Overwhelmed

It took a few minutes for the conversation to be absorbed, but as it continued an overwhelming sensation began creeping into my mind.

It was a Wednesday evening at church during dinner. Claudia was working and I had the opportunity to stop by church for food, fellowship and class. Several friends were sitting with us. Two expecting mothers. One new mother. And three husbands.

The expecting mothers were talking about where and when they had registered for baby clothes, furniture, accessories and bottles. They debated about the pros and cons between different style bottles. They expressed surprise at how expensive baby monitors were and their different must-have features. They chatted about what they looked for in car seats. Do you get one that has the cradle you leave in the car?

I chimed in occasionally, but for the most part just listened. And then it hit me.

"We've not even begun to think about those things yet," I told the group. "We've been so focused on medical history, tax returns, notaries and apostilles (certifying the notary), photo albums, and biographies. We haven't even begun to talk about those other things."

"Don't worry," one of the mothers-to-be consoled. "You'll have plenty of time."

I explained how the car seat, for instance, really hit me. I mean, yeah, they are important. So important we'll need one while we're in Colombia. I explained that taxi cab drivers are efficient and cost effective on the streets of Colombia, but they are NOT safe to hold a baby in your arms while riding.

"Believe me, the taxi cab drivers won't care if we have a car seat or not," I explained. Mental pictures took me back to a couple of years ago when we drove in a cab that zoomed and zagged, braked, honked at crossing pedestrians, punched the accelerator, zagged again and suddenly stopped. The drive turned around, hand on the front passenger head rest, and apologized for taking so long to get to our destination.

The take away from that meal was that as adoptive parents, we have two processes to experience. There's the paper adoption process, as its some times called when you're compiling all the necessary components for your dossier; and then there is the baby registry, preparing the baby's room and other things.

As adoptive parents, we have to remember patience during the paper process and slow down a little bit to enjoy the fact that there are a lot of fun things about expecting a baby - and debating car seats and monitors and when is the best time to register and where are certainly a few of them.