Traffic Jam

I was heading out of Spokane on Friday – mid morning – I was anxious to get home. I had already started our later than intended and I wanted to get home to see my boys! I don’t know the streets in downtown Spokane well, but I can pretty much find my way to the freeway. I found myself on Second heading West. It just so happened that it was a construction zone. Half of the one-way street was all torn up and it was down to one lane. Traffic was not moving. I sat for about 15 minutes in the same spot. While I anxiously sat, I looked around – scanning for a possible way out of the sitting and waiting. Suburban in front, sedan in back, busy sidewalk to the left, earth movers and dump trucks making progress on the right . . . no way out. I felt stuck. I couldn’t see a single thing in front of me – no way to see what was possibly holding the traffic up. So I sat waiting, waiting, waiting . . . what I felt in those 15 minutes was way too familiar.

Three plus years ago we started down a road that we believed would lead us towards the completion of the adoption of two beautiful children, Justin and Emelyne. We find ourselves stuck and waiting, waiting, waiting. We keep looking around – searching for a way to get out of this stuck place . . . not to get out of our adoption process, but to complete it – finish what we started. There is a mountain (a man named Gabriel) in the way and we can’t see what is in front of us. There is seemingly no reason for the hold up. As I waited, I could see so much activity going on around – people passing on the sidewalk, workers doing their jobs. Likewise, we have watched countless friends begin and complete adoptions (and we are truly happy for them!) and yet it feels like we have not moved. As I sat I wept, and begged The Earth Mover to move the mountains in front of us – to clear the way so that we can proceed.

There is a man who has our file – he keeps trying to find things wrong with it. The Minister says our file is fine and she is ready to sign off on it as soon as this man, Gabriel, passes it along to her. This situation continues to be out of our hands (not that it ever was in our hands) and it is the most frustrating and tiring thing that we have ever been through. We are working with our contact as well as the American Embassy and the Sisters at the orphanage and are hoping that somehow they will be able to put pressure on Gabriel and convince him to do his job and sign our file. This next week is the Presidential Inauguration in Burundi so apparently few in the government go to work. So we live to wait another week.

One day closer . . .