An Online Journal of Our Adoption Journey

Autumn

Last summer we picked the name for our little Chinese girl: Autumn.  We had a half a dozen possibilities but we kept coming back to that one.   The Chinese character to the left is the fall season, pronounced qitin - -although the 'tin' part is part of all the seasons (chtin, xitin, qitin, dngtin: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter) and is the second symbol, so I dropped it, leaving just the unique part.

All the siblings of my family have used names that start with the letter 'A' for their children.  Carol has Aaryn, Amber, and Alex.  Brian has Ashia and Avery.  Kathryn has Andrianna.   Carol started the trend, and the rest just followed through.  We were going to buck the system with our own child, but now that we are adopting we decided we'd like to make sure she feels a part of our extended family.

April 27, 2001 -- We've mailed off the Application package to Holt International.  The last thing we had to do was sign the adoption contract in front of a Notary Public.  Then we placed it all, photos, contract, application, copies of tax forms, child information, and $150 check into a Priority Mailer and dropped it off at the post office.  And this isn't even the dossier!

Our expenses so far:

Of course, that doesn't include the time spent or the transportation costs, nor the books I bought in preparation of all of this. 

Looking at the list I realize that before this adoption is over, what we have spent so far will be just a drop in the bucket.  It's not a tenth, or even a twentieth, of what we'll spend.  It's closer to a hundredth.

That is not to say it's not worth it.  Heck, people easily spend that much buying a new car.  And when the day comes that I hold Autumn in my arms I'm sure I won't think that a single penny was wasted, that she was overpriced and due a refund.  Indeed, I see it as the best investment of my life.