Recently, one of our office staff members drove to the airport to pick up her parents whom she hadn’t seen in months. Though the flight was scheduled to arrive on time, she was excited and left early — 30 minutes early — just in case. “Sometimes planes arrive early,” she said. “I’ll just wait in the cell phone lot. I want to be ready for them when they arrive.”

We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Waiting for the UPS man to arrive or waiting for vacation to start. Waiting for the phone to ring or waiting for a child of our own. In matters big and small, waiting is hard to do.

For children living in orphanages overseas, their entire childhoods have been filled with waiting. Many wait for medical care. All wait for love and a family who will warmly embrace them. They literally have been waiting their whole lives. Most tragically, these children wait for something they have never known. It is so hard to wait.

During our trips overseas, we meet with many children who wait to be adopted. Each one has the same wish. She hopes that her waiting will end.

You can’t make a flight shorter or will the UPS man to arrive a day earlier at your door. But you can shorten the time a child waits to be adopted. How? It’s very simple: be paperwork ready.

Long before you first see the photograph of your new child, you can begin working to shorten his waiting time. By taking the step to commit yourself to a particular agency, by completing your home study and dossier, you are literally erasing days and months that your child will have to wait. When your paperwork is ready, you’ll be amazed at how quickly the process can move.

If you’ve been considering adoption, but you haven’t begun your paperwork yet, start today.  Don’t wait another day. Your child is waiting for you.