Dave sez, Who are you? What makes you you?
We got the final court decree today. Tomorrow we will start the process of getting Bella's new identification. We stood up before the judge and asked for permission to adopt her; permission to change her name, and permission to be named as her parents on her new birth certificate. As a regional court, that means that we have to travel to the Regional Office of Vital Records to begin the process. Once we are done there, then we will come back into Kiev and the City Office of Vital Records. There is a good deal of waiting involved in this part of the process. Once this is done, then, we can apply for her tax identification number (we know it in America as her Social Security number); and then her Ukrainian passport.
So, here we are in an apartment in Kiev; I am looking at all the cards in my wallet and my passport. I am looking at the images and numbers that make up who I am.
What I am learning, is who these three new individuals are. I am still learning who Ethan and Justin are becoming. That's the important part. Once you start a process like this, it really doesn't have an ending. This never reaches completion. It is always ongoing, developing. If you're a parent, too, you see this process just as we do. It is such a joy to see their personalities and character and quirks develop. It is also so much fun to be a part of shaping that. Working on homework assignments, playing games and just spending time together. Answering questions.
Learning who we are. Learning who we are to each other.
The only thing I can tell you is that something inspired me to hug Justin tight at the end of our first visit at the orphanage, when we came to bring him home, look him in the eye and tell him, "Never let you go. Never ever let you go." He said it back to me as "Nevuhlectahgo. Nevuhevuhletchahgo." I keep saying it to him; and to Ethan. And now to Bella.
1 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Psalm 8
