After a very harried day that included getting both of our signatures, notarizing our I800A approval, getting money orders for the Chinese embassy, Tamara getting it all up to Tim who was managing the kitchen at the "Walk to Emmaus," Tim driving to OKC to get the notarized copy state sealed while Felix manned the kitchen and then Tim dropping it all off at FedEx, we found out yesterday that the craziness had been for naught.
The courier that was to take all of our dossier to the embassy called and let us know that the Mississippi papers still needed a state seal. We thought this had all been settled and when we asked the Oklahoma folks, just for verification, his words were, "Why would you need to state certify something that was state issued?" Good question, no?
So Tamara and Felix were here helping with the Walk and will fly home tomorrow. Luckily for us, "home" puts them just a few hours from Jackson and that elusive state seal and Tamara's schedule is miraculously clear. So she will drive to Jackson and then FedEx the new papers to our courier in Houston. If all goes well the new documents will arrive in Houston on Wednesday to get to the embassy on Thursday. Since it takes 4 working days (Th, Fr, Tue, Wed) and Monday is a holiday, I suppose she will pick up the papers to send to us on Wed or Thursday for us to receive by Friday. This little snafu will have cost us a week but had Tamara and Felix not been here, it may have been worse. Other than an emotional meltdown due to the high of everything working just right so that it could get accomplished to the frustration of things going wrong, not much harm done. I shed a few tears knowing that if my mom or dad were still alive, I could count on them to go to Jackson to get this done tomorrow and the week wouldn't be lost. Even though my parents have been gone a while, it is times like these that really make it hurt. Is there anyone in the world you can rely on like you do your parents? I want Jaden to have that. Now.
I found you blog because I was doing an Internet search for our USCIS officer, officer Ladd. I guess because you mentioned office Ladd in your blog, it came up in my search. my husband and I have a 19, 17, and 10 year old and added adopting a five year old little girl from China. She is a "special focus" child. She has spina bifida, bilateral club feet, and bilateral hip dysplasia. Our process moved really slow until recently. We were waiting for her specific file and we waited for 9 1/2 months. We received our LOA on Monday after only waiting 46 days. We were told to prepare to wait 90-120 days, so it looks like we may be headed to China in mid to late November. I enjoyed reading your blog. I look forward to keeping up with your journey. If you'd like to read about our adoption journey I have a blog and the address is www.foreverchosenloved.blogspot.com. Take care!
ReplyDeleteCongrats! It must have been a hard wait. I can't wait to follow along for your gotcha day. :)
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