Thank you all so much for all the feedback. After discussing more with dh and reading your replies, we've decided not to introduce her at the party, we're not even bringing up the subject of meeting extended family with her till later. I did talk to emom on the phone yesterday and she mentioned that her parents would like to meet us before the birth. We said we would love to and left it at that.
As for our dd, she will be turning 8 this year. Where did all that time go? I have NO idea! We are very upfront with her and she's fully aware of our adoption journey. Since we have fostered 3 children already, she's already seen the ups and downs of this process. Actually, she's been in therapy for her anxiety issues for over 4 years, she has Selective Mutism (
Selective Mutism Group ~ Childhood Anxiety Network — Selective Mutism Group) and we've been working with her therapist on how to approach these issues with her. So, she does know about emom and that emom wants to meet her. Other than that, we're keeping things simple for her. Our dd is what we call an "old soul" and very pragmatic so we feel we can be a little more open about this with her.
I really appreciate the honesty, we're still learning this process! We hadn't really ever thought of private adoption before now, so we're learning as we go obviously.
