Dossier Sent to China'

This past week our dossier was sent to China...this is the accumulation of many months of work being complete.  Paperwork, background checks, paperwork, sheriffs letter, paperwork, fingerprints, paperwork, home inspection, paperwork...you get the pattern! We now have an entire large storage tote filled with paperwork from four adoptions! And, at some point ( probably when they are grown up) I will get around o organizing it, making adoption keepsake books for each child etc.  Right now I just aimlessly dig through it, never finding what I am looking for.  As I do I am reminded of the hours that went into each child's adoption. The paperwork is a picture of the love for a child even before their in your arms. Souvenirs of fundraisers, our of town trips for fingerprinting and receipts for the unbelievable costs that you have no idea how you actually paid.  Buried somewhere in that tote are medical records, the ones you fret over, wondering if they are accurate, wondering if your baby is healthy enough to survive until you reach them, and of course those priceless photos, the ones you memorize, spend hours staring at and showing to everyone you meet weather they are interested or not, because thats your child, and that's all you have making them a real part of your life. I look through photos of malnourished babies, little girls with their heads shaved bald, and sad little eyes, and cant believe those are the same healthy children I get the honor of raising.  That tote is a reminder not only of a parents love for a child or of the amazing way they have recovered, but of a God that loved them each enough to make sure they didn't have those sad eyes forever!