A Couple of Cool Experiences

Marc and I took my in-laws out for dinner. When we were seated we were told by the hostess that our waitress would be Katie (also our soon to be daughter's name). We sat down and the waitress walked up and started to speak to us. I looked up and saw the face of a beautiful young Asian woman who was the same age as our son (20 years old). After we gave her our drink order I shared with her that we were naming our soon to be adopted daughter Katie and she asked me to tell her more about the adoption. We told her we were adopting from China and she shared that she had been adopted at 6 months of age from Korea. She also told us that she was in College now and worked in the restaurant part time. She then left the table to place our order. I told my family that I would like to know more about her experience but I did not want to cross the line and be intrusive. When she came back my Marc took it upon himself to ask her if it was OK that we ask her a few questions about her adoption story; would she be comfortable with that? She was more than happy to tell us that she was adopted by Caucasian parents who had 2 biological children who are her siblings. She has lived in Florida since she was adopted and was brought up to know her culture as well as all the particulars of her adoption. She has known that she is adopted for as far back as she can remember. She has info on who her parents are and where their last address in Korea was. She said that she know some other Korean adoptees that have chosen to go to Korea to meet family but she has chosen so far not to. She loves the relationship she has with her folks and cannot think of anyone else as possible parents. She did not have a great deal of exposure to other Asian adoptees growing up until about the age of 10 when she was in a soccer league. There was another adopted Korean child on her team and both of their parents tried to force a friendship that simply was not there based simply on their shared heritage. She thought that if friendships like that were introduced early on and more naturally they surely could be beneficial to the child. She was so positive overall about her adoption experience and her close relationship with her family. We loved that she was totally at ease talking to us about her story. The whole meeting truly made our hearts soar. She was such an open, bright and terrific young woman! We ended the evening by thanking her profusely and telling her that we would be back to have her meet our Katie.

The second cool thing that happened this past week is that Marc and I as well as another couple, Shannon and Alan started a waiting families group here in South Florida. We held our first meeting at a local Chinese Buffet Restaurant that had a room for us. 45 people came including about 9-10 children. Everyone had a blast. We were able to have the waiting families gain insight from the experienced ones and everyone just had a great time talking. Next month we will have a panel of speakers. We all felt so gratified that the meeting was as successful as it was.

We Just Met Our New Cousin

We met our new cousin Joshua yesterday. He is cute as a button! He slept through most of our visit, even though he was passed around like a football as you can see by the pics. Finally at David's urging we nudged him enough that he woke up and showed us his eyes and a little taste of his vocal talents. What a sweet boy.

Marc with Josh

Lori, Justin and Joshua

Justin with new cousin, Joshua David Ruocco

We are proud to present the newest member of our family

Joshua David Ruocco

Joshua is Lori's second cousin. He was born on 6/14/05 (His Late Great Grandmother's Birthday) He and Katie Starr should be great friends as well as cousins. Congratulations David and Stephanie!! We are so very happy for you.

We have an LID!

I know that it has been awhile since the last time that we posted. That is mostly because we had nothing new to report.

Well, now we have something new...a log in date (LID). We were officially logged into the Chinese center for Adoptive Affairs on 5/17/05. We were very happy with that date because it keeps us on the same timeline as we had hoped for. Some people had much longer delays in their LID but we got lucky. We are hoping for a November Referral and Late December or Early January travel to get our daughter.

Family update: Marc and I just celebrated our 5 year Wedding Anniversary. We went to Key West last weekend and had a great time. Justin finishes Summer Term A next week and will be home for a few days between the two Summer terms. He will be home for Fathers day and we are very please about that. I promise to post soon as I have news about a waiting families support group that a new adoptive friend and I are starting.