Choosing an Adoption Theme Word for 2016

What are YOU working on in your adoption this year?

Maren Lee December 31, 2015

Dauntless. That was my theme word for 2015. I was working on removing fear from my world and moving forward with confidence. Occasionally I felt like Tris kicking butt. I’d like to say that I accomplished that daily. We had a lot of ups and downs and more than survived. Ty returned from his deployment, LT had quite the reaction to amoxicillin, and many more experiences happened in 2015.

For 2016 I’ve had a hard time choosing the appropriate word. Heck, I’ve had a hard time figuring out what our next steps are within the adoption world. Fortunately, that struggle has led me to my theme word. My indecisiveness and lack of direction this early in the year has given me the ideal goal: Resolve.

If you look up the word resolve, one of the definitions you’ll find is this: to decide firmly on a course of action. This year my goal is to make those hard choices about what we are going to do next with our family. I also want to make better plans for our contact with LT’s birth family. Throughout the year we see them randomly and talk occasionally when one of us has exciting news of a special event. We’re friends on social media so we also see each other’s updates, and if you know me you see that I tend to post an obscene amount of photos. This year I resolve to set better plans to contact RW and her family, even if it’s just a quick jump down to their neck of the woods for a short weekend.

 My indecisiveness and lact of direction this early in the year has given me the ideal goal. Resolve.

Occasionally I see other people’s open adoptions and how they visit frequently because they live mere miles away or at least within the same city, and I wish we had that. I’m not saying that it would make things easier because, in all honesty, I can’t imagine a better birth family for us to be connected to forever. For 2016, I resolve to relish the relationship we have and remember each adoption is different with varying personalities and needs. We are incredibly blessed with ours, and RW and her family are so respectful of us as parents to LT.

This year one of my goals within my theme word is to decide with Ty what our next step is with starting a new adoption and set that into motion. I have been wishy-washy in what I want, but this year decisions are being made and a plan of action will be set into motion even if it is something as simple as committing to an agency or attorney.

So what are YOU working on this year in your adoption? Do you want to be more open? Have more frequent visits? Send more packages? Send more texts or pick up the phone and call more each month? Discuss adoption openly and build awareness? I’d love for you to post below your plan for 2016.