The week of Thanksgiving, we received the good news that our
Home Study, the first major portion of our adoption journey, was completed –
Thanks be to God! Over the course of the 5 months it took to complete it, there
were many moments when it seemed as the though we would never be able to
cross-off each document and task on the checklist. Thanks to Kameron’s
diligent organization and many professionals and agencies who assisted us with
paperwork, we have sent our Immigration paperwork off for approval and are
compiling our dossier to send to Ethiopia.
So, now with the Home Study in our hands, a new, shorter
and less complicated list of requirements to check off, with a major leg of the
journey in the rearview and with renewed gratitude in our hearts, we move into
the second major phase: waiting.
Waiting is difficult. We have been looking forward to
welcoming our new child into our family since we began praying about this
possibility last year. But the waiting will persist. The average wait time from
submission of our dossier to Ethiopia to a referral for a child: 18 months. We
are longing for this new, youngest member of our family to become a permanent member of our family. We look forward to when the number of faces you can count
on our Christmas card will be five rather than four. For now, we simply imagine
and pray for a face that may or may not have been born yet. We are forced into
waiting, yearning, longing.
I am not used to waiting. In an age of instant
gratification, when food passes to us through a window, 2 minutes after
ordering, when we have limitless information a finger swipe across a laminated
screen away, and a buffet of entertainment awaits us in our living rooms or
around the corner, I am reminded that things worth loving and living for cannot
be rushed. A birth, a wedding day, a graduation, a reunion, retirement, an
embrace - the best experiences in this gift of life demand that we wait.
Waiting might be the hardest part. Especially when the
waiting is without visible, measurable progress. It is one thing to have a
“to-do” list of requirements to champion, one task at a time. It is another to
wait in the stillness, the wondering and the silence of possibility – waiting for a
phone call announcing the good news of great joy to us, that our child will finally
join our family.
As a family, during this Advent season, we not only remember
Jesus’ birth 2,000 years ago, and look forward with eager anticipation for
Christ’s return, when all creation will be renewed and peace and fulfillment
will reign. For the first time in my life, even if in a very small way, I think
we can identify with the longing of Israel, through Mary and Joseph’s
experience, for the Child to come.
We deeply desire to show God’s love to one of His own by
making him or her one of our own. Please pray for all five us during this
journey.
In God’s Grace,
Nathan, Kameron, J. Henry, Amelia (and Baby #3!)
