Hello, I Love You

Hannah normally keeps everyone updated with adoption news, so I think this is the first time I've added anything to our adoption blog (which I don't think I've ever blogged before, so bear with me). I have been reading a book about foreign adoption that I wanted to share with those who may be doing the same thing. Hello, I Love You is written by Ted Kluck. He has written other books such as Why We're Not Emergent & has received awards for some of his work from ESPN the Magazine, Sports Spectrum Magazine, etc. The book is written as a memoir, a compilation of his personal thoughts during the adoption process for he & his wife's two boys from Ukraine. What I really liked about the book is his seemingly total honesty of the process.

"There's nothing like adoption to make a grown man cry. Repeatedly. 'They called Svetlana tonight & told her we have to go to America & wait sixty days for you. Sixty days! I punched the wall. I paced the room like an animal. I looked at your diapers & your book & I cried angry tears. I can't leave you like this. I miss you already.'"

He & his wife began the adoption journey because of infertility, faced all kinds of financial troubles preparing for & during the adoptions, & trying to understand & get over the culture barriers of a post-Soviet Union country. Kluck adds bits of humor throughout, probably more for himself as he writes than for the reader, but also shares & explains all of his frustrations along the way. It really opened my mind when he shared about the types of flats they stayed in, the people they came across in Ukraine, the major differences between what we're used to here in the U.S. & overseas, etc. I know there will be nothing to prepare Hannah & I before we actually go, & I know there is probably not much in common between Ukraine's processes & Ethiopia's, but this book helped me to really think about & pray for our trips over. It also made me aware no matter how well we plan & prepare, there may be things that don't go our way. We will, just as Ted Kluck & his wife did, trust & obey God along the way.

I have a few other adoption books I'm going to try to go through over the next bit. When I'm finished I'll add a little about them also. Thanks to everyone for all the prayers for us & our families. We love you, & without your intercessory prayers wouldn't be able to do this.

John