Thursday, July 28, 2005

Any Day Now

A prospective mother in our traveling group was scouring the China adoption bulletin boards for info last week, and found out that January applications were on their way back to the US. Our application was posted on January 20, and apparently everything received before January 27 is on its way. If this is correct, we will get our referral today or tomorrow.

I am numb with the anticipation of ripping open the envelope with my wife and finding out if our application has been approved, and if so what is the name and age of our little girl. What will she look like? What clues about her physical condition will her medical report reveal?

I am also numb because now is a confluence of activities and events for me. I’m frantically trying to finalize my summer independent study on politics and land use by the end of the month. In my other class, I and my eight teammates have to compile a 150-page city budget analysis and 30-minute presentation. Next week at work, we’re hosting a five-day business camp for 100 teen entrepreneurs. I’m tying up ten years of work next month, and getting ready to do the school thing full-time. My sister is getting married tomorrow in California. We’ve done about a tenth of the house prep we need to do to get the house ready for a little one.

A friend of mine at work invited me to go to a happy hour he was organizing for a staff person who is leaving us this month. I half-jokingly barked at him, “Happy? I don’t have time to be happy.” But I have to confess that I was being half-serious. I haven’t had time for anything lately, and as a result I’ve been more impatient and more rude to people around me, for which I am sorry and wish I would do better.

I really am trying, to lighten my schedule and take on less and be OK with down time. As I’ve joked before, “God grant me patience . . . but please hurry up!” To which today I add, “God grant us a child . . . and please hurry up!”

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