Poor Wendy

Wendy arrived this morning, and told me she had a nightmare last night. She woke up in a cold sweat. I asked her, What did you dream?

She said,

You sold me. I dreamed that you sold me. I overheard you and Dave talking. You had spent too much money, and you both decided that you could get a lot of money if you sold me to another family.

I laughed, and promised that I had no plans to sell her. I thought nothing more of it.

We've asked a lot of Wendy over the past week, as she's been helping us to renew our adoption paperwork. Her week:

Thursday - She had to arrange Dave's and my local police background checks, meaning multiple trips back and forth to a police station in town, as well as a stop at Dave's office.

Friday through Monday - She had to travel to her hometown for her own police background check. Although she enjoyed the time with her family, she also felt the stress of traveling with a 2 year old and came back to a home full of laundry and dirty dishes. Plus, she spent quite a bit of her time at home waiting in lines at the local police bureau.

Tuesday - She had to report to a clinic for a health exam, again for the adoption paperwork. She began working for us after our last home study, and now must be added to our file as an Adult Member of the Household.

Wednesday - I host a weekly Bible Study, so she had a normal day of washing lots of dishes and shaking crumbs out of the rug. Plus, stopping at the clinic first thing to pee in a cup again.

Thursday - That's this morning. We took her along to the U.S. Consulate to have each of our fingerprints taken. Dave went first, and then me. When it came her turn, she said something to the fingerprint-er in Chinese, and laughed nervously. What did you say? I asked her. The fingerprint-er replied, She says she feels like she is being sold. Many Chinese people feel this way. Apparently, a fingerprint was (is? I hope not!) like signing on the dotted line to sell oneself in China. We promised her that the prints only go to America, so she can only be sold there. We explained that fingerprints in the U.S. are used to see if someone has committed a crime, and so we explained that now she probably can't commit a crime in the states as easily. She said she'd just wear gloves.

Tomorrow - She will return to the clinic to pick up the paperwork from her physical.

And with that last piece of paper, we'll make a bunch of photocopies, place everything in a heavy envelope and overnight it to the good people of US Immigration Services to continue allowing us to wait for a baby from China.