Why Does Reality Hurt So Much?

Well, Monday we asked the hard question....one that we new the answer, but we were never officially told. You see, we read back in the beginning of December that Martin was transferred from Baby House - 13 to an institution. But we were told nothing and in these types of cases, those who may know can't really talk about it....at least officially. So, yesterday Melissa asked our adoption agency the pointed question...."Where is our son?" "Where exactly is he?"

It is hard to imagine that parents can create a bond with a child they have never met and only seen a few pictures of....it is hard to imagine that two people can fall in love with this blond haired little boy at first glance on the internet....it is even harder to imagine that in less than 2 months, we think of him as only our blood and our son.

So Melissa got a response directly from the liaison in Russia who knows Martin, as she knows most of the children in Region 2. She wrote "Martin was transferred to the institution. Unfortunately, I am not allowed go there without an official referral."

That was the day that everything became so real for us. I was at work when Melissa forwarded this email to me.......without question, I knew exactly what Melissa was doing at that moment in time. I knew she was crying. I could never explain in a million years what I felt. All I can do is describe how my body reacted......I began shaking, my eyes just filled up uncontrollably, I could no longer breathe because the air became so heavy, and it felt like a part of my heart died there...and finally the feeling of helplessness overwhelmed me. I, as the father...the man of the house....am supposed to protect my family. I can do that (hell, I am a United States Marine), but I could nothing for Martin.

I did the only thing that I could think of....I knew that St. Lucia did not send the Marriage Certificate on Friday, like I was promised. The poor lady on the other end of the phone would no longer get the "patient father" or "kind man." She had no idea what she was about to get. So I called St. Lucia, she answered and I told her this was William House. Before I opened my mouth to lay into her, she very quickly said, "Mr. House, it will be delivered tomorrow, I dropped it off this morning." She has no idea how lucky she was. I did not say thank you, I just told her that I will be calling if I do not get it and hung up. I think she sensed that I was finished dealing with them and was highly irritated.

Well gang, I didn't have to call her. We got our Marriage Certificates the next day and best of all, we finally were able to mail off our Registration Dossier and our I-600A to the Department of Charge Too Much for Filing Homeland Security.

There will be another entry this afternoon or tomorrow to describe the next steps in this choose your own adventure story......Charlie