Wednesday, May 6, 2009

In case you were dying to know....

After my mysterious posting on May 1st, which dared my vast ocean of readers to guess what was behind door number one, I know everyone has been in deep suspense waiting for the answer. Special thanks to my friend M who made the sea lion comment after I said to her in frustration "doesn't anyone want to know what is behind the door?" Sigh....one day my blog will be buzzing. Until then, I will continue to entertain myself with IMAGINING how fun it would be to have a blog buzz. I digress...

Since I am patterning my blog after all of the blogs that I have so faithfully followed/stalked for the last five months, I was thinking that the next best step would be to explain a bit more about our adoption story. Here goes:

Adoption has been on our mind for a long time. I don't actually remember N and I have many conversations about it, but as a child, I desperately wanted my parents to adopt. On a fairly regular basis I would show them the "waiting children" pictures in the Sunday paper and talk about how Tommy would fit nicely into our family because he liked to ride his bike just like me. No dice. I did get my big break when my aunt adopted three children and I got to be very involved in the process of picking them up and bringing them home from the hospital. So, somewhere in my head, adoption as always been a normal and wonderful way to grow a family.

Fast forward: N and I always thought that we would have kids about two years into marriage...and we thought that every year for the next five...work/grad school/other interests became a greater priority. Additionally, we struggled with the concept of international adoption. Was it in the best interest of the child and of the country as a whole? We still wrestle with these questions, but..........................

While working at the Mother Teresa Orphanage in Asco we met a child. She is 2.5 years old, pretty much the cutest little girl ever and the Sisters were seeking a home for her. We talked...talked some more, thought, prayed and decided that we really wanted to adopt...HER! Maybe we even surprised ourselves, but most of our family didn't seem to be shocked!

Our process has had some real ups and downs. While we initially thought that we would just fly through all of the paperwork, our cute little "Y" has some challenges with her paperwork which presently prevent her from being adoptable. We were told by our caseworker in Jan that we would not be able to adopt her and that because of some really sad and crazy paperwork issues, she may never be able to be adopted. Devastation. Thankfully, neither N or I felt that it was really over. We pushed. We called. We investigated and finally I visited Ethiopia. While things are not necessarily ok now, at least we now fully understand what the problem is and that is comforting...to some degree. We wait.

In the meantime, Y is getting bigger, smarter and more active everyday.

Anyone else hate waiting? Somehow I am at peace...As the Sister repeatedly told us "If Y is for your family, God will make a way."

7 comments:

Jebena said...

Oh Rahel, YES, "if Y is for your family, GOD will make a way." This, from my own adoption journey, I know to be true! We will be joining you and others in prayers!!!

Tam said...

what a sad, beautiful and hopeful story. we will also keep you and Y in our hearts. are you on the waiting list for Y specifically, or other babies as well?

we are in Rogers Park, at the end of the red line. so not too far away from each other!

los cazadores said...

Rahel,

That is a beautiful entry about your and N's desire to adopt. Y has two wonderful people waiting for her.

Cindy

Tam said...

yeah we should grab coffee sometime. i have never been to metropolis. feel free to email me - tambmcbride@yahoo.com

Aaron said...

Having a really hard night with the wait...hoping/praying for a referral in June but knowing it may be months away. It is encouraging to know God already has the family planned!

Aaron said...

Aaron is actually Amanda...just FYI

Unknown said...

Wow! That is incredible, I hope and pray it all works out for you and Y!