Today we received in the mail the culmination of a research project undertaken by someone in China we have never met, and likely never will. Several months ago, in a step of faith that perhaps only other parents of internationally adopted children may understand, we sent $250 to a different lady we have never met. Maren read a posting of hers on the internet telling about this lady in China that does research for families who have adopted a child from China. For $250, she would do several things for us. She would go to the finding city, take pictures, try to locate the finding spot, gather written material from there, try to get some correspondence from the orphanage, mail us a postcard from that city, and a few other things. It was several months ago that we parted with that money on a whim that we might be able to add just a small piece of our son's history. Several weeks ago, we received the post card mailed from his finding city. Today, when we arrived home from our 17th wedding anniversary get-away weekend, we found a package on our porch. It was not until we opened it up that we realized it was from this research project we had started. I won't go into all of the details of what was in it, but one of the things sent me to sobbing. I have only done that a few times in my adult life. After looking through the entire package, we somehow missed one piece. In a small red bag, we found a rock about the size of a large grape. A note inside the bag indicated it was from his finding location. Now, to be perfectly honest, it may have been a rock from in front of this lady's home. Based on everything else we received, I would highly doubt she falsified this part of it. For whatever reason, having that in my hand quite literally overwhelmed my senses and left me struggling to understand so much about my son's journey.
So, what does that have to do with our daughter? Well, after yet another court delay, there is supposed to be a date tomorrow. We still have had only one court date in India. The second was supposed to be in August. Then it was pushed back to September 6. Then it was pushed back to September 30. Then it got pushed back again to October 4. As we are getting ready to go to bed soon, it is just the first part of the working day there in India. When our social worker called from Oregon to tell us about the latest delay, he also stated that the lawyer in Monday was expecting a positive outcome in this October 4 date.
We only got a message about this information. Thus, we do not know if the lawyer meant "positive", as in things should go well and get us moving towards the next court date, or if it was meant as "positive" in that the lawyer has some expectation that we might get legal guardianship tomorrow.
When I began to pray tonight before bed, I began to pray that we would gain guardianship tomorrow. Part way through it, I switched to an honest prayer that court would simply go the way the Lord wants it to go. And the thing is, I meant it. While I struggle to see how delaying things helps our daughter (particularly being an adoption-focused therapist), I also know that I don't "see" a whole lot.
There are a few reasons why obtaining a favorable result tomorrow (actually while we sleep) would be pretty cool. After the 9-11 attacks from 2001, I picked up the phrase of the husband and father on the Pennsylvania flight when he helped to lead passengers in an attempt to overcome the terrorists. "Let's roll" has become now a standard phrase for me. So, it is possible that in this 24 hour period we will get a rock for my son and be able to roll for my daughter.
Let's Rock. And Roll.
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