Dossier 1 Apostilled - Finally.....

I have heard from many of you who keep hinting that I need to get on the blog because I have taken a 2 week break. We have had a lot going on in those 2 weeks, and it was full of highs and lows. About 10 days ago we found out that Child Protective Services had not followed directions and screwed up our paperwork - it was the only paper we needed to proceed. They began to redo the paper, and once again I had to call on all the patience that I could. It helped that Bryan and I went to Washington DC. We met with congressmen/women, discussed farming issues with people who have no idea about farming issues, and had a great time with friends. We had not seen our friend Trace in quite a while, and it was great having him give us a tour of the city. Trace lives in DC (although he is always aching to return to Texas), and works in a firm there. He took us to many places, but the zoo was awesome. We only saw the Panda bears and the cheetahs, but they were awesome - my first time to see Pandas! I did not know they were that big!!! Trace also got us great seats to see the Washington Nationals - so you know I was in heaven at the ball game!!! It was so hard saying goodbye to Trace, but he is doing so well in DC and we are so proud of him!!!

We returned after a week in DC and the first thing I did was go to the mailbox. I was waiting for CPS to send us our paperwork - It was not there. It finally came on Saturday. I was so excited, until I opened the envelope and realized that they had sent us a copy - instead of the original. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????? I was livid!!! Bryan had to leave the house because I was so honory - I really was hard to live with. Mom said that he went to their house and sat around so that he would not have to come back home and face my craziness!

Today, I was bound and determined to find out where the original document was hiding. Luckily, it was sent to our local adoption agency. Our adoption counselor (who is absolutely AWESOME) felt awful, and she agreed to take the document and meet Bryan half-way so that he could get the document. Bryan then drove the document to my work. I put it all together and then drove all of our completed paperwork to Austin to have it apostilled. After 3 months of working with government agencies that are not efficient, I was expecting a difficult time in Austin. I was wrong. The ladies working in the apostille department were awesome. Not only did they get me in and out in 45 minutes, but they also gave me some great advice on other paperwork that we will need at a later date. I know that 45 minutes does not seem like a short time, but it really was. I had 42 documents. They had to certify all 42 documents and print out an apostille to be attached to each of the 42 documents - Wow!!!! And, they had 3 other couples in the office. I told them that I was so thankful to finally get to work with a government department that had their stuff together - it was refreshing.

Anyway, I ran back to school - made 3 copies of the 84 documents (42 documents, and 42 apostille forms) and packed it all up to get to Fed-Ex. It was 10 minutes till 6pm, and I rushed to San Marcos. I realized at 5:58 that I was not going to make it in time (no matter how fast I drove). After calling Fed-Ex, I found that they had a Fed-Ex center in New Braunfels and it did not close until 7pm. I rushed to their office, got it boxed up, and sent it to our agency in Minnesota. It is now out of my hands. Say a prayer that it all gets there - It should arrive by tomorrow at 10 am. I got home just in time to throw on my softball shirt and make it to the game. We won again - and Bryan came to cheer me on. It was a great day!

We are now working on Dossier 2 - which includes DPS criminal checks, etc. There are fewer documents needed for this part and it is needed for when we travel. I hope that our documents look good and that we are ready for them to be translated - we will see. We are back to the waiting game.

Many of you have asked about Randy and Susan - their adoption was complete and they have little Artem at home now. He is absolutely adorable and they are very happy. It is wonderful to see the videos of him and hear about the dramas that they are encountering every day. We hope to be able to do the same very soon.