Sitting at a stoplight this morning, I blinked back some tears as I glanced at the official Home Study sitting on the passengers seat beside me. The goodness of God washed over me and left me with new admiration for Him. Our Banning boy sat in the back seat, excited to join me on this important errand to the Secretary of State's office for one last certification. These past two months have been full of meetings, paperwork, phone calls, paperwork, doctors appointments, paperwork, soccer practice, paperwork, family events, paperwork, schooling, and some more paperwork. Completing the Home Study and Dossier requirements for our adoption has been a labor of love; the honor of laying a foundation for our daughter's homecoming.
I sometimes imagined the papers laid out end to end, reaching from here to Haiti and bridging the distance between us. In truth they would probably only lead from here to Walmart, but that is not a very rewarding thought. So I pictured a bridge made of birth certificates and lab reports, psychological evaluations and 3 years of tax returns (even the one I had to amend because I accidentally entered our property tax where the personal property tax number was supposed to go- professional!) The bridge is beautiful, pieced together with fingerprints, bank statements, background checks, tenderhearted referral letters, TB tests, a ridiculous photo ID from Sam's club, 6 equally embarrassing passport photos each, and boring police clearance reports. This adventure requires a bridge and we were blessed to build it.
So this afternoon I was up to my elbows in copies, with my nose buried in directions for assembling the Dossier, and Banning says, "Mom, it's funny that it takes lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of papers to get a sister!" He's right, it is funny that it takes so much paperwork to unite a family, but big brother Banning is willing to do whatever it takes to bring his sister home, even when it means sitting still at the notary's or keeping the cocoa puffs away from the table (aka- the assembly line). Waiting until Langston was out of school this afternoon, we excitedly made our way to the post office to send off the hard-earned Home Study and Dossier to our agency so that they could be translated into French and submitted to IBESR by the Haitian attorney, which will begin the matching process. Langston and Banning proudly posed for a picture with the big box of paperwork before I pried it from my fingers and left it in the hands of complete strangers whom I hope have a lot of practice getting things to their proper destination. (The sweet lady at the post office mentioned, "I can tell you are concerned about this, so we can use bubble wrap." Was I that obvious?) Leaving the post office, the thrill of this adventure replaced the fear that some unmanned machine was going to squish, stain or shred two months worth of hard work.
It is out of our hands, but it's really never been in our hands. As this adventure of love continues, Brady and I rest in the truth that the hand of Jesus is directing it all. We pray that He shuffles the paperwork across the desks of busy workers, drawing their attention to the signature line and sending it along to the next destination. And may our sweet child be comforted by her Jesus who does immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine on her behalf.
The adventure continues...
