Pregnancy vs. Adoption Process

Here lately I have been thinking and comparing my pregnancies with Sophia and Lydia to the adoption process.  Here are some comparisons I have made thus far...I hope this gives you a little laugh but also a glimpse into the life of a family adopting (each family is different just as every pregnancy).

Pregnancies

• Morning sickness--definitely the worst!!!
• Doctor appointments--told me what I should and shouldn't be doing to keep the baby and myself safe and healthy
• Growing belly--Visual progress!  I'm a visual learner, so the belly growing was a sense of accomplishment in a weird way leading up to pretty sweet rewards!  
• Maternity pants which in my opinion are awesome!  If I could get away with wearing them all the time I would, but since I am not pregnant I better not!
• Ultrasounds--anytime I was ever concerned or hadn't felt the baby kick inside my belly, I just had to run to the doctor and they would check for the heartbeat or do an ultrasound.
• We had a due date!  We knew that the babies would both be fully grown around 40 weeks and ready to meet the world!  At the time the dates may not have come as soon as momma would have liked but in the big scheme of things I knew the girls would grow until just the right timing and to be patient and pray for a healthy baby above my discomfort and impatience.
• Paperwork--very minimal at appointments, at the hospital and of course adding to insurance and such.
• Delivery--I will leave that to everyone's imagination or experience but thankfully looking back over two deliveries...I really have nothing to complain about!  One with an epidural and one without...both fairly quickly after a few hours of labor...quick recoveries...and most importantly two safe and healthy baby girls!

Adoption

• No morning sickness, but definitely a stomach on edge constantly wondering if we would be approved for this or that or who God would pick out to be part of our family FOREVER!
• No Doctor's appointments, but meetings with case workers, talking to several other families for guidance and learning from their experiences.
• No growing belly, but a heart growing so full of love it feels as if it may burst waiting to meet someone that is so special to our family yet we have never met!
• No maternity clothes and nothing really to compare here!  Ha! ha!
• No ultrasounds or heartbeats to hear...just a few pictures from our case worker that are now 3 months out of date!  This is the hardest!  Not being able to check in on our girl whenever we are concerned or just wondering how she is doing.  This has been a huge lesson in faith and trusting in God's sovereignty!  He has his arms around our girl until we can (He always will, but we will too!)  
• No due date but rather lots of countdown dates that will forever be special...when we made the decision to adopt (May 2009), when God led our hearts to start the adoption process (April 2013), submitted adoption application (April 28, 2013), accepted into the China adoption program (May 2, 2013), when we told our family and friends the exciting news (May 3, 2013), when we shared the news with our church family (May 19, 2013) when we met our home study case worker (May 31, 2013), home study interviews (June 7, 2013),  home safety evaluation (June 24, 2013), received email of our sweet girl stating she was available for adoption as a "special focus" child (July 26, 2013), made the decision to review her profile (August 19, 2013), received profile to review (August 29, 2013), felt let to adopt and accept referral to adopt our sweet girl (September 5, 2013), our referral was electronically accepted in China (September 12, 2013), pre-approved to adopt our sweet girl (October 1, 2013)
• Paperwork...let's just say they don't call it a "paperwork pregnancy" for nothing!  To put the amount of paperwork we've had to complete into perspective, we had to fill out a form for our pets (we don't have any LOL)!  China has to know everything!  While very time consuming, the paperwork is necessary and will all be worth it!
• Delivery...we cannot wait for our sweet girl to be "delivered" into our arms!  While we have no clue when this date will occur, we know whenever it happens that our "gotcha day" will always be a special day for our family as will the moment we step off the plane and are greeted with family and friends meeting our girl for the first time!  

I pray this comparison has helped you get a glimpse of what a blessing bringing our future daughter home truly is.  It's a time in our life that's full of emotions...each one bringing us one step closer to adding a precious little girl to our family FOREVER! Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement along the way!