I remember the first conversation Gunther and I had about adoption. It was actually on our third date – walking through the Pacific Spirit park. We were talking about family and children – how impressive that a man didn’t run the other direction when a new woman in his life brought up the subject of family and children on their third date :-). Anyhoo, I remember distinctly agreeing that if we had the means, we would really want to help a disadvantaged child, give them a good home, a good family and a good future. So here we are years and years later…with a thousand things that we’ve been through in terms of starting a family. We stand on the precipice of making that adoption conversation a reality and BAM: yet another potential delay has arisen.
This delay is minor but a delay nonetheless. It is related to a potential slowdown within the Canadian embassy where their visas are being issued. It’s unbelievable – this is the FINAL step in the process, the end of the red tape roll...once we clear this hurdle, we’re home free – literally and figuratively. We were initially told that we could plan to travel there around Sept 6th as it would take approximately two weeks to process their visas once their passports were received in Bucharest (which was on Aug 17th). The problem is: if we book our trip and there’s a hold-up (which our lawyer said could happen as things are possibly slowing down in visa processing), we will get penalized up the yin yang for changing our flights. So our lawyer has told us to wait until we have the visas in hand and then make the travel. It pushes things out a couple of weeks, hopefully at most. ARG! We know that this is the right thing to do. It is just so hard!!!
People ask Gunther and I all the time what it’s been like to adopt and go through the process of adopting internationally. From where we stand now, despite all of the delays and red tape, it really is a rewarding experience. We have been blessed with two incredibly beautiful girls and they will be home before we know it. I have to remind myself that these words that we use to relate to this adoption process – joy, reward, frustration, unpredictability, expensive, complex, loving, patience – interestingly enough relate to what we’re going to experience as PARENTS. And so we wait a little bit longer...
This delay is minor but a delay nonetheless. It is related to a potential slowdown within the Canadian embassy where their visas are being issued. It’s unbelievable – this is the FINAL step in the process, the end of the red tape roll...once we clear this hurdle, we’re home free – literally and figuratively. We were initially told that we could plan to travel there around Sept 6th as it would take approximately two weeks to process their visas once their passports were received in Bucharest (which was on Aug 17th). The problem is: if we book our trip and there’s a hold-up (which our lawyer said could happen as things are possibly slowing down in visa processing), we will get penalized up the yin yang for changing our flights. So our lawyer has told us to wait until we have the visas in hand and then make the travel. It pushes things out a couple of weeks, hopefully at most. ARG! We know that this is the right thing to do. It is just so hard!!!
People ask Gunther and I all the time what it’s been like to adopt and go through the process of adopting internationally. From where we stand now, despite all of the delays and red tape, it really is a rewarding experience. We have been blessed with two incredibly beautiful girls and they will be home before we know it. I have to remind myself that these words that we use to relate to this adoption process – joy, reward, frustration, unpredictability, expensive, complex, loving, patience – interestingly enough relate to what we’re going to experience as PARENTS. And so we wait a little bit longer...
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