Happy New Year!

Chinese New Year begins today. Year of the Golden Boar. I'm lighting a red candle and keeping up positive thoughts that finally, this will be the year our baby is born. I also find myself thinking of her first parents... knowing that our joy will unavoidably be connected to their loss and grief. Mostly today I'm contemplating questions that can never be answered in a closed adoption. Is someone walking around in China today, pregnant with the girl who will eventually become our daughter? Is she young and single, or older, married, and already has a child? And her father, is he struck with sadness or the sense that one must do what needs to be done? I guess all we can do as adoptive parents is be grateful that they will have made the choice to put their baby somewhere safe where she could begin her part of the journey to our family.

Well, before I embark on a totally self-indulgent soliloquy, I'll just end here and say Happy New Year to all those who celebrate!