Serendipitous Fingerprinting

During this home study phase, we are to get clearance from two Texas specific criminal and child abuse and neglect agencies. We also are to get fingerprinted by INS in order to get a federal check. Yesterday I went to get our Texas Department of Safety fingerprints completed.

I was required to go to our main police station downtown and called a taxi to take me home. The taxi driver looked to be of Indian descent. We started talking about India, the adoption and our upcoming trip. He was a wealth of information.

When I mentioned to him the public opposition to international adoption in India and the concerns about taking a child out of her culture, he told me that very few Indians even fully understand India.

According to him, there are fourteen major languages and twenty two languages spoken in total. There is tremendous religious diversity. Even within the Hindu religion, there are vast differences. He relayed that one group of Hindus carries brooms of peacock feathers in order to clear the ground of bugs before they will walk on it. They feel killing any living thing is wrong and do not want to do so even inadvertantly. While many Hindus are vegetarian, still others do not eat vegetables which grow under the ground. They believe vegetables such as potatoes, onions and garlic will drive people to be dominated by their base desires.

He also told me to expect a lot of confusion and maintain flexibility and to stay in the moment, connecting with the people. This sounds like good advice for living life in general. He emphasized that the rules change everywhere you go. For example, the procedure for purchasing a ticket and boarding a train in one station will not be the same at another station, even within the same city.

According to Charles, India is broadly delineated in to two regions, north and south. Both areas speak English, as English is India's official language. However, in the south English is more prevalent.

While I have two books to read and three online courses left to take to meet our home study requirement, I am really looking forward to switching gears and learning more about our child's fascinating culture and heritage.

I also find myself thinking more about her birthmother as she is most likely very pregnant or has already placed her for adoption. I am near tears every time I think of how excrutiating this must be for her. I know there will be a place in her heart that never quite heals, no matter how full her future life may become. Anyone who carries a child for nine months and labors to bring her in to the world understands the intensity of the love you feel for your baby. I think about the potential external conditions driving her decision and how unjust they are and it makes me deeply and profoundly sad.

Then I look for God in all of this. Where is he when people are in their darkest hour? I believe he is at work in all of us. I think about the second and third and millionth chances we are given through Christ.

Maybe we are able to give Nikki's mother her second chance. A chance to know that while her pregnancy was not as she planned, the beloved creation who grew within her is loved already by a family, even though, to them, she is not yet physically known.