Praying for Forgiveness

This is probably going to be way to long so I warn you now. As you all know I had committed to trying to complete some of this outstanding paperwork today. If it were all up to me it would have been done but it is not. I have to depend on others to complete their portions in order for me to get it ready to send out.

My home study agency is usually closed on Mondays so I called and left a message. I also emailed them the changes that need to be made to my home study. I feel really good that this will work out and that I will have the approval by the time I am in Moscow to bring her home.

Then it was out in the teaming rain and I mean it was really coming down to check up on the accountant. I had decided that if she could not give me a time frame for when this could be done then I was going to go else where. Before I went into the office I said a quick prayer that this would all work out because honestly I feel spent when it comes to thinking about this paper work.

To my surprise the accountant had time in her schedule and she called me into her office. We went over the paper work together. I answered a couple of questions and got everything signed. I left the office and for the first time in about a month thought that I could finally start to breathe.

Off to the hospital to collect my lab results and take them to the doctor to have my medicals signed off. Easy right? Wrong. I waited my turn in line and asked if my results were back. Paid my 1 dollar fee and then collected my lab results. I reviewed them twice and realized one result was not back.

I have been trying to not be too critical about the length of time that it has taken to get these lab results. I really want to practice patience, compassion and kindness. So last week when I inquired if the results were back I swallowed hard when I was told that they were not back. I know that certain things just can not be rushed. In my mind however I know the labs that were drawn and I know as a professional that these results should have been back sooner.

Apparently there was a comedy of errors not just one. The test Hepatitis D was not ordered on 3/27 when I had my labs drawn. When I went to inquire about the results on 3/30 and 04/2 I was told they were not back when in reality everything that was ordered was back. In fact all the labs ordered were back on 3/30 when I first inquired but this was somehow missed.

The Hepatitis D is a send out which means that the lab in hospital sends it to another lab to complete this test. This test takes 11 days for the results to come back not counting weekends. Which makes it more like 3 weeks. Essentially I would not be able to get the medical clearance for about a month. This would push my court date back by over 1 month.

This is where I stopped breathing again. The one consistent thing is the things that I thought would be easy are not and the things that I thought would be hard are easy. I spoke with the director of the laboratory department. I kept my cool. I just explained how serious this is and the results mean that my daughter will be left in a orphanage for 1 month longer then she needed to because of this error. I know he has children and I asked him to put himself in my shoes and imagine not being able to see his children for 1 month because someone just did not follow through.

If this mistake had been noticed on 3/30 I would already be 6 business days into the 11 business day wait. I left the lab upset and tearful not crying but tearful. Even now thinking about this makes me tearful. I sat in my car and called Gerard to tell him the news.

I started to pray and think about if I were the one that had made the mistake. I know I would be remorseful and sad that my error had such a large impact on another. I prayed that I could find forgiveness in my heart. After about 10 minutes I started to calm down and accept that I am not in control over most of what happens in the adoption process. I tried to remember the reading of the gospel from this week's mass. I started to forgive those who made the mistake and pray that a solution be found.

Here is the happy twist to this very long story. The director of the lab called me on my drive home to tell me that he going to overnight my blood to California and more likely then not I will have these results by Friday afternoon. I do not doubt that the power of prayer and forgiveness has been the reason why these results will hopefully be in my hands by Friday.