{"id":1393,"date":"2010-09-01T11:12:38","date_gmt":"2010-09-01T11:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joeljmiller.com\/?p=1393"},"modified":"2010-09-01T11:12:38","modified_gmt":"2010-09-01T11:12:38","slug":"passport-to-adoption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/09\/passport-to-adoption\/","title":{"rendered":"Passport to adoption"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Passport<\/a>
Photo by thedesertfox03, Flickr<\/figcaption><\/figure>On Monday I applied for my passport. I\u2019ve traveled throughout the lower forty-eight, been to this place and that, but I\u2019ve never gone abroad. I hope to go soon. <\/p>\n

Megan<\/a> and I are planning on adopting from Uganda. We\u2019re working on our paperwork now. There are letters and reports and statements and evaluations and more. We\u2019re almost done. But it\u2019s been a long road so far. <\/p>\n

We started looking at domestic adoption back in January. We jumped through those hoops and remain very grateful for the help our agency lent us in the process. We did the paperwork, the interviews, the background checks, all of it. And then we hit the pause button.<\/p>\n

We started talking about adoption when we were dating. I remember the first time we discussed it. It was one of the moments I knew that we were right for each other. Megan and I mesh in a million ways, but when you\u2019re just starting a relationship there\u2019s a certain tentativeness, hesitation, and provisionality to things. What if she says the wrong thing? What if I say the wrong thing? Tomatoh or, cringe, tomatah?<\/p>\n

Megan tossed out the idea and waited to see if I\u2019d freak out. Far from it. I was already inclined toward the idea. There is so much of the Gospel wrapped up in adoption. Through Christ we\u2019re adopted into the family of God. As an extension and picture of that<\/a>, true religion is \u201cvisit[ing] orphans and widows in their affliction\u2026.\u201d Adoption is Christian faith in action. <\/p>\n

The conversation was invigorating. At that moment we knew something definitive about each other, something affinitive<\/em> about each other, too. It was a soft-focus scene, I can tell you. (The grace of it all, if I\u2019m allowed a bit more gushing, is that we ended up being right for each other in more ways than we could have guessed or anticipated at the time. Wow.)<\/p>\n

But there we were. Pause button<\/em>. There are several reasons we cooled on the domestic adoption idea, all of which could probably slide under the header of a certain disquiet about things. Domestic adoption is good and admirable\u2014and older children and sibling groups especially need loving arms and homes. When you see the traits that make a child difficult for an agency to place, it\u2019ll break your heart in two. But Megan and I couldn\u2019t get peace about it. Maybe we were wrong about things, after all. <\/p>\n

We disengaged from the process. <\/p>\n

But then, out of the blue, some doors began opening up to Africa. That lit the fires. Megan had been to Uganda about ten years before (she\u2019s much better traveled than am I), and that trip sparked her passion for adoption in the first place. Suddenly we started thinking about Africa. Uganda is tricky, and Ethiopia at first seemed like a better option, but Uganda kept pulling at us. We read blogs. We viewed pictures. We watched videos. Every hope you have in life is confirmed by those stories. <\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been exploring the options there, and doors continue to open. When one way turned out blocked, several others came into view. We have peace about Uganda. And excitement. <\/p>\n

So there I was standing at the passport counter at my local post office, the clerk\u2019s hands flipping through papers, stamping this, signing that, and then suddenly placing in my upturned palms a receipt and some additional documents. It was done. My application was filed. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ll have my passport in a few weeks, and the whole journey now feels very real. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Monday I applied for my passport. I\u2019ve traveled throughout the lower forty-eight, been to this place and that, but I\u2019ve never gone abroad. I hope to go soon. Megan and I are planning on adopting from Uganda. We\u2019re working on our paperwork now. There are letters and reports and statements and evaluations and more. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[27,447,713],"class_list":["post-1393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-society","tag-adoption","tag-megan-miller","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nPassport to adoption<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On Monday I applied for my passport. I\u2019ve traveled throughout the lower forty-eight, been to this place and that, but I\u2019ve never gone abroad. I hope to go\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/09\/passport-to-adoption\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Passport to adoption\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Monday I applied for my passport. I\u2019ve traveled throughout the lower forty-eight, been to this place and that, but I\u2019ve never gone abroad. I hope to go\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/09\/passport-to-adoption\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Joel J. Miller\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-01T11:12:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/files\/2010\/09\/passport-to-adoption.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joel J. Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joel J. Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/09\/passport-to-adoption\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/09\/passport-to-adoption\/\",\"name\":\"Passport to adoption\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-01T11:12:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-09-01T11:12:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#\/schema\/person\/b481a8abcb28f825f4a759aa0ea9e11c\"},\"description\":\"On Monday I applied for my passport. I\u2019ve traveled throughout the lower forty-eight, been to this place and that, but I\u2019ve never gone abroad. I hope to go\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/09\/passport-to-adoption\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/09\/passport-to-adoption\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/09\/passport-to-adoption\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Passport to adoption\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/\",\"name\":\"Joel J. Miller\",\"description\":\"Where Christian Theology Meets Daily Life\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#\/schema\/person\/b481a8abcb28f825f4a759aa0ea9e11c\",\"name\":\"Joel J. Miller\",\"description\":\"I'm the author of Lifted by Angels, a look at angels through the eyes of the early church. Click here for more about me or subscribe to my RSS here.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/author\/jmiller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Passport to adoption","description":"On Monday I applied for my passport. I\u2019ve traveled throughout the lower forty-eight, been to this place and that, but I\u2019ve never gone abroad. I hope to go","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/09\/passport-to-adoption\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Passport to adoption","og_description":"On Monday I applied for my passport. I\u2019ve traveled throughout the lower forty-eight, been to this place and that, but I\u2019ve never gone abroad. I hope to go","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/09\/passport-to-adoption\/","og_site_name":"Joel J. Miller","article_published_time":"2010-09-01T11:12:38+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/files\/2010\/09\/passport-to-adoption.jpg"}],"author":"Joel J. Miller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joel J. Miller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/09\/passport-to-adoption\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/09\/passport-to-adoption\/","name":"Passport to adoption","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-09-01T11:12:38+00:00","dateModified":"2010-09-01T11:12:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#\/schema\/person\/b481a8abcb28f825f4a759aa0ea9e11c"},"description":"On Monday I applied for my passport. I\u2019ve traveled throughout the lower forty-eight, been to this place and that, but I\u2019ve never gone abroad. I hope to go","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/09\/passport-to-adoption\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/09\/passport-to-adoption\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/09\/passport-to-adoption\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Passport to adoption"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/","name":"Joel J. Miller","description":"Where Christian Theology Meets Daily Life","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#\/schema\/person\/b481a8abcb28f825f4a759aa0ea9e11c","name":"Joel J. Miller","description":"I'm the author of Lifted by Angels, a look at angels through the eyes of the early church. Click here for more about me or subscribe to my RSS here.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/author\/jmiller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1270"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1393\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}