The Journey Begins!

It has been a year now that Kirk and I have been filling out paperwork, meeting with social workers, imagining our life with a child. It has always been part of our dream together to adopt internationally, and we both feel drawn to India's culture, heritage, and Buddhist traditions. We have chosen to engage this process slowly and intentionally. We are on the brink of having our names added to the list of families waiting to be matched with an Indian child. I can feel my excitement growing, and my fear as well! This child, this little girl, occupies much of my thoughts. What will she be like? What will I be like as a mom? For now, I embrace the unknown and ambiguous and feel grateful to have time to imagine and wonder.

We have passed through two application phases, the home study process, fingerprinting and pre-approval by Homeland Security and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Much of what takes so much time is government processing and red tape. Once our names are added to the waitlist, there is really nothing more for us to do but wait. We will get a referral in about 8 to 12 months. A referral is when our adoption agency, Dillon International, presents us with a child. They show us her picture and provide us with information. We can choose to accept or not accept this referral. Reasons for not accepting would be something like a serious medical/health issue. Once we accept, a lot of paperwork and hoop juming ensues! Although we are pre-approved by Homeland Security, the other half of that approval comes after the referral. Most likely the whole process will take another 8 months or so after we've seen the picture of our child. Documents must be sent to Kolkata where the orphanage is located, and to Tulsa, Oklahoma where Dillon is located. Any documents that we have had notarized during the first two application phases have to updated if the notary licenses has expired. I've been told that this phase of the journey requires a lot of patience.


This blog will serve as a way to be connected to all of you so that you can know the ins and outs of what this is really like for us. It's also an opportunity for you to respond to our posts and offer feedback and comments. We want to hear from you, especially when we are 8,000 miles away becoming parents for the first time! And lastly, this blog is a tool for other Dillon moms looking to glean insight and advice on this adventure.

So what we ask of you at this point in the process, is to be curious and supportive. Feel free to ask us your questions about the logisitics, and our feelings as they evolve. Know that we look to you, our community, to support this decision and help us see it to fruition. We feel so honored to be able to share this with all of you!