Arkins Family

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted. There isn’t much to tell. We are patiently (okay, not really all that patiently) waiting for our I-171. It is the only (ONE & ONLY) document needed to be put on wait list. So, in the mean time I’ve been stalking blogs and dreaming of what my day will look like when I get the call!

I hope the next post I write will be to announce we are officially waiting!!!! Keep your fingers crossed there is a special document in my mailbox.

Today we found out that we are officially Gladney approved. What does that mean you ask? More waiting of course! We still have to have CIS and FBI clearance to come back, and then we will be put on the coveted wait list!!!! We are at week 9 for the FBI clearance, so maybe 3-4 more weeks. Praying for 3, not 4, but we are soooo close!

Once wait list comes around, we are being told average wait time is 5 months (up from 4)….so, we are praying praying praying to see our baby girl’s face in August (or anything before)!

As a little girl, I grew up listening to the Annie soundtrack (let’s try to forget that it was on 8 track, I don’t want to date myself). Lately, I have found myself thinking about a song that Annie sings “Maybe”. The setting is in the window sill of the orphanage, and the lyrics go something like this:

Betcha they’re good
Why shouldn’t they be,
Their only mistake
was giving up me….

So maybe now its time
and maybe when I wake
They’ll be there calling me “baby”
Maybe.”

The song goes on, singing of what she thinks her parents are like and ends with all the orphans singing:

“So, maybe now this prayers
the last one of its kind
Won’t you please come get your,
“Baby”…….Maybe

The reality of waiting has begun to hit me. And the truth is, I haven’t really even started. While the excitement of adoption, and the hope that it brings is there, there is also an underlying sorrow.

There is sorrow in the circumstance that brought her parents or family to an orphanage. I ache for her Mother and Father who have had to make this choice. I ache for myself who yearns to have her here. I ache for my daughter, that she might not suffer any longer.

I wonder if she has ever known the comfort of a Mother’s arms, the safety of a Daddy tucking her in at night, or the house full of laughter that siblings bring.

I wish I could let her know that world isn’t as big as it seems. That even though we are miles apart, we stare at the same moon. All I can do is wait, and pray she knows that I am waiting to call her “baby”.

So, this week I have to tie up a few loose strings….You know, like the employment letter that I am praying 3rd time is a charm rule applies, correcting 2 notaries on letters, sending over my new copy of birth certificates. For the most part, WE ARE DONE!!! We have had our homestudy, we have had our CIS appointment, we have turned in all our documents (with a few minor corrections). We are thinking probably 6 weeks to wait list! Praying for 6. Then it’s the waiting game all over again! BRING IT ON!