This whole process has been such a series of ups and downs. The one consistent thing I have been able to count on is the love and support from my family and friends.  An amazing amount of people have been following our story.  Both my husband and I are very vocal and on various blogs, forums, facebook and twitter (@lisaweisman and @andybeach). We have met  folks have chimed in with their stories of being adopted or adopting. It’s really wonderful.

We are relatively new to Portland and have spent the last few years in Durham North Carolina. I really LOVED living in Durham. It was my kind of town- especially after living in New York for almost 20 years and slowly falling out of love with it.  Durham is funky, liberal, has great food, is laid back and is really beautiful.  About 6 months after moving to NC- I joined a knitting group called the Durham String Thing. I actually found out about them on Raverly (where I get all of my life changing info).  My now dear friend Naomi invited me to the group.  Well… after a six months of feeling a little out of sorts –being a loud New York Jew living in the genteel south- I found my people.

The Durham String Thing are loud, hilarious, love to swear, are both very politically correct and absolutely NOT politically correct (at the same tiem) and really very talented.  The group came together at a period in many of our lives where we had just relocated to Durham or were looking for new people to hang out with.  In short- I made an amazing group of friends in a very short time.  And these women (and man) ARE fantastic—funny, kind, creative and supportive.  I really can’t separate the few years that I lived in Durham from my relationship with the String Thing- in my head the two are totally tied together.

The String Thingers  have been really actively following our adoption news and are now going to be the fairy god mothers (and father) of our little one. A few weeks ago- I got a mysterious envelope in the mail from The Durham String Thing. I had opened it up and there was a check in the mail for our adoption! They had held a yard sale in honor of our little one to be! Even writing this I am getting Goosebumps from my head to my toes. I never in a million years expected this. When I opened the card I let out a little yelp and then burst into tears (it kinda freaked Andy out a little)I have moved away over a year ago- and while I long to go back for a visit- I haven’t yet.  They are in my mind all the time.  The money is extremely helpful. The random act of kindness will keep me going when this process seems so hard. When I am feeling lonely, and when I need to remind myself that there are people out there whom I love dearly and who love me back. It’s really powerfully shit. Thank you Durham String Thing- for being the amazing, awesome, loving, kooky group of people that you are!  Now I am going to knit some more…..’cause I can.