Gratitude

I realized today that I've posted extensively about the "stuff" we've received for the baby, but not the important stuff. There have been so many great, intangible gifts we've received though this process:

• The gift of complete acceptance from our friends and family of this non-traditional way we've chosen to have a family. At many points, they could have asked challenging questions that might have burst our bubble, but they chose to trust that we've made good decisions, to boost our morale when we had doubts, and to be happy for our success.
• The gift of having communities of friends and families where a biracial baby will be happily accepted, and where his or her ethnicies will be celebrated.
• The gift of so much great parenting advice from friends, and the knowledge that we aren't going to be only "oldest parents on the block"
• The gift of so much enthusiasm for our little one's arrival, and support in getting us ready, physically and emotionally.

So to all of you who have helped us get through this uneventful but still stressful 8 months, thank you! And to all of you who will read future whiny or ungrateful-sounding posts during our travels in India, please remember that in a sense, our family is being birthed in the this three or four week monsoon odessey, and it is bound to be a bit painful and messy, but ultimately the result will be worth it.