We are roughly five weeks into the final wait for Esther.  In the next three to five weeks we hope to receive the High Court Order from Hong Kong and get the go-ahead to book our trip.  With travel following just a week or two later.  I can hardly believe it is so close.  Thankfully, these first five weeks have flown by thanks to Thanksgiving and all the Christmas preparations.  Sometimes distractions are nice.

I do find myself thinking more and more about Esther though. It’s not that I didn’t think about her before but now I start to imagine what she will be like once we get her home.  What will be the difficult areas of adjustment?  What will she and Noah look like playing together?  What will she feel like in my arms?

On November 21 Esther learned that she was going to be apart of a forever family.  That she had a mommy and daddy on the other, other side of the pond.  Mother’s Choice, the orphanage where Esther is is truly amazing.  They went to great lengths to prepare Esther for the news about us and her new life.  I was a tad bit bummed when Esther didn’t learn about us after we matched with her in September.  At that time though Esther knew a little about adoption and enough to know that she didn’t want that.  She didn’t want to leave Mother’s Choice, the only place she had ever called home. The place where she feels loved and has friends.  So Mother’s Choice developed a plan and decided to work with and prepare Esther over time for the news of her adoption.  She began going to classes where she learned about adoption.  She watched some of her other friends receive news of their “new” families and slowly processed all of this in her little two year old mind.

Two weeks ago Esther still wasn’t open to the idea of receiving a mommy and daddy she also wasn’t as resistant.  A step in the right direction.  Her social workers felt it was time to share with her about us.  They began by telling her that her social worker had some gifts for her. Like any two year old Esther was excited about presents.  She became a little reserved though when they told her that the gifts were from her new family.

They feel like she loved the gifts but was a little overwhelmed at the moment.  Naturally.

Next, they showed her the photo album and introduced her to her mommy, daddy, sister, and dog Emma.  

Apparently Emma scared her a little bit at first but made her laugh when she sat up in the video.

The album we prepared for her had lots of pictures of around the house plus pictures of us in various places over the past year.  One of the pictures was a family picture at the beach.

She saw it and asked could she go swimming!  They told her she could with her mommy and daddy. So you can bet we will be planning a trip to the beach for this little girl so that she can go swimming.

After watching the video and looking at the photo album she was able to point out who her mommy and daddy were. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to comprehend this as a two year old.  She is so brave.  We know there are tough days ahead and that there will be some natural grieving as she says goodbye to the ones she loves at Mother’s Choice but what a blessing to be able to offer this little girl a family.

By the end of their discussion Esther told her social worker that she was going to visit her friend, who had recently received news of his adoption, in the U.S.  The amazing part was that they didn’t tell her that she was going to the U.S. too.  She just figured it out. 🙂

On Monday I shipped our sweet girl her Christmas presents and a red velvet dress trimmed in white fur to wear during the holidays.  Hopefully, I will get a picture of her wearing it.  The presents weren’t much because everything we ship over there we have to bring back.  Plus the cost of shipping would have made a really nice down payment on my airplane ticket.  It’s crazy what it cost to ship three pounds half way around the world.  Then again I am thankful that we are able to ship three pounds half way around the world in less than a week.  Technology.

Why are there not any pictures of Esther on here?

Great question!  We have pictures and video of our beautiful little girl but legally she is not ours yet and therefore her pictures are not ours to share for the whole wide world to see.  I will share plenty of pictures once the adoption is finalized.  

When will that be?  

Finalizing an adoption from Hong Kong can take up to six months post returning home.  Once we travel to Hong Kong though I will be able to share pictures of her that don’t reveal any identifying traits.  For instance silhouette pictures or pictures from behind.  I will get creative for y’all.

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