Blake and I had the most incredible thing happen to us today. Days like today make me wish I was a better story teller. But I'm not, so I'm going to do my best.
So, our next step in the adoption process is for us to get our fingerprints done so we can get our I600A approved. A couple weeks ago we got our appointment time and it was for this Friday, the 19th. Well, lots of people go early because they will usually take walk ins if you have an appointment at a later date. I had kind of decided that I wasn't going to go early because they had scheduled our appointment so quickly and I am just trying to
relax a little bit when it comes to this crazy adoption process. Well, my nerves got the best of me so Blake and I decided to load up and go last Thursday. Um, last Thursday was Veterans Day. The USCIS (where you get your fingerprints done) is a government office. What the heck were we thinking?! Anyway, we made a wasted trip that thankfully we were both able to laugh about and I finally decided just to
chill out and wait until our scheduled time. It's not in our hands anyway, right?
Over the weekend Holt contacted us and asked if we had received our I600A approval. They said that in some cases families can't receive their referral until they have approval. Okay, this freaked me out a little because to be honest, I really felt like this was THE week. Referral week. And I want my stinkin' referral. So I made a desperate decision to try again and get our fingerprints done early. We would go Monday!
So here it is, Monday. The three of us load up again and drive the 30 minutes to the south side of OKC. We get there and the parking lot is really full and I start getting nervous.
What if they won't let us in? What if they're too busy? What if they make us wait 2 hours? WHAT THE HECK AM I GOING TO DO WITH KINLEY FOR TWO HOURS? Again, I have to calm myself and say it's not in my hands. I go inside, talk to the enormous guard next to the scary metal detector, and wait for him to tell me "yes, they'll see you." The three of us basically undress (ok, a little dramatic but seriously it's like at the airport when you have to take off everything even if it only looks like it's metal) and make it through the metal detector and back to the little room where we check in and wait. In the waiting area with us are three Spanish speaking people, two men and a woman. The woman (late 50s probably) I noticed was watching us and smiling that sweet grandma smile at Kinley. I smile back. We're all in this together, right?
I go back first and do the whole fingerprint thing and then it's Blake's turn. I sit down next to Kinley who is so patiently sitting (okay, maybe she was enjoying playing on the Ipad but the point is she was being good) and look up to see the Spanish speaking woman looking at me again. I smile and look back down at Kinley. Then the three of them get up and start to walk out but as they do one of the men stops to say, "Good luck." I thank them and return the luck (not quite understanding why they know to wish me luck) and start to look back down when I see the woman standing in front of me. She says in broken English, "I know I don't know you or your name but your husband told me about you adopting and I just wanted to say good luck and I will be praying for you." There are tears in her eyes as she goes on. "It is wonderful that you are adopting and may I..." and she gestures like she wants to HUG ME. I jump up and into this warm, beautiful woman's arms and we give each other one of those good LOVE hugs. Not just a barely touching, pat on the back hug. A real, warm, loving bear hug. So at this point we both had tears in our eyes and I just couldn't believe what was happening. This woman that doesn't know me and has no idea what my story is just wants to reach out and BE KIND. It was actually way more than being kind. I don't know how to describe it...I'm still blown away by it all.
She wishes me luck again and starts to walk away but before she does I ask her why she is here and she says citizenship. I asked where they are from and she tells me Peru. We both say God Bless, hug AGAIN, and she walks out the door. A couple minutes later Blake comes around the corner and he has this look like, "What happened?!" I immediately start asking him about his obvious conversation with this woman while I was getting fingerprinted. He says a lot of the same stuff she said to me but when he asked why she was here she answered, "Citizenship. I need to be in this country." Bless her heart.
I just can't stop thinking about this woman. And I'm so angry with myself for not asking her name. I would love to be able to look back on this amazing moment in my life and call her by name. And can you imagine living your whole life in your native country and then at 60ish (totally guessing) just up and moving to a new country?! Bless her sweet heart.
God's timing is incredible. What if last Thursday had been a regular Thursday and we would have gotten our fingerprints done then? I would not have met that woman. And what if I had listened to the
relaxed voice in my head and just waited until the appointment date this Friday? I would not have had that moment with the sweet Peruvian woman. I am so thankful for my amazing God and the gifts He gives me every day.
