The-dash-in-between

Today we received another piece to the Dossier puzzle- Our photo verification pages that have been signed off on by the social worker and the agency. Basically, it is a document that goes to Russia that has 10 pictures, a description of each photo, and a letter from the agency verified by the social worker that those pictures are ACTUALLY our house. With how clean and orderly the house is in the pictures, there may be a question as to that being our actual house if we took the same shots today…But anyway, have you ever tried to reduce your life into 10 photographs? Yikes. 5 out of the 10 had to be pictures of our house, inside and out, also showing where the baby will sleep and play. The other 5 were to be of us as a couple in various stages of our marriage and pictures of immediate family.
Oh Boy. You should have seen the pictures we had to choose from! We narrowed it down to a picture of the front of the house, one of the backyard, one of the baby’s room, living room, and kitchen area. Then for the personal pictures- us on our wedding day (looking like mere babes) a picture of us on the cruise last Christmas, a picture of us in Mexico, a picture of my family and Chad's mom and Rick at Christmas, a picture of Chad's dad and Bev with the kids. It's kinda like summarizing your life in 10 words or less. But in a way, everything we've had to fill out has been like that. You worry about "how you look on paper". Forms leave no room for your true self, the fabric of your lives that hold everything else together, not just the big milestones or memories. I've heard it illustrated by someone talking about a tombstone, it's not the year listed that you were born or the year listed that you died, it's the little dash in between that truly matters and makes us who we are. Pray that whom ever is translating our documents into Russian in a few weeks (hopefully) can read between the lines and find us worthy of raising a child!