First, thank you to everyone for the nice compliments. That made my week! Now back to adoption related things.

While we were visiting Michigan, Frank surprised me with his openness and willingness to talk about the adoption. He brought it up to everyone who asked. He brought it up to his Mom saying something like, “Christen - Maybe you should explain to my Mom how the adoption is going to work so that she understands.” It was really random, but made me so happy. And there we sat, the three of us, discussing the Russian adoption process, referrals, paperwork, cost, travel and more. This is the woman who once said to us, “why would you want to adopt?” Like she didn’t know the reasons behind it and we had never spoken of it before. I was really dumbfounded when Frank confronted one of my big fears by saying, “We know that you won’t have the same bond with our kids as you do with X.” (X being our nephew, who my MIL is SUPER close to…. like borderline intrusively, close to.) I want her to be comfortable with our kids and loving with them, but I don’t want the relationship X has with her. I do fear that she will treat our kids differently, though, because of some of the things she has said in the past. Also, because she compares our life to my SIL’s life. There is a vast difference in income level, education and a lot of other things. Anyways, she was a little shocked by his statement and quickly responded by assuring us it would be no different. She said she’d love our children because they are our children and that any grandparent would fall in love with a child once they see their own child being the Mom or Dad. I hope that’s true in the future, but for the time being it calmed my fears. She sat through the whole explanation and asked some questions. She seemed genuinely excited for us. I was really pleased and my heart swelled thinking that Frank is excited enough to bring it up all on his own.

While we were visiting his Dad and my SIL’s family in northern Michigan, the adoption subject also got brought up. My SIL actually asked me about it. She wanted to know when it was happening and then went on to tell me how she’d been reading up online and watching Baby Story shows on TLC. I was really surprised at how much information she already knew about the process. She even told me about a family she knows in her town that have adopted three children from Russia. Later on that week, Frank brought up the adoption to his Dad. This was shocking because his Dad is not very actively involved in our life. He’s kind of out of the loop on most things, including where Frank went to college. (but don’t get me started on that!) Anyways, this time Frank explained it to his Dad himself while I sat there listening. It was truly astonishing how knowledgeable he’s become. Frank’s Dad was very positive about it and even told us he thought it was a great gift for our family. He said he is impressed with how willing we are to take the road less travelled in all aspects of our life.

Overall it was a very positive thing. Frank’s family seems up for the journey and all of them seemed to have the same lingering question… “WHEN?” It became clear that a lot of my fears were somewhat irrational. Wondering if they’d be supportive, wondering if they’d love our children, wondering if they’d “get it.” I was wrong to doubt them before I gave them a chance. However, the best part was that Frank wanted to talk about it himself. He wanted to share all the information and let people start getting excited about what is to come for our family!