"Pure Hell"

Since today is a day of frustration and sadness among many wonderful fellow blogger PAP's after delays, price increases for summer travel, etc, I thought I'd post something unrelated to this adoption journey we're all on and perhaps give everyone something to smile about. The frustration level we all feel is VERY real and we all wish we'd started this process sooner before it become more difficult. Some days, it is does feel like "pure hell" (pardon my french).

Today was "Bring you child to work day". I work part time as a "Boutique lady" at Steinmart. It's a fun job, as I Love to shop and help people shop. Sean really wanted to go, as when I worked full time at a huge corporate Fortune 500 company, it always fell during the week his school took their SAT achievement tests, so he could never go. I was hesitant, just because of the amount of work the poor kid would miss and have to make up. After this weekend of working on his paper for 8 hours, I do not relish another weekend of THAT. However, his teacher assured us that he could make up the work and it was a good day to do this.
Robin, one of my dear friends I've met at Steinmart, coordinated the event. She is a super neat lady, an adoptive mom of 3 herself. There were about 10 kids participating, which is great, as our store is small.

Sean started off in the shoe department, and everytime I walked by, he was working hard. Of course, I was admonished by my co-workers to "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" (LOL) but I wanted to make sure he was behaving. We had 2 lil 7 year old girls in our department at the time and they were just big goofballs. They kept running ( I kept saying USE YOUR WALKING FEET LADIES) and they were LOUD. I have to say, the boys did much better. Anyhow...I digress.
Around 12:30, Sean came running over (walking feet, Sean, Walking feet) and said "Mom-this is PURE HELL!!!" I was like, WHAT?? Watch your language!! He and the other 10 year old boy were in "linens" and the lady there had them unstocking towels and folding them. I guess there were a lot and Sean said while they worked she went in the breakroom. LOL . He said they folded them all and put them on the shelf and then she came out and told them they had to do it all over because the print wasn't showing. I was laughing so hard. He survived, they redid it, then had pizza lunch. Then, he worked in receiving, and the men's department. When it was time to go, he wanted to stay. He had a fun day. He also got a cerficate of completion to show his teacher AND a 20% off coupon to give to his teacher. He said he's not giving it to her because she is mean. She is NOT mean, she is nice, so he is giving it to her.

So, I suppose my moral of the story is that "pure hell" can be defined differently for each of us. To some, parenting children at all would be "pure hell". To others, imagining life without children is "pure hell". To others, the adoption process is surely 'Pure hell" until "heaven" is revealed when they are matched with the perfect child for their family. The process is not easy, and tensions can run high. Not only is the wait hard, the trip is long, and it's not cheap. It's not like you have to wait to go on a 2 week trip, it's coming close to a 3 month trip.

We all have our days of "pure hell" with the mean lady in linens telling us to redo our towels. May we realize how much prettier those towels look with the print showing, and how when we DO get to Kaz, and home again, we will fondly remember our "Hellacious road" to "Heaven" and encourage others to remain steadfast and strong.
Peace be with you fellow PAP's..Peace be with you.