Ideally

Prior to entering Home Study part of the Waiting Child Program (through A New Beginning Adoption Agency) you have to do an intake interview. Part of that is checking yes, no, or maybe to the long list of descriptions/behaviors I talked about in my last post. They want to have parameters to help find a good match (not just for us, but also for the kiddo who'll be coming into our home). It's hard to try and figure out what the ideal situation will look like. We have a general idea, but we're open to the different possibilities.

Foster Care has taught us to not have specific expectations. While it is a system, it still is full of individuals and you can't always predict what will happen. We thought we'd only have the kiddos in our home for a few weeks, and we're now coming up to the six month mark. We didn't know what to expect from the kids, from the system, or even from ourselves. We're learning to take things day to day. This helps me with my own expectations of myself, and the unrealistic ones I had in regards to bringing two little kids into our home. Letting go of the expectation that I can have a clean house when I'm up all night with a teething baby. I'm figuring it out slowly, but surely.

I have been realizing that the joy of the journey in life is letting go of expectations and idealistic notions, so when the unexpected comes along you can be open to a better situation. When I was younger I had all these notions of what my life would look like. It is not the way I imagined, it is better. Way better. I wouldn't trade what I have now for those unrealistic ideals from before. Ideally, there is no ideal. Life can take on whatever shape it wants, and I will enjoy the unexpected delights that it offers.