Our Trip to Boston

We spent the weekend in Boston last weekend. The weather was perfect and we had a wonderful time. We spent some time touring the city, seeing the New England Aquarium, and taking in the sights before we had to meet with CAWLI. We spent Sunday with some good friends of ours at a cookout just outside the city. They adopted two of their children from China through the same agency we are using and it was a really great experience to be able to speak with them about their adoptions and how they handled their children in China. It made both of us feel so much better to know what types of things we should expect.

Our meeting with CAWLI was great! Meg is awesome and we did get the chance to meet with Lillian. Lillian’s first comment to us was that we were so young! But she was thrilled to hear that we were looking to adopt an older child rather than a baby. I feel very secure with her at the head of the agency and I know that she will do everything she can for us. We spoke with Meg for about two hours. She told us stories about some of the adoptions she has placed through the agency and gave us a lot of insight into the orphanages and foster homes in China, as well as what we can expect from children who have been in the Chinese system for any length of time. She also explained how the orphanage system works as well as what we should expect while we are in China. We know its going to be a challenge, but I’m glad that we had the opportunity to hear about both the good things and the bad things so at least we have an idea of what to expect. She also explained the Waiting Child program a little bit more and I think that we have opened a few more doors as to children with special needs. It is definitely food for thought. Both Chris and I came to the conclusion that we would be more than happy to adopt a child with a minor, repairable/repaired heart defect (ASD or VSD). We know a family here who adopted a son with the same condition and I’m glad that we had the opportunity to speak with them about their experiences. After some extensive discussion with Meg and our friends, we are very confident that we can handle something like that.

Overall, it was an awesome trip. We even got to travel through Chinatown and enjoy some really GOOD Chinese food. I’m glad that Chris is being more open to yummy foreign foods! At least we know he won’t starve in China!