Another Round of the Doozy of a Dossier

I fear my little buddy is wishing he had preschool more than twice a week!  I tried to explain that the Davidson County Clerk and the Tennessee Secretary of State are a lot of fun, but he wasn't buying it!

Our second original dossier left for Moldova today.  We received word a few weeks ago that the court in Moldova wanted its own set of original everything and didn't want to have to share with the Ministry of Justice, who does the matching of children to families.  Frustrated but not defeated, I began to scurry to again collect all the documents from birth certificates and marriage certificates to notarized medical information from our doctor.  The good news was I had done it before and knew I was capable of doing it again.  The bad news was that I had to do it again.

For this round I pulled in my neighbor Kendria who is a notary public.  She walked over to our home on a Saturday afternoon.  While her little man played with our little men, we signed 18 documents for her.  I then assembled her 18 documents and four from Catholic Charities and headed to my friend and doctor, Missy.  I kidnapped her and her sweet babe from their home and took them to see Luis at Wells Fargo for the final notarizing of medical information.  After a donut (or two) from Krispy Kreme (the adoption process requires jolts of sugar at times), Gavin and I headed to the county clerk's office for a quick visit with Robyn.  Next, we made our way to the Secretary of State's office to see our new friend Jamie again.  Although the filming of some movie about Elvis's brother consumed the parking space made for me on the last visit, Bradley, the hotel parking dude, let me park for a very minimal fee.  I was grateful to not have to spin around downtown looking for a space.

After a quick trip to pick up Elliot at school, we had deja vu as we pulled into the parking lot of Fed Ex Kinko's to send another package to our agency in Texas.  Richard from our agency added a few apostilled documents themselves and sent it over the Atlantic.

Here's hoping that this is the last Halloween we spend without our new little one from Moldova!

"Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth!"

Psalm 100:1

Celebrating Milestones

We have the joy of celebrating six years of Elliot this month.  It is a wonderful thing to be surrounded by others eager to cheer the fact that you were born.  We watched Elliot's "Baby Movie" and recalled for him what it was like the day he was born.

I am so eager to get my arms around another little dude made to be part of our family.  Although I likely won't be able to tell him about the day he was born, I will long recount the events surrounding the days leading up to our first embrace.  We celebrate his birthday on the day communicated to us by his orphanage, AND we will celebrate each year the day he joined us forever.

We talk about our little brother(s) in Moldova daily. This past week Gavin asked George why he left our little brother in Moldova. George took a moment to explain that we didn't actually leave him there.  Part of his explanation included the fact that someone else is taking care of him right now, which led to Gavin's next question, "So when are YOU going to start taking care of him, Mama?"  Wouldn't I love to be able to give you a precise answer, Gav?  For now I simply remind him that in God's perfect timing that little critter will be here with us.  Ugh, I hope it is sooner rather than later!

In my dream world, there would be an "adoption status" page on the internet.  Much like a "flight status" page for Southwest Airlines, I would get on whenever I felt like it to see what is going on with our wait for a referral.  If our family's file is just sitting in a pile on a desk in Moldova, the "adoption status" would say "DELAYED" and then give an updated time of arrival.  Ah, but it is not that easy. I fear part of adoption is the beauty of the anticipation. I am going to focus on enjoying the wait the same way I did for Elliot and Gavin.  There are many milestones ahead for all our children. I will celebrate the wait for now, knowing that we are always one day closer to looking into the eyes of the child who has been on the other side of the ocean, unknowingly waiting on a ride home from George and me.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you."

Jeremiah 1:5