I have truly met some of the most incredible people through the process of adopting our girls. One thing people who adopt have in common is they love people and they really love people who they can share their adoption with. I can talk about issues about my bio boys with any mom friends but to have a special adoptive mom who has BTDT with adoption and its issues is a gift. I have been gifted by many friends and many adoptive friends. The way I have connected with each of them is special and unique and they all add such value to my life. Some I am able to see just by running into them at the grocery store, some I drive a mere 40 minutes to see and some I have to fly all the way to IOWA!!

Through the process of waiting for Ellery I did what any waiting mom does and I wasted  spent hours a week on the Internet. Looking up blogs, seeing what current families wait times were to travel, watching child after child come home. Somewhere along the way I visited a blog that I would link you up to here but it is no longer in service. I periodically checked the blog, knew they were adopting but didn't pay any attention to her timeline. Then one day I was on her blog and she had posted their in China travel itinerary and a blurred copy of boarding passes. I looked at it for about two seconds before I realized we had nearly the exact same itinerary, our girls were from the same province. Well if you've been around long enough in bloggy land you know there are some blogs that are. dare I say , famous? To me this was one of them. My blog was not and is not "famous" (nor do I want it to be). I reached out to her not knowing what her the reaction might be. I have done that before to another "famous" blog and it went no where. Thankfully she did respond back and we exchanged emails and eventually decided we would meet in the Hong Kong Airport. And meet in the airport we did.

We flew to Nanning together and then went our separate ways, we were staying at different hotels.
Throughout the time in China we honestly did not spend very much time together. We were with different agencies so on different schedules and excursions but we did see them some everyday. The truth is I just really liked her. She was someone I knew I would be great friends with if we lived in the same town. The last time we saw each other was during an exhausting layover in Chicago (5-6 hours) after a reaaaallllyyyy long flight home from China (thankfully on the same plane). She went home to Iowa and I went home to South Carolina.

I honestly didn't know if we would keep in touch, I am horrible at keeping in touch with people long distance. Thankfully she and I kept in touch just enough to begin to develop a friendship. You know those people that you love being around because they are fun and warm and nice and share so many of your beliefs and thoughts, that was her. We wanted to see each other again and reunite our girls but Iowa and SC are not so close ya know. Then my hubby surprised me with tickets for Ellery and I to go see them in September. I was so super excited!!

On September 9th Ellery and I arrived in Iowa and met our friends Sara and Ruby at the airport. It brought tears to my eyes to see them again and our girls instantly grabbed each others hands. Boy have they changed...

Finally Lily and Jia were recently reunited and spent an evening together. She was so quiet on the 2 hr ride there, not saying a word. I can't imagine was she was thinking because anything that reminds her of China brings back so many emotions. When we turned onto their street I saw them sitting there and a big lump formed in my throat and my eyes began to water. I knew that it was going to be special but I cannot put into words how it felt to finally meet Jia and her mom in person.




She certainly didn't disappoint, the very first text I got from Jia's mom just minutes after I had left said that Lily was talking up a storm. I hated I didn't get to witness it but I am so happy they got to spend time together. We are committed to staying in touch and keeping these girls connected. For Lily, Jia is the only significant connection to her past she has. Jia absolutely means the word to her, not a day goes by that she doesn't talk about her friend.