Dana's Individual Session

On Monday, I met with Lori for my individual session. It was similar to the couples' session. I was asked lots and lots of questions about my childhood, how I was raised, about each person in my home growing up, etc. The session was fairly easy. After about an hour and a half with Lori by myself, Todd brought Hayden up to meet her, and we completed the last few questions of the couples' session that was started last week. Hayden was a trooper and played with the toys in her office while we answered her questions. It was nice to have him there with us and feel that he's a part of this process. After all, it is definitely a family event! We've started talking to Hayden more about what all this means for him. We're reading books about being a big brother and talking about having a baby in our home. So far, he seems very excited and positive about it. I know things may change once it happens but for now he's enjoying telling people that he's going to be a "big brotha". There is one book in particular that he loves. It's called "I'm a Big Brother!" We're literally reading it twice a day at this point (he asks to read it constantly)...before nap and before bed. I even found him sitting in his rocking chair in his room looking at the book the other day. His other favorite books have been ignored ever since we showed him this book. He's even started to memorize it. Todd was reading it to him the other night and would stop at certain parts and Hayden would fill in the words.

I'm also reading a great book about adoption. It's called "Adopted for Life" by Russell Moore. Friends from church gave us this book when we started the adoption process. Come to find out, Russell Moore is a pastor at Highview Baptist church in Louisville and also the senior vice president and dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. His book is very touching. I was also given an article to read, and ironically, the article was about the book. I hadn't thought about how biblical the act of adoption really is until reading this book and this article. The article points out that adoption "is the act that most directly mirrors God's actions towards us." As Christians, we have been adopted into God's family. They put a new perspective on the process of adoption for me.

Todd will has his individual session next week, our home visit is next week (we now have everything in place for that), and we both have physicals set up for the following week. Moving right along!