(Please remember that this is just a piece of my definition of adoption. For my full definition of what adoption is, you can read this whole series of posts here.)

For parents just about to get in line to ride the adoption roller coaster, let me warn you that it is not a gentle ride!! The highs are super high, the lows are ridiculously low and the turns are fast and hairpin.

Like amusement park rides have warnings that certain rides are not recommended for "expectant women, people with high blood pressure, people with back problems", etc., adoption needs to come with a warning that it is not recommended for people who are impatient, people who can't handle lots of stress, people who can't handle unknowns and unpredictability and people who struggle to roll with the punches.

You have paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork. You have hoops to jump through for your government, hoops to jump through for your homestudy agency, hoops to jump through for your placement agency (if different from your homestudy agency), and if you are adopting internationally, you have hoops to jump through for another government.

There are often long, difficult stretches of waiting. There are huge, important and complicated decisions to be made. There is oodles of money to come up with.

And there are all those dang emotions. There are the happy, excited, joyous, "my heart is going to burst with gratitude and happiness" moments. There are the "holy cow I cannot handle the waiting another millisecond and if I don't hear news soon I am going to explode I am so stressed" moments. There are also the heartbreakingly sad moments, moments of fear, moments of trepidation and moments filled with just about any other emotion you can imagine. All of those emotions are powerful enough on their own, but then they swirl together and change in rapid succession, leaving you some days with that dizzy, nauseous, stuck on a doozy of a thrill ride feeling.

Adoption can make you happier than you ever felt, it can make your heart break into a million pieces, it can fill you with excitement and hope, it can scare the daylights out of you, it can frustrate you to no end and it can stress to you to the max.

For me, while I have not always enjoyed the ride (in fact I rarely enjoy the ride!) in the end, my prayers have been answered, my world has been blessed and my children have been well worth the rough and wild roller coaster ride of adoption.

*If you have not yet participated, make sure you visit this post and enter the fun giveaway for National Adoption Month thanks to Curls.

*Picture is from Liquid Library