A few weeks ago, we flew out to San Diego to meet with people from our adoption agency, Adoption Options. Getting a chance to meet Brent, Michelle, and Natasha was great; it gave Kathy an opportunity to put faces to her constant phone companions of the past two months. They reviewed the dossier with us, and Kathy received many compliments on her orderly (and sticky noted) documentation. Brent, the director, showed us examples of the types of referrals we would receive once we were at the top of the list. A referral is a packet of information that contains a child's photo and medical history.
One particular little boy caught our eye. He was just 8 ½ months old, and cute as a button. Perhaps the happiest coincidence was that his given name was identical to the name we had discussed, prior to our travels. On our way out of the office, we both said we wanted a chance to adopt him.
The rest of the trip was spent enjoying the cold weather of San Diego with our friend Eric (who lives just 10 miles from the adoption agency). He was an extremely gracious host, and over the next 3 days showed us the best that San Diego had to offer:
· Fish Tacos and a beautiful sunset (complete with Green Flash) at the South Beach Bar and Grille
· Snow on the mountains (we weren’t as impressed as Eric had hoped we would be)
· Excellent vintages (including a $98 bottle opened for us by the vineyard owner) while touring the wineries of Temecula
· Beer, food, and highway adventures at a gigantic brewery / restaurant called Stone Brewing Company
· The beaches and beautiful turn-of-the-century Hotel on Coronado Island
· Panda Adventures at the San Diego Zoo
· Authentic Mexican food in Old Town (a highlight for Kathy)
· In-n-Out Burger (a highlight for Alan)
· The inspiring view from atop Mt. Soledad
Less than 24 hours after we returned home, the last piece of our dossier was complete. Kathy sent our psych evaluation off to Brent, and he sent back good news. We had a referral, and it was the 8 ½ month old boy we had seen during our visit! Another family had turned his referral down, because he was born with a diaphragmatic hernia. The condition was easily correctable, but this other family decided to pass on him.
Check back tomorrow, for part two!
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