"Ready" to Adopt

It seems like I'm coming across more and more blog entries and articles about how people are going into adoption without being "ready."  Some of them even seem to send the subtle message that people should not adopt until they are "ready."  So my question is: CAN you ever be truly "ready" for adoption?

Here are these things that we consider helping us to be "ready" for adoption:

We have three biological children, so we are well aware of the day-to-day, minute-to-minute needs and challenges of raising young children.

We have a child with a chronic medical condition, which requires regular medical check-ups and daily monitoring.

I am an early childhood special education teacher, and I have worked with many preschoolers with special needs, including visual impairments, adoptive backgrounds, different cultural/language backgrounds, and various developmental delays.  Kellin will come with all of these needs.

We have completed training specific to international adoption, read books, websites, and blogs, and asked many questions.

We are not naive enough to expect that adoption will be easy.  Kellin will likely have institutional behaviors and delays, and will be traumatized by the whole experience of leaving everything he has known.  He may have feeding difficulties, sleep issues, and attachment difficulties.  It may be years before he "catches up" to his peers, if ever.

So . . . do these things make us "ready" for adoption?  I don't really know.  But I'm not sure what else we could do to prepare.  While I do appreciate those who write honest, real accounts of the challenges of adoption, I would also like to know what they expect those of us without that real-life adoption experience to do to prepare.  Are we ready?

Changing the subject a little . . .

We have been waiting for our LOA for 68 days.  It feels like it has been way too long.  It is very realistic to expect that we could receive this approval this week; however, I am reaching the point of being afraid to hope when I go to check my email (which I do many, many times each day).  The sadness is getting harder to bear.

We had intended to wait until after LOA to request an update on Kellin, but this past week, I couldn't wait any longer.  We "ordered" an orphanage phone call through an organization called Ladybugs n Love, which basically means we paid them an amount of money and in return, they will call Kellin's orphanage and try to get updated pictures and measurements, as well as asking for answers to the 10 questions we listed.  Hoping to get that information this week also.

Last Saturday was our benefit at Tropics Bar.  Thanks to those who attended!  We believe that it raised around $675 for our account (it is not in the thermometer yet because we haven't received the actual amount yet).  If you do the math, you'll see that we are only about $600 short of fully funded.  $600!  With a good turn-out at our last fundraiser at Pizza Ranch on Monday, we could get there!  Please consider coming to eat pizza on Monday evening, and tell any local friends, family, co-workers, etc. to join you.  We have seen over and over again that small contributions add up to great things!