The Amazing Race - Update

Today our precious, Alesha, turns 14 months old! I can't believe our baby girl is already so big. It seems like time speeds up as far as her age is concerned and I miss more of her life every day and time SLOWS way down when we are waiting for things to happen in this adoption process. Currently, we are still awaiting the beloved passport for, Alesha. We are still within the original given time frame we were told after we received guardianship so I am hopeful that it will come next week. All I know is that I have an amazing amount of peace that God has given me during this wait. For me I know that all my frustration and worry that might creep in will NOT make the passport come any faster and I know that God knows EXACTLY when our plane will leave for India to bring our daughter home. This fact is truly amazing to me and one that I can take rest in.

I was emailing an adoption friend last night as she asked how our adoption process has been and how I was doing. My response was the following:

This adoption process is an amazing ride!. There are many ups and downs and unexpected turns, but SO worth it. I think waiting for the referral and waiting for the passport are the hardest parts (at least for me) in this adoption journey. Waiting for that referral is so difficult! There are so many emotions, thoughts, and unknowns it can drive you a bit bananas at times! You wonder, Where is she?, Is she conceived yet?, Is she born yet?, What are her birth parents like?, What will she look like?, etc. I think about Alesha’s birth mother and wonder how painful the decision must have been to relinquish rights to her newborn baby girl. For her ultimate sacrifice, I have a daughter. This process is truly amazing. Once I had our referral and I knew who Alesha was the process got easier for me. I knew there were a lot of steps still to go, but at least I knew who she was. I knew what her needs were and how I could specifically pray for her. Now that we are at the final stages of the process my emotions have gone back to the many emotions, thoughts and unknowns. Is she going to like me?, Will she feel safe, Are we going to bond well?, Is she going to travel okay?, etc. This process comes full circle. I will be thrilled to finally have her in my arms so I can hug her, kiss her, tell her how much I love her, and how I have longed for her for so many years. What a glorious day it will be. I am not kidding myself, I know there will be issues all along the way, but I pray she will feel safe and know that she is loved beyond words.

My husband and I have discussed how this adoption process reminds us of the TV show The Amazing Race. For those of you who have not seen the show there are several teams who travel the world in a race for 1 million dollars. I enjoy the show, because you get to see different parts of the world. During the race the teams encounter different challenges, road blocks, etc as they try to arrive in 1st place at the finish line of that leg of the race.

Throughout this process we have felt like we were running the Amazing Race. We try to get paperwork completed as quickly as possible and usually more often than not run across a road block! You think if I can just get this to this government agency by this date than _____ will happen. This is not always the case. In the beginning the leg was getting our place on the waiting list. There were LOTS of challenges and road blocks that we encountered along the way, but in August 2008 we finally made it on the list at #13! We are exhausted, but thrilled to have completed that leg of the RACE! During the shows race there are mandatory rest periods that the teams have to take. With our adoption we had a mandatory 16 month rest period waiting for our daughter's referral. I wouldn't say it was restful (read above text), but mandatory non the less. Then we saw Alesha's beautiful face and the paper race began again. We had more road blocks of having to REDO paperwork that had expired and running hard and fast to complete paperwork before courts and agencies would close for the holidays so that we could move to the next step without delay. We again had a mandatory rest period around Christmas when our paperwork got where it needed to go 1 day AFTER everything closed for the holiday. During this process you can do all you can do, but you really have limited control. In the TV amazing race you can have a great lead on another team, but then get a bad taxi driver or go to the wrong place and it can put you in last place in a matter of hours. In the adoption amazing race you can get passed by other families or you can go ahead of other families for various reasons. As we approach the final stretch of our adoption journey to the final leg of the race we feel that our entire race has been led by God. He has really been our strength when we had none and our comforter when we were so disappointed or frustrated. In the TV show you will find that the teams started out one way and often are changed so much by the end of the race. I feel like my husband and I have had our relationship strengthened throughout this process. Our family has gone through a lot of changes over the last 2 years. God has taught us many lessons of patience, peace, perseverance, trust and so much more. Our adoption process is about the important things in life, people, not money. When we finish our race we will be blessed beyond measure with an adorable little girl by the name of Alesha Mugdha Pfeiffer that we will bring into our family and cherish for many years to come.

Stay tuned for our next leg of OUR Amazing Race to India!