Waiting Well

 

I've been thinking for several weeks about writing a post on "waiting well," but I just hadn't gotten around to it.  This evening someone in our agency's facebook group posted the question "what does it mean to 'wait well'?" and I figured it was a sign that I needed to get my butt in gear.

 

We have officially been waiting for 1 month and 3 days.  It's hard for me to believe that we've gotten to this point in the process, after over a year of agonizing over the wait to wait.  Our dossier arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Valentine's Day.  I've always hated Valentine's Day (I don't appreciate cheesy, forced romantic gestures), but now I guess I have to like it, at least a little.  When I got the e-mail below from FedEx I just stared at it for a few minutes.  God bless Selam (which actually translates to "hello" in Amharic), whomever he/she may be.

 

 

As I said, we're only 1 month and 3 days into the wait. However, I've been thinking about what it means to "wait well" for a long time already.  I'm sure that over the year/s we have until our kids come home my thoughts and feelings will change a few times, so this is probably the first of many posts on the subject (get excited). 

 

For us, for now, waiting well means preparing ourselves--every part of ourselves and our lives--as best as we possibly can, so we are well equipped to provide our children with everything they need.  It means getting our finances in order, it means getting in shape and establishing good eating/exercise habits (neither of which we've been super successful at in the past) so that our kids will grow up healthy and active, it means learning as much about attachment and adoptive kids' needs as we possibly can. 

 

At this point, we're feeling okay with--and even thankful for--the long wait we have ahead of us.  From the moment the judge in Ethiopia says "they are yours," our lives will change forever.  For now, we're savoring the last little bit of this child-free chapter in our marriage.