Paperwork!

Aaah the blessing of it and the dread of it all at the same time.  Paperwork.  There is so much of it and it all must be completed so quickly, that half the time I dread just thinking about it.  Yet at the same time, it is such a blessing because it makes all of this even more real.  We are really doing this!  We are really moving forward with our adoption!  I have to focus on how amazing this is and instead of considering it drudgery, I must look at all the nit-picky, time consuming stuff in a positive light.  All of that paperwork paves the road we must take to get to our new son.  And with its hills, valleys, rocks and all-- it is a road worth taking.

It reminds me of the Robert Frost poem, The Road Not Taken--
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." 

Those are his final lines to this poem and the basic summary of his thoughts.  I have been reminded of those words many times in this process so far and they are very meaningful to me.  Frost took a different path in his own life by choosing to pursue a career as a poet rather than a more conventional job, and as a result was considered a fool. He could have taken the easy way out, finishing college and continuing on to be a businessman as everyone expected he would.  But instead, he followed his heart which lead him towards writing poetry and of course as we know, this brought him overwhelming success and more importantly-- joy. 

In comparison, our family is going down the road we have chosen- the road towards an older waiting child.  We could have kept our happy little family as is, and continued on content with our lives instead of leaping by faith into the unknown. We have no idea what the future will bring with this new child, but are choosing to follow our hearts and go where God is leading us.  It is not a conventional path, it is not a path for everyone, and it is not a path we have traveled before.  We have relied much on other people's guidance and wisdom in this, as well as in their encouragement, and we just know that it is the way we are meant to be going at this time in our lives. 

In adoption there are no guarantees, and there certainly is no easy road that I know of to get there.  But there aren't many easy roads to travel towards what is really important in life anyway.  Anything in life worth having requires work and dedication.  Adoption is no different, and it is definitely one of those things in life worth doing.  After all, even the birthing and raising of biological children is a time-consuming, difficult and oftentimes a heartbreaking road to follow as well, though I think we would all agree that the joys and blessings we are rewarded with far outweigh the momentary bumps in the road that we must endure.  Adoption is no different.  We are beginning the process in a unique way, but in the end there is still a new child in your family who needs love, nurturing, support and guidance.  Another child to call your own.

So, to the paperwork I say "Bah humbug!" but it won't get me down.  This is a momentary, fleeting time of struggle, but it too will pass.  The paperwork, with all its annoyances, will only bring us closer to our son and so I will continue to look upon it as a blessing and pray that it all arrives to its destination safely and with great speed.

And when my husband and I finally look into the eyes of our newest son on Gotcha Day we will know- with certainty- that when we chose to follow the road less traveled, to this one child it will have indeed made all the difference.