Frustration

As I have gotten older, I have tried - without notable success - to train myself to take the events of the day as they come and not fret over things that I can't control.

The adoption process has severely tested me in this regard.

At present, we are waiting for TA, the last official step before we can book flights and hotels so we can go get our daughter.  IF TA comes this week, we'll go in mid-May.  If not... mid-June.

My wife and I are not exactly eager to wait ANOTHER forty-five days.

There is nothing I can do about this.  Getting TA sooner rather than later relies upon somebody in an office thousands of miles away to shuffle a bit of paper from his "In" box to his "Out" box just a little faster.  It relies on getting it done in time to make today's pick-up time rather than tomorrow's.  It relies on the person who has to sign or approve to be in his office and not out sick, to not take an extra long coffee break, or to spend a bit more time working and a bit less time worrying about how his son will do in this Saturday's soccer game.

I can do nothing about any of these things.  (Believe me: if I knew who to bribe, there would be a fat envelope full of cash on its way right now!)

We've had relatively good fortune throughout this process: we've gotten some bits of paper rather sooner than expected.  We were matched on about the normal schedule.  All has gone about as well as we could have wished.  Our agency has been generally quite helpful and responsive.  We have nothing to complain about.

OTHER THAN POSSIBLY HAVING TO WAIT AN ADDITIONAL MONTH AND A HALF TO GET OUR DAUGHTER!!!!

I often say that things have a way of working themselves out.  A door closes, but another opens.  It may be that this extra time (if it indeed works out that way) will be to the good: perhaps it will give our daughter's foster parents (God bless them) that much more time to explain to her what's about to happen.  Perhaps she'd be a little under the weather in May but by June would be completely in the pink.  Maybe the extra time will allow us to get better tickets; I really, really hope we can get good seats as I hate air travel in the best of times, and getting a bigger seat with more legroom would be oh-so-nice.  Who knows?

What I do know is that I've been looking at photos of my little girl for a few months now, and I really want to see the real thing.  I want her home.