Hurry Up and Wait… and wait… and wait.

My vocation involves a lot of hurry up and wait.  Get out of bed at [sometimes] 4:00 a.m. throw four 50lb+ flight cases filled with music gear in my car (it’s amazing how much you can cram into a Camaro) rush to the airport to check in by 4:30, get through security with – hopefully – no issues (remember to smile politely at the TSA agents!) get to the gate, board the plane and… wait.  Then, after landing, it’s on to baggage claim to gather up a stack of heavy, awkward-to-carry flight cases (this time 9 of them), load them in a van, drive to the venue, load in at the venue, setup all the gear, soundcheck and… wait.  A few hours of downtime to rest and collect your thoughts.  Then it’s a rush onto a pitch-black stage during the “bumper video” which the video tech said is a minute and a half long (in reality it’s about 28 seconds) plug in, tune up, make sure amps are on, keys are getting signal right? Is my microphone on?…. Play music for awhile then repeat the entire above process in reverse.  On a good night I’m in bed by 11:30 – midnight, then back up at 4:00 a.m. to load a bunch of heavy cases in a van, drive to the airport and catch the red-eye home.

Our adoption journey, so far, has felt much like what I just described: rush to get in an application, two autobiographies, and three reference letters by the deadline and….  Wait.  and wait some more.  Then, when you think you’ve waited awhile… wait one more month.

We haven’t updated the blog much lately because, quite frankly, we haven’t had any new news to report.  Before even beginning this journey we reached out to a few friends/acquaintances who we knew had been through the international adoption process.  There was one thing all of them told us: be patient.  Without exception, everyone we talked to who had adopted internationally (not just in African countries, but others as well) told us to expect everything to take longer than the timeline we would be given by agencies, orphanages, government offices, etc.  “Everything will take twice as long as what you’re told it will.” was the advice from one friend.  Those words were spot on.  Everyone I’ve ever talked to who’s been to any country on the continent of Africa describes what the people there call “African time.”  There seems to be no rush or urgency to get anything done; and deadlines?  What’s a deadline?  “We’ll get around to it… Relax, we’re on African time.”  It drives our Americanized, consumer-driven, “microwave generation” brains crazy; but we are learning more patience in this process.  We have continued to raise and save money for our adoption during this time knowing that once things start to move further into the process we’ll be spending it fast on adoption fees, court fees, paperwork application fees, lawyers, plane tickets… [I could go on but you get the idea].

Many of you have been asking about Esther.  Here’s the latest: We found out recently that her extended family got to a place where they were able to take care of her and she went back home to live with them.  As difficult as that news was for us to hear at first we are very excited for Esther — excited that she will grow up surrounded by her biological family and (as one of the orphanage directors put it) growing up hearing the stories of her mother whispered in her ear every night.  Anytime an orphan is able to be reunited with her biological family – when that family is at a place where they can truly provide for her – it’s a good thing.  A very, very good thing.  We have since seen some pictures of Esther surrounded by her [biological] family and as happy as we’d ever seen her; she is the queen of her castle and is adored by her family!  As we mentioned in an earlier blog we decided before even beginning this adoption journey that we would name our daughter Esther.  That hasn’t changed for us.  This “Esther” wasn’t the one God had in mind for us but He has used her to move us closer to our Esther.  So, even though she won’t be living under our roof, she will forever be a part of our hearts reminding us of orphans all over this world who need us to speak for them and take up their cause with the ultimate goal of finding a loving family for all God’s children. (James 1:27)

As we continue to wait for the orphanage to match us with a specific child (or children!) we’ve begun to take some of the steps required on this [U.S.] side of the adoption.  We started our home-study a few weeks ago.  The home-study is an intense process involving autobiographies, letters explaining why we want to adopt, reference letters, home inspections, interviews to make sure we’re sane, safe people… the list goes on.

I’ve also started the recording process on a collection of songs I plan to release as part of our fundraising efforts.  I started writing these songs at the end of last year not long after we had begun the adoption process by turning in our initial application.  I feel like God has wakened my heart over the last two years or so to the need to care for “the last and the least.”  The more I study Jesus the more I see Him talking about caring for the orphan, the fatherless, the “least.”  So this collection of songs that have been rolling around inside me is different than anything I’ve written before and I can’t wait to share them with you!  The plan is to do digital-only release of the album to avoid any CD print/duplication costs and since I have a recording studio in the house there won’t be any recording production “costs” involved (other than my time).  So 100% of the money from sales of this collection of songs will go straight into our adoption fund.  I hope to have a few audio and video clips of the tracking (re: recording) days posted on here soon.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support.  We will do our best to keep you updated as we move forward in this journey!

- Ben

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