Fathers and Fingerprints

This Fathers' Day I have thought a lot about what next Father's Day might look like and what it will be like to be on the other-side of Fathers' Day. This morning, as I sang in the men's chorus at church with my own father, I thought about how different our family will probably look in a year and how wonderfully exciting and promising that is. I could never have imagined that fatherhood would be such an enchanting prospect.

Friday morning, as Rebecca and I hurriedly got ready for the day, we received a phone call from the immigration office to verify the contact information for our adoption agency. Two weeks ago, during our fingerprinting appointment, the fingerprinting technician (a title I have concocted for my own purposes) told Rebecca that she would probably have to be re-fingerprinted, as they were unable to obtain a clear enough digital image. When we received the phone call from immigration, we were informed that both of our fingerprints had passed and that we were (as of June 19, 2009) officially approved by the United States Government to bring to the U.S. a child of foreign birth.

We have now completed the largest body of paperwork for the adoption of our child that we will have to complete. It is remarkable to imagine that, as our documents are being translated for use by the Ethiopian Government, that our child may have already been born. During the next several months, as we wait for our referral, we will both try to imagine what our child will look like, what gender it will be, what his or her personality will be like. I suppose that the next several months will be much like the time frame in a traditional pregnancy when you await seeing the baby move in an ultrasound and await hearing the beating of his or her heart for the first time. The next few months will undoubtedly be filled with much wonder and more than a little excitement and anticipation. It is reassuring to know that sometime, in the not so distant future, we will receive a picture of our child - possibly the most incredible 3-D ultrasound we could receive.

Ryan