How Long?

What with the hurricane and some other significant but ordinary life events, not much has been achieved with the adoption this week.

It is strange how this constant work on the adoption has become the status quo - it is routine now that I am filling out paperwork, following up on paperwork, reviewing paper work, breathing paperwork, dreaming paperwork...

The hurricane was uneventful for us - though we have great sympathy for those whose lives were torn apart by it.

We had a couple of days off as our offices were closed - the public transportation system was shut down and it was too rough to travel. We stayed home all cozy and warm.

Our house always feels a little empty - the little bed in the office leans against the wall unused... a chair is all ready at the table. In fact, we talked about how we will need to get a bigger table when our little one comes.

This emptiness that we feel is a melancholy mingled with hope and expectation. It is a patience that is bursting at the seams with eager anticipation.

Someday, the little bed will be filled with squiggly legs and arms and the chair at the dining table filled with a child eager for dessert... our son, our daughter. The thought fills me with smiles.

"How long?" That is the question everyone is asking... probably another year or two... or more.

That answer is quickly followed by the comment/question, "How can you be so patient?!?"

Because we have no choice. The only way to fill the little bed and the little chair with our special little one that God has called us to, and called to us, is to wait.

So we stand with hearts and arms open, but with our spirits bowed in surrender to the God who controls it all. And we wait.

The paperwork actually helps the waiting - it gives the illusion that we can somehow hurry up the processes... And we can! But only so much. So much of it is waiting for other people to do something.

We should get a sign that says "SEVERE WAITING EXPECTED".

So all is well in Elliott land... but it will be so much better when the Elliotts are three instead of two. Or maybe four...