Different Trips to the Same Place

by Diane Armitage from April 21, 1995 Dear Abby Column

Deciding to have a baby is like planning a trip to Australia. You've heard it's a wonderful place, you've read many guide books and feel certain you're ready to go. Everyone you know has traveled there by plane. They say it can be a turbulent flight with occasional rough landings, but you can look forward to being pampered on the trip.

So you go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for a ticket to Australia. All around you, excited people are boarding planes for Australia. It seems there is no seat for you; you'll have to wait for the next flight. Impatient, but anticipating a wonderful trip, you wait-and wait-and wait. Flights to Australia continue to come and go. People say silly things like, "Relax. You'll get on a flight soon." Other people actually get on a plane and then cancel their trip, to which you cry, "It's not fair!"

After a long time the ticket agent tells you, "I'm sorry, we're not going to be able to get you on a plane to Australia. Perhaps you should think about going by boat."

"By BOAT!" you say. "Going by boat will take a very long time and it costs a great deal of money. I really had my heart set on going by plane." So you go home and think about not going to Australia at all. You wonder if Australia will be as beautiful if you approach it by sea rather than air. But you have long dreamed of this wonderful place, and finally you decide to travel by boat.

It is a long trip, many months over many rough seas. No one pampers you. You wonder if you will ever see Australia. Meanwhile, your friends have flown back and forth to Australia two or three more times, marveling about each trip.

Then one glorious day, the boat docks in Australia. It is more exquisite than you ever imagined, and the beauty is magnified by your long days at sea. You have made many wonderful friends during your voyage, and you find yourself comparing stories with other who also traveled by sea rather then by air.

People continue to fly to Australia as often as they like, but you are about to travel only once, perhaps twice. Some say things like, "Oh, be glad you didn't fly. My flight was horrible; traveling by sea is so easy."

You will always wonder what it would have been like to fly to Australia. Still, you know God blessed you with a special appreciation of Australia, and the beauty of Australia is not in the way you get there, but in the place itself.

And off we go...

Well it's official! Chad and I began the long journey to become adoptive parents! It started many weeks ago when we attended an orientation through LDS Family Services. We had prayed and thought long and hard about the decision and decided it was the right path for us. We knew that there were going to be lots and lots of challenges involved in it, including the cost, but we know that we will be able to overcome them and get through them. We turned in all of our paperwork and were eager to get started. Weeks went by and we finally got a call from our caseworker! Today we had our first intake appointment, put down our homestudy payment and off we go! There's more paperwork, more interviews, and tons more steps involved, but we're ready for the challenge. Our caseworker was wonderful to make such an effort this week to fit us in or else we would have to wait a few more months to complete our adoption training courses, which we start this weekend.

Words can't express how grateful I am for the help and support that we have gotten from our friends and family. We will forever be indebted to you and thank you for your words of kindness and encouragement.

Our New Little Project

Well as many may know, and I guess some may not, Chad and I have been looking into adoption to help us start up our family since the traditional way hasn't seemed to be working out so well for us. We've already done the initial paperwork and during orientation, it was suggested that we start up our own "adoption" blog. I'm hoping to find some time in the near future to start this up, but since I am sometimes lacking when it comes to creativity, I need some ideas on names and other fun ideas. I haven't seen any other adoption blogs and I don't know if I should just go ahead and use our current blog for it, so any ideas would be helpful!