We headed out on Friday afternoon, October 1st, and made a pit stop in DeSoto (Dallas area) to visit with Alan's parents and to give Madeline a break and have a snack. Her Mimi got to give her her first taste of squash! We made it to Abilene later that evening, checked into our hotel, and had a yummy dinner at Red Robin. We wish Tyler had a Red Robin - we really love their burgers and steak fries. It was fun driving around Abilene and telling Madeline that's where she was born. It was hard to believe that it had been 5 months since we'd been there! It seemed like yesterday.
We had made arrangements earlier in the week to meet with Elizabeth (Madeline's birthmother) on Saturday morning. We picked her up at her apartment and took her to breakfast at IHOP. It was SO GOOD to see her and see that she was doing well. Needless to say, she was THRILLED to see Madeline. She hadn't seen her since she was two days old. We had a delicious breakfast and enjoyed catching up with Elizabeth and letting her spend some time with our precious baby girl. We keep in touch with her through e-mails and send her pictures often, but it was great to be able to let her see and hold Madeline again. We know it was good for her and she thanked us many times for getting together with her. It may sound weird to people not familar with open adoption, but to us it is SO GREAT that Madeline will be able to have some kind of relationship with her birthmother and know that her adoption was a positive thing. Elizabeth loves her SO MUCH and just wants the best for her, knowing that she was not able to parent Madeline. After breakfast we took her back to her apartment and headed toward Christian Home's offices.
The prospective adoptive parents started their orientation Friday afternoon and were finishing up a little after lunchtime on Saturday. Toward the end of Christian Homes' orientation, they have three different panels of people come in to speak: older children who were adopted through Christian Homes, birthmothers who placed children for adoption through Christian Homes, and adoptive parents who adopted children through Christian Homes. We were very honored to be asked to be on the last panel to share our experience with the prospective adoptive parents. We had sat in the same chairs they were sitting in back in April of 2009, and it was a great experience to be able to share our adoption journey with them and calm some of their fears and answer some of their questions. The other couple on the panel was actually one of the couples that shared with us during OUR orientation. It was great to see them again. Their little boy was just a baby when we first met them, and now he's a growing little boy! They live fairly close to Abilene so they are asked to be on the panel fairly often. They have a great story to share because they had a failed adoption before they adopted their little boy. Unfortunately that DOES happen from time to time, and it's a good thing to let prospective adoptive parents know that although it might happen to them, God will bring them through it and definitely has a plan for their family.
It was a LONG trip back to East Texas. We made another pit stop in DeSoto to see Alan's parents again and to pick up Bond. They graciously "dog sat" Bond for us. We went on to Longview that evening because Madeline and I were planning to go to a luncheon with my Mom at my parents' church the following Tuesday. Madeline did GREAT on the trip. She's a wonderful little traveler! Needless to say we're very glad we have a minivan now. We practically packed Madeline's entire room to go with us on the road! Here's a picture of baby girl totally zonked out on her way home from Abilene.
P.S. - I know we've said it before, but we LOVE Christian Homes and Family Services. They are a WONDERFUL agency. Their slogan is "A Christian Home for Every Child".
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