Kyle compares our adoption process to the Amazing Race, and this makes me laugh. It’s an appropriate comparison.
The race he refers to is not the televised version, but a fierce competition held every spring for the high school students of our church. It’s quite an event. Teams of students and leaders unravel mysteries and race through the city to win the prize. And Kyle is an Amazing Race genius.
Every year the high school students vie for a place on Kyle’s team. His city smarts, athletic ability, and competitive grit make him the perfect leader. Kyle knows every landmark and every shortcut in Minneapolis, and he leads his troupe on a fast-paced charge toward the finish. But for all Kyle’s Amazing Race savvy, he’s never won the game.
Almost every year without fail Kyle and his team keep the lead or close to it until the last leg. And then something unfortunate happens. A miscount. A malfunction. A wrong turn. And it all falls apart.
It would be an understatement to say Kyle is bugged by his results. It’s not fair. Not a true indication of his ability. (Think Chicago Cubs.)
Kyle is also the designated paperwork champion of our adoption race. Last winter when he started the process he was fast out of the gate. Applications, doctor’s letters, home studies, background checks and fingerprints. We filled them out and mailed them back in record time. Come mid-May we were ahead of the pack. Among the first to deliver the goods to Colombia.
And then, the inevitable. A paperwork malfunction. A wrong turn in the legal system. An unexpected holdup. And Kyle watches, incredulous, as all the other teams storm past in a race for the finish.
We’re happy for them, of course. Eight other families started this adoption journey with us, and one by one they’re getting their referrals and buying their plane tickets. Daily we’re getting emails and updates from ecstatic families heading for Colombia to be united with their children. It’s exciting for all of us. Truly, it is.
But who would have thought we’d be the ones at the end of the race still waiting, so far from the finish line? Certainly not Kyle.
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