Friendship forged through fire ...

Pictured from left to right: Emme, Grace, Lila, Ella, Maea, Wesley, Will, Jayden and John.  (Hutchinson 5 + Wistrom 4)

When we travelled to Ethiopia 17 months ago to bring home our two sons, we travelled with another family (the Hutchinsons) who "just happened" to be from Minnesota, and who "just happened" to be adopting two daughters, and who "just happened" to live less than an hour from us.  What are the odds of that? 

Our adoption agency, America World Adoption (http://www.awaa.org/) works with families from all over the U.S., and somehow we "just happened" to travel at the exact same time with only one other family - the Hutchinsons. 

We started our adoption journeys at different times, and yet we went through the extreme trials of not passing court (too many times to count) and then getting delayed for two months while the courts closed, and then having rules change during the court closure, and not passing court again when they re-opened.  And then finally the call came, one day earlier than we anticipated ... YOU PASSED COURT AND YOU HAVE TWO SONS! (and for the Hutchinsons - TWO DAUGHTERS!)

During that time period, when everything seemed to go wrong and the "wait" became an extreme trial, our two families learned to lean heavily upon each other - encouraging each other and shedding tears of sadness and frustration together.  I feel like ours was a friendship forged through fire - and now it is so refined and so pure and so ... comfortable and right.  There are so many difficult days in the adoption journey (they are vastly outweighed by the days filled with wonder and joy over this miracle that IS adoption) - and to be able to walk that road with another family that understands and relates to EVERYTHING ... is nothing short of amazing!

Last Saturday evening, our two families spent the evening together around a bonfire and the kids immediately picked up where they left off!

Wesley (4),  Ella (2) and Grace (4).