Adoptive Parents: Write It Down!
Adoptive parents who have just begun the process often ask for advice. I have a lot, but one thing I can't stress enough: record as much as you can. Write it down, blog it, vlog it, photograph it, do something to keep a record of the process and especially your days leading up to meeting, meeting, and then adjusting.
Every July for the past four years, I go back and peruse my blogs and photos from July 2011 and the year leading up to that time. There are always details I've forgotten, stories that make me laugh, and pictures that remind me how little and frightened, yet brave the boys were when they were literally pushed into our arms. The boys love looking through the old photos, too. They have never tired of their adoption stories. Every time we talk about it, more questions are answered and more questions are left unanswered. The more the boys understand about adoption, the more they can realize that there is much about their first two and three years that we simply don't know; there are stories we have that are likely fabricated or at least embellished. This is why every single scrap of information, even what at the time may have seemed insignificant, is of great value to the boys. They have two and three years of sketchy history, so every detail I recorded of the year leading up to the adoption and the years since are becoming more precious to them as they grow older.
Today marks four years since we adopted Travis; four years since we were first The Brown Seven. Here are some memories:
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