"How's the adoption going? How much longer till you get those babies?" It's a question I get a couple times every week.....because people remember and people care. Answering the question is good for me.... it helps me remember that things are happening and wheels are turning, even when it feels painfully slow.
It's been a while since I've given you all a straight up update about how the paperwork's going. In my last adoption post I explained my dossier log-jam. The amount of paperwork and detailed instructions have a potential for error greater than if I tried to pass the bar exam without studying. It froze me. After I got over the overwhelming desire to just take a nap, I got started. I've been gathering, signing, notarizing and scanning through the requirements. It's almost done.
Our adoption agency is pretty high tech....they've got an online adoption portal to answer my questions and double-check my documents. I scanned everything in to get the professional once over and found we needed to make two corrections. In my mind that should take 24 hours or so and we'd be on our way. In real life large family style, 2 field trips, 4 Awana Grand Prix cars, 90 spelling words, 12 loads of laundry, 1 college visit and general sleeplessness caused it to take a bit longer. I keep having to tell the perfectionist in me that what I have to offer right now is worth offering because God called me right now and He knows how to multiply loaves and fishes.....or tiny shreds of energy and lucidness.
Now the checklist is finally complete and the next step is to take my life in notarized paper form to the Secretary of State office to be State Sealed. "What's that?" you say? "I didn't know there was such a thing?" you say? Well, neither did I....but apparently there is a system set up for formally proving that you are who you say you are and the documents you're signing are actually real.....and it's called State Sealing. This is another process rife with potential for error. Every country has different preferences for how they like it to be done....it's my job to be an expert on Ethiopia style and pull out the "pushy Momma" growl if necessary to get it done.
The State Sealing feels like Willy Wonka's golden ticket to me right now. I think the clouds will part, sunshine will fall in golden rays upon me and the birds will flutter and sing when I have it in my hands! Now I get why adoption blogs are teeming with pictures of dining room tables full of papers and envelopes going into the post office box. Those are adoption ultrasound pictures. What an exciting day that will be!
The magic envelope will leave us and make it's way to Bethany Christian Services where more important papers and lots of Air-Mail stamps will be added before it's dropped in another mail box. Then the paperwork process of our pregnancy will be complete and our precious papers will arrive in the birthplace of our babies and put us officially on the waiting list. That's our goal right now, the thing I'm dreaming about.
I have a missionary friend who turned each of these days of waiting and paper-filing into beautiful links in a chain for me. She reminded me that God's call was not just a call to the goal - adding two sweet new babies to the Florida clan. God's call was also to the process that will get us there. Each day toward that goal is a link in the chain of what God wants to do, an important part of His big plan. Because it's a link, it's worth savoring. It's worth pausing to get a good look at it, to make a memory of it. It's something to relish, not to rue. That, my friends, is a spirit-calming thought.
So let me set that same challenge in your lap. Today....whatever it may consist of...is a precious link in a noble chain of God's good purpose in my life....and yours. Today I'm planning to take the next right step toward God's call....looking neither too far ahead where "what if's" loom, or too far behind where I'm blinded by "shoulda been's." I'm gonna set my sights on today, and savor exactly this place along the way. Look around you my friends. Breathe it in, taste it, soak it up, savor it......like that little sliver of dark chocolate that flaked off the Godiva bar when you broke apart the last two squares. I don't know about you, but I would lick my finger, press it to that sweet little sliver of goodness and close my eyes as it melted on my tongue. Do the same with this moment.....it's a beautiful link in your chain.
It's been a while since I've given you all a straight up update about how the paperwork's going. In my last adoption post I explained my dossier log-jam. The amount of paperwork and detailed instructions have a potential for error greater than if I tried to pass the bar exam without studying. It froze me. After I got over the overwhelming desire to just take a nap, I got started. I've been gathering, signing, notarizing and scanning through the requirements. It's almost done.
Our adoption agency is pretty high tech....they've got an online adoption portal to answer my questions and double-check my documents. I scanned everything in to get the professional once over and found we needed to make two corrections. In my mind that should take 24 hours or so and we'd be on our way. In real life large family style, 2 field trips, 4 Awana Grand Prix cars, 90 spelling words, 12 loads of laundry, 1 college visit and general sleeplessness caused it to take a bit longer. I keep having to tell the perfectionist in me that what I have to offer right now is worth offering because God called me right now and He knows how to multiply loaves and fishes.....or tiny shreds of energy and lucidness.
Now the checklist is finally complete and the next step is to take my life in notarized paper form to the Secretary of State office to be State Sealed. "What's that?" you say? "I didn't know there was such a thing?" you say? Well, neither did I....but apparently there is a system set up for formally proving that you are who you say you are and the documents you're signing are actually real.....and it's called State Sealing. This is another process rife with potential for error. Every country has different preferences for how they like it to be done....it's my job to be an expert on Ethiopia style and pull out the "pushy Momma" growl if necessary to get it done.
The State Sealing feels like Willy Wonka's golden ticket to me right now. I think the clouds will part, sunshine will fall in golden rays upon me and the birds will flutter and sing when I have it in my hands! Now I get why adoption blogs are teeming with pictures of dining room tables full of papers and envelopes going into the post office box. Those are adoption ultrasound pictures. What an exciting day that will be!
The magic envelope will leave us and make it's way to Bethany Christian Services where more important papers and lots of Air-Mail stamps will be added before it's dropped in another mail box. Then the paperwork process of our pregnancy will be complete and our precious papers will arrive in the birthplace of our babies and put us officially on the waiting list. That's our goal right now, the thing I'm dreaming about.
I have a missionary friend who turned each of these days of waiting and paper-filing into beautiful links in a chain for me. She reminded me that God's call was not just a call to the goal - adding two sweet new babies to the Florida clan. God's call was also to the process that will get us there. Each day toward that goal is a link in the chain of what God wants to do, an important part of His big plan. Because it's a link, it's worth savoring. It's worth pausing to get a good look at it, to make a memory of it. It's something to relish, not to rue. That, my friends, is a spirit-calming thought.
So let me set that same challenge in your lap. Today....whatever it may consist of...is a precious link in a noble chain of God's good purpose in my life....and yours. Today I'm planning to take the next right step toward God's call....looking neither too far ahead where "what if's" loom, or too far behind where I'm blinded by "shoulda been's." I'm gonna set my sights on today, and savor exactly this place along the way. Look around you my friends. Breathe it in, taste it, soak it up, savor it......like that little sliver of dark chocolate that flaked off the Godiva bar when you broke apart the last two squares. I don't know about you, but I would lick my finger, press it to that sweet little sliver of goodness and close my eyes as it melted on my tongue. Do the same with this moment.....it's a beautiful link in your chain.
Is it weird to comment on your own blog?? Regardless.....I just read one of my favorite blogs that's the perfect companion to what you just read above. If you want a little bit more, head on over to http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/02/where-to-find-happiness/
ReplyDeleteYou'll be glad you did!
Lori...You are beautiful Woman of whom I look up to! You and your family are in my prayers.
DeleteYour words and your prayers mean a lot Stephanie - thank you for sharing them.
ReplyDelete