The Architecture of One Family

Our town is famous for its architecture. Apparently, we sport works by several well-known (not Mich#el Jord$n well-known.....but well known if you know about that sort of thing...which I do not) superstars in the architectural cosmos. All of this style and elegance is pretty much lost on me (pretty much -- I enjoy a big witch-hat church as much as the next guy, and -- although I have no desire to investigate the aesthetic resonances that elicit such a response -- I am vaguely pleased by the curvy lines and asymetry of most of the buildings around here), I can be impressed by the effort, if the intentions are explained to me.
More often, though, I leave a building by winding my way out of its artistically complicated corridors after some completely pragmatic errand or other a little annoyed at the cumbersome exit route. And when I reach my car (which sometimes takes me awhile), I glance back at the building and finally "get" it. The weird twists and turns built into my unwieldy walk were part of a larger design that looks... at least planned if not exactly awe-inspiring. I usually say "oh" or "hmmmm" (I'm nothing if not audible) in that dull-girl-just-getting-the-picture sort of way, and then get into my car and drive away nodding (the nod is gratuitous -- it's just what I do).

Last week, I looked back through my early adoption blog entries. (I am -- in many WONDERFUL ways, on the "walking toward my car" leg of this journey, and I guess I wanted to scan the building one more time). Almost nine months, to the day, before OUR (and until this adoption, I never had an imagination for the enormity of the word "our") babies were born, I wrote this letter to their distant but suddenly and absolutely un-anonymous mother. Shortly thereafter, I posted this message about our decision to open ourselves to TWO babies with its prophetic little tag about the paperwork we filed that certified us for a sibling group of three.
Joshua was out of the country when THE referral call came. For days before he left, I had dreams of three babies. Finally, just before taking him to the airport, I said, "If she says three, I'm saying 'yes!'" He reminded me of the height of the emotional and spiritual ledge he crept onto with our decision to stretch our parameters from one to two and asked me to keep that decision in mind. I did. And then I answered with my heart. And so did he!
After two hours of falling in love with Girum, Tarikua, and Taye, I FINALLY made contact with Josh. He had received the same electronic file that I had (along with a half-a-dozen emails from me urging him to READ THAT MESSAGE) and found a way to call me from Germany. After hedging around the question pressing against every cell in my body for a sentence or two ("Hi! It's YOU! So what do....you....think?" "I think.....wow." etc.), I asked: "Do you think we should accept this referral?" To which he responded: "If this is what God has for us, then...this is what He has for us....and I am so honored that He would choose me for this responsibility." And then, "Aren't they just so beautiful, Amy?"
And they are.
So we accepted the referral...
And then we made it through court! On June 25th, my caseworker said, "I am calling to let you know that, as of yesterday, you are officially the mother of FIVE children! Congratulations!"
And now,
after a long walk through such complicated corridors,
we are waiting to travel to bring our children home.
What a magnificent building!
What a Brilliant Architect.