Admittedly a bit corny, Rick and I keep a "Book of Memories". We started it while we were still engaged, and it contains a yearly update of highlights of things that have happened in our lives and also a list of hopes and aspirations. On the first page, when we started this book over 15 years ago (!), we recorded our shared desire to have children, both biological (if possible) and through adoption.
Our growing interest in adoption meshed with our love of the country of Peru about five years ago and since then we have been preparing, praying, and waiting for a match with a child from there. We were told early on that Peru doesn't do a lot of adoptions -- for various reasons -- and that our desire to adopt a little girl under the age of two was very unlikely, if not impossible. As a result, over time we changed our parameters to either a girl or boy, 8 years-old or younger, and the possibility of a sibling pair. We were open to all of these various scenarios, but in all honesty we were still hoping for a little girl.
It has been a long, unpredictable, and at times difficult process and so we consider it a small miracle that on Thursday, December 29, we received word that we will have the opportunity to welcome Alejandra into our family and lives! She is 15 months-old and lives in an orphanage in Cusco (one that we visited in the summer of 2007) where she has lived since she was 5 days-old.
Needless to say, we are extremely excited and eager for 2012 and can't wait to have Alejandra here with us!
