In Which We Have Another Adoption Announcement

So I figured now is as good a time as any to reveal the next stage of our adoption saga.  They say the third time's the charm, and since adoption referrals one and two didn't work out we're really hoping this one will stick.

So anyway, we're adopting a teenager!

Yes, I know we might possibly be insane.  But whatever kid we adopt would end up a teenager eventually anyway, and this girl seems to be a really great fit for our family, so we're taking the plunge!  Of course adopting an older child-- particularly a teenager-- comes with its own set of issues and concerns, but we've done our homework and feel like she's the girl for us. 

She's twelve years old right now, and she's currently living in an orphanage in Thailand.  She'll probably be thirteen or fourteen by the time we get her home, which should be either late 2011 or early 2012.  She loves school (her favorite subject is English), playing chess, watching Thai soap operas with her friends, and swimming-- though not in water over her head.  She has cerebral palsy which affects her lower limbs, but thanks to years of intensive physical therapy and surgeries is able to walk very well.  She's described by her teachers and caregivers as friendly and a hard worker.  She's a little shy and has a beautiful smile.  She's amenable to the idea of adoption, though she won't know about us for a while yet.

We're going to keep her Thai given name as her first name and give her the American middle name of Ellen.  It's a name that has sentimental value for us as well as a strong meaning, and is also easy to pronounce for someone who is not a native English speaker.  We'll let her choose what she wants to be called when she's here, but for blogging purposes she'll be Ellen; at least until she gets home and decides whether or not I'm allowed to blog about her.  She's old enough to have a right to privacy if she wants it.

We have a lot of information about her, and we can't wait to get her home!  I'm getting excited about all of the fun things I can do with a teenage girl; shopping, crafts, family game nights, cooking, going out to get manicures together, watching ridiculous chick-flick movies.  Jeremy's excited about teaching her how to ride a bike, building Lego creations with her (you are apparently never too old for Legos) and he's started playing chess against the computer so he'll be ready for matches against Ellen once she's here.  We're thinking we might want to home school her the first year so we can work on her language skills and have a few hours of bonding just with her while Connor's in school, so I've started looking at a curriculum for that.  Since I originally intended to be a teacher before having a very cute wrench named Connor thrown into the works, I'm excited about getting the chance to teach!  I'm also trying to learn as much Thai as I can before we go over so that I'll be able to hold a basic conversation with her without the need for a translating device or a go-between.  Hopefully we'll be able to keep her studies in Thai up as well; Jer and I could take classes with her and (if you count sign language) we might eventually be a trilingual family.  That would be pretty awesome, I think.

So we've already redone our homestudy to reflect Ellen's age and special needs, and we're back in the dossier process right now.  We're getting pretty close to having all our paperwork ready, and then we'll have to sit back and wait.  Forever.  I don't want to do too much with her room because she'll be old enough to have some say in that (decorating-- another fun thing we can do together!) but I've started thinking about basic furniture and whatnot, so once we finish up all the paperwork I'll have something to work on rather than just going crazy with waiting.  I might do that anyway, but at least she'll have a bed and desk before I do.

So here's to embarking on another new adventure!  We don't know exactly where we'll end up, but we're hopeful that things will go a little more smoothly this time and in another year or so we'll be a family of four!

~Jess