DNA Test Results

The results are in--Ben and Henry are identical twins.
It is the news we expected. Joe and Katie and I are happy to have found each other and glad that we have identified the boys' relationship and have embarked on our lifetime journey together.

Now the questioning can begin, and hopefully someone (the agency? the facilitator? the orphanage? the provincial authorities? the DIA? the USCIS? Mary Ann Russell?)

I continue to be astonished. I got Henry's citizenship paperwork and didn't notice for a few days that it lists yet another birthdate. Is the correct birthdate 18 July that accompanied his referral? Or is it 20 September that accompanied the packet I received at the orphanage? Or perhaps it is 18 September, the date on his birth certificate that was submitted to USCIS and therefore shows up on the citizenship paperwork. Maybe it's 28 June, the date that I was told by orphanage workers was the correct date. Or could it be 19 June--Ben's reported birthdate?

And of course we have to sort out other discrepancies--which of us, if either, has the correct birth parents listed on our documentation?

There are so many surprises that come with adoption. There is the overwhelming surprise of taking another human being into your family, that accompanies any adoption. But this adoption has unique surprises all its own. There are pleasant surprises--finding Joe and Katie and Ben and having them become a part of my life.

But there is also the surprise that comes with the nagging feeling that something isn't quite right--somewhere along the line the system failed or was thwarted. Thank the heavens we have found a road to peace in this situation. But there is still more. These boys deserve to have the truth, or as much of it as can be ferreted out. Now it's just a matter of contacting the proper people to get the most accurate information we can get for these boys.