Our Chinese Take Out

We wanted to adopt before we were even married. China typically followed when that line of thought crossed both of our minds. For me, the question was always when/at what point to adopt after we started a family; surely we wouldn't START with adoption.
Fortunately, the decision was made for us. I am generally a very goal directed person and did not get hit with the baby bug until around a year and a half ago. It came upon me when Ben and I were visiting an art fair, with the idea for dining room art in mind. We found instead, something for the "nursery" though there was no nursery, not even a house at that time! A series of three paintings, very simple, done by our wonderful neighbor at the time. A glance at the paintings took me straight back to childhood.
Once it (affectionately known as baby fever, I suppose) hit, it was there to stay and with fury. I plotted out our course of action corresponding with our new house and the most desirable maternity leave time - early summer, of course. I imagined harvesting veg from our garden while very pregnant. I began to research boppies, exercise during pregnancy, diet during pregnancy. And then...nothing happened. As the months progressed my inability to produce two tiny lines was heart wrenching. It seemed physically impossible, and as it turns out, it was, at least without significant intervention. Fast forward through basal body temperature taking, tests, and surgery, to the day in May 2011 when my dear gynecologist relayed that pregnancy would likely be impossible without IVF, I knew in my heart that this was not the route for us. I walked out of the office with a solid peace in my soul that our future involved a baby growing in our hearts rather than my uterus. We had already attended adoption meetings and prepared a pre-application. We read together Scott Simon's book, Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other, one of the last rosy colored books we would read about adoption, and decided to proceed. The deep peace stayed with me and while we had debated baby names for month, we had nothing suited to a person of Chinese origin when we agreed upon Serena, which comes from latin for serene, calm = peace.
So in June our official application was accepted. We completed pre adoption classes in October and our home study was approved in December. We sent off the 1-800A and are now waiting for CIS approval and completing the dossier. We hope to have her in our arms this time next year.

The paintings, just after painting in the "serenatorium."