by sea rather than air.
People will continue to fly to Australia as often as they life, but you are about to travel only once, perhaps twice. Some say things like, "Oh, be glad you didn't fly. My flight was horrible; traveling by sea is so easy." But you will always wonder what it would have been like to fly to Australia.
Still, you know God blessed you with a special appreciation of Australia, and the beauty of Australia is not in the way you get there, but in the place itself.
--Printed in "Dear Abby" in 1995--
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I received an email that seem to be pasted on regarding your networking to adopted. I don't have anyone to suggest to you, but I am a foster mom..I adopted my two children thru the Utah Foster Care.
ReplyDeleteThere are children that are in the Foster Care and they are ready to be adopted. Here in Utah there is an adoption exchange. A list of children of all ages ready to be adopted. If adopting a baby or an infant doesn't pan out maybe take a look at foster care or adopting through an adoption exchange of children whose parent's rights have already been terminated.
Every child needs to feel safe and loved...not just babies or infants. My two children were 4 1/2 and 2 when they came into my home.
I know several families who adopted children via the foster care channel.
Don't give up or lose hope. Have Faith in our Heavenly Father. You will get discourage many times. Remember, Satan doesn't want the family unit and will try every way to distroy the family unit....by getting you discourage is a tool he will try to use.
I was so excited when I heard about my two children and then the case worker didn't want the children in our home due to not having children. I was heart broken at first, but then the children need to be placed in a home. The goal first was reunification with their mom, but the children needed to be placed in a home were they can be adopted; if they could not be reunited.
Heavenly Father knew they were suppose to be in our home. With the different events that happened to get my children in our home. My favorite...memory is my daughter being told she can stay with us. She was excited and ask when our family was going to get married. She was excited to be adopted but she wanted to be married and wear a white dress. A few months later, we were sealed in Oakland, California Temple. She was so excited to be married forever.
I also know of others who try to adopted through LDS social service and nothing happened. And I know of others who also adopted through LDS social service.
I wish the best for you and your husband. This is going to be a memorable event for your family.
Congrats again on your journey. Ours took 9 years, before our children entered our home. Don't give up. We know how you feel and what you are going through to start your family.
Thank you for the suggestions...Mark and I have actually looked at the children who are available for foster care here in AZ, and at the moment that just doesn't seem like the route for us to take. I think in the future we will probably look into adopting a child who is a little older...
ReplyDeleteI love this analogy! And sometimes, some of us are left wondering if "one trip" to Australia was all we'll be lucky to do and we end up going to Arizona instead (by car)...to adopt a "baby" puppy...
ReplyDelete