Following our adoption finalization back in January 2015, Eric and I took some much-needed time to decompress and just “be.”  Be together; be a family; be three – well three plus two 80 pound boxers!

The finalization of our emotionally-charged journey freed up a lot of time as we no longer found ourselves coordinating social worker visits, worrying about looming court dates or filling out endless amounts of paperwork at every turn.  I joked that for our next move, we should get a fish! That thought quickly changed …

Before long, we were googling “bunk beds” and making plans to add to our family again. We started having discussions about growing our family and before we knew it, our agency social worker was seated back at our table, with loads of paperwork, of course. The only thing we asked was that she not approach us with any placements until after our summer vacation.

Our family conversations continued over those next few months, culminating when Justin began asking when his brother would arrive. With life in full swing, I took on a new job, one that would require much of my attention, and our vacation came and went! With Justin in a new school, life seemed to be moving at Mach 3 speed. It was then that we received the phone call that would bring us all back to Earth. “Do you have a moment?” our social worker asked. We suddenly found ourselves in a nearly identical situation to the experience we had just gone through with Justin: a beautiful child in need of a home.

And although we never expected to get “the call” a mere 18 days after our vacation, the information we were able to gather was enough for us to make a decision.

We met our son the next day, Justin met him the following day for a playdate, and on the third day he came home. It’s only been five months but it feels like we have always been together.

We’re back to dealing with social workers, paperwork, and court dates but thankfully the process isn’t as unknown as it was before. I am forever thankful that I was able to cathartically share our adoption journey with Gays With Kids as it truly helped me better understand myself, our journey and our family.

And I’m pretty sure the next time we share an update, it will be about how we just got that fish!