Girls Day Out

Yesterday I went with both moms (mine and Mike's) shopping for Colby. We went to Babies R Us to set up the baby registry and buy a few things. The agency is hopeful that Mike and I will go for court in late January. I really hope so as well but we will see. However, Mike and I wanted to feel a little better prepared so we wanted to buy some wipes, cups, etc. Also, the moms thought it might be a good time to buy some winter clothes. Everything was on sale or even clearance. We found some sweatpants for only $2 so we bought a bunch in both 18 months and 24 months. We also found a really cute sweater, shirt, and pants set. The sweater has a train on the front and Mike really likes trains. He used to help at the local train museum. Now I need to decide whether it will be his leaving the baby home outfit, going to the US Embassy outfit or the going home to the US outfit. So many special days to look forward to.

The day was really nice. I enjoyed spending the time with both moms. We went to eat at my favorite restraunt, Olive Garden, and then went shopping. It was nice to get out and get something for my little man. It made me feel a little closer to getting him. Now we just wait for the judge to call the agency and for them to call me. Ugh! I am so tired of this waiting. It would be much easier if I could just have a date for when we are going. The not knowing is the difficult part. Will we leave in 4 weels or will it be in May or June? That is a huge difference. I just wish I knew.

One Lousy Digit

With the excitement of Christmas and the feeling of overwhelming disbelief that we had last week, I did not know where to start with this story. However, now that I have regained some semblance of order (yeah, right), here goes the story. You can choose your reaction, laughter or tears or shock. I think Mike and I experienced all of those and then some.

We have been waiting for an email from our agency with an update on Colby. Svetlana was going to the baby home to take some pictures and get the update. I was so hoping to have it for Christmas but alas, no. However, we did get an email from the agnecy on Tues 12/23 at about 2 P.M..

Our 24 updated documents had been received by Lala in Moscow and translated. Svetlana brought them to the judge on Monday and he looked through them. He then asked for 2 more. 2 MORE!! I couldn't believe it. At Christmas! How was I going to get more documents done at Christmas. The first document needed was from my previous job. A letter stating my income from 2007 and 2008 until I left. Of course, I used to teach so how was I going to get the superintendent's office this late in the day and before they left for break? Ugh! Luckily when I called, they were still there and the secretary was able to get it done. She was hoping to get it in the mail that day. I was just hoping to get it by Mon or Tues 12/29 or 12/30. So that wasn't too bad I guess.

The second document the judge requested completely floored me. It seems that when the Mayor's office wrote a letter for us confirming our ownership of and residence in our house (they have written this letter for us twice now), whoever wrote it had a typo. The letter also needed to state our birthdays and passport numbers. Well, on this second letter, they typed Mike's birthday as October 10, not October 11. I never caught the mistake, and no one else did either. The judge did though. It was somewhat ironic because Mike and I had just had a discussion about whether or not the judge actually reads all of our paperwork. Mike didn't think so. I guess he was proven wrong. So because of the one lousy digit typo, we needed to bother the Mayor's office again and ask for another complete document. I was sure they wouldn't be in.

Mike was out when I read the email. I tried to call him on his cell and the phone rang in our kitchen. I was so exasperated that I thought I would cry just because the phone was here. I called his parents though and got him. He raced home to read the email and immediately called the Mayor's office. Surprisingly, they were in for another hour or so but the road were terrible and the traffic so bad that we probably wouldn't make it. He asked them if they would be in the next day, Christmas Eve and she surprisingly said yes. So we spent Christmas Eve morning at the Mayor's office to get the new document. I must say that through all of this, the Mayor's office has been quite helpful. It isn't even their job to write such a letter. I'm not sure who's it would be. But they were the only office that would do it for us. They better have gotten something special from Santa this year as a thank you.

So, we were able to get the one document from the Mayor's office on Christmas Eve morning and more surprisingly the second document showed up in our mail that day as well. I will never understand the postal system. It came overnight in the regular mail. Yeah! So on Friday I trekked up to Hartford to get both apostilled and I sent them on their way to the agency. They should have them on Monday morning. You can't imagine how we both felt reading that email, devestated to have to get more documents and worried that we couldn't get them. I am completely shocked at how everything fell into place and we were able to get the documents.

So another "bump" in our adoption road but we keep going. Perhaps that update will be here tomorrow. We shall see.

Merry Christmas

My Sweet Boy,

Merry Christmas my little one. Although we are far apart this Christmas, you are always close to my heart. I hope you had a wonderful day today. Know that your family thought of you often and you were definitely missed. We will be together soon and next Christmas will be the best Christmas ever.

Love,
Mommy

Traditions....Cookies

Well, the latest word is that Svetlana is handing our paperwork to the judge this week (hopefully it was today). Everything is in order and has been translated. YEAH! I can only hope that Colby's paperwork is in order as well and that the judge looks at it all quickly. Perhaps our late January court trip might happen, but I am still highly skeptical about that. We jsut need to wait and see I guess.

Ok, so my last post discussed traditions. I am not sure how I got on such a long post about Poppy. I guess I had been thinking about him lately. I had hoped that he would be here to see my first child. However, I am quite lucky that I still have Mamie and that Colby will see her. So, more Christmas traditions....

The tradition that stands out the most with me when I think of Christmas revolves around my mom. Every Christmas we would make Christmas cookies together while we listened to Christmas music. It was a day long activity. We would make at least 3 different batches of what we call Spritz cookies. They are similar to a sugar cookie but after you mix the batter you put it is a cookie "gun" and shoot it out in different shapes. The gun has different designs and the cookies can be in the shape of trees, bells, ornaments, and pointsettas. Then we would decorate them with sprinkles and red hots for the holly and the star on the tree. We had a lot of fun coloring, flavoring, and decorating those cookies. But mostly I remember spending the time with my mom and just talking and laughing. Mom and I have a very special, close relationship. She is my best friend and spening time with her was always a lot of fun.

Well, we might have lost sight of our special tradition when I went away to college and then got married but we still spend time together. I am very lucky to live not too far from her so we can see eachother a lot. This Christmas I had my mom and my Aunt Lorna (Aunt Doone to me) come over to my house and make those Christmas cookies. We made 2 different batches of Spritz cookies, mint trees and raspberrry pointsettas. We also made holly cookies out of corn flakes and marshmallows, candy cane cookies (which you need to roll the dough into red and white ropes and twist them into candy canes), and we made my Italian cookies. In college I was given a recipe for Italian cookies with Anise flavoring and I now make them every Christmas. My family loves them. The three of us had a great day making the cookies, talking, and laughing. So, although the tradition may have changed a little, it still holds strong. I am so lucky to have a family that I am close too. I love them so much.

Traditions....Poppy

Christmas has always been a very special time of year for my family. Coming from a big family, celebrating Christmas meant spending time with a lot of people. I can't remember a Christmas that I have ever spent with less than 20 people. And today is no different. In the number sense anyway.

We always went to my grnadparents house for Christmas. Mamie and Poppy. They are my mom's parents. My mom is one of 5 children and my grandparents now have 19 grandchildren (about half of whom are married) and 12 great-grandchildren. Needless to say, it creates a huge family gathering. And we love it. Everyone brings a side dish or dessert. My Aunt Linda always makes the apple pie and Christmas tree bread. Poppy always made the ham or turkey with mashed potatoes and stuffing. We eat dinner and enjoy eachother's company then it is time for presents. Lots of presents. Music and laughter abounded through out the house. This tradition hasn't changed, much I guess. However, I feel a major part of it is missing. Poppy. We lost Poppy 2 years ago at THanksgiving to cancer. When we did, we lost a huge part of our family. We lost our Santa Clause.

Poppy IS Christmas. He IS Santa Clause. Poppy is the most caring, giving person I have ever met, or ever will meet. For many years, Poppy organized a Christmas party for underpriviledged children and their families. He oped up his home to these families, gave them a Christmas dinner and presents. He would hitch up his horses and give sleigh rides. One year we even had reindeer. And of course, Santa Clause always came to hand out the presents. What more could there be to the true meaning of Christmas?

We no longer have those parties, but luckily our big family is still together. Of course there have been difficult times and we might not always get along but we are family. We belong together. And what better way to celebrate Christmas and the memory of Poppy than to celebrate our holidays together, as family?

Waiting...Again and Jobs

Well, Mike and I were able to get all of the paperwork completed. Our deadline was 12/12 and the agency had it all on 12/10. We did have to go back and get another marriage certificate but even that was at the agency on 12/12. I was quite pleased with getting that all done. But, when I am given a deadline, I do everything and anything that I can to meet or exceed that deadline. Now we wait some more.....

Vica had mentioned that we might get an update soon. But we haven't heard anything yet. I'd like to email her and ask her when we might hear something but then again I don't want to bug Svetlana to get an update if she is trying to sort through our paperwork for the judge. We were told that we might go for court in late January. That is a slight possibility but everything would have to be perfect for us to go then. I think it will probably be later, like March. I hope not though. In the mean time, I am updating the medical paperwork because I know that the 8 medical doctor form will expire in February. Ugh! I hate chasing doctors for signatures.

Other than that, I am debating on what to do next on the job front. Lifetouch has now stopped taking school portraits until about March or so. Therefor I am not currently employed. I don't trully want to, but I guess I will sign up to substitute teach. That's a daily pay but in this city, I am almost guaranteed to work every day. I'm not sure if I want to go back into the classroom after last year but I don't know what else I can do. Most jobs, I am told I have too much education for or not the right experience. It sucks. I'd love to try something new, but I don't know what.

So, that is the update for now...as much as it is. Hopefully we will hear more soon. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Well....almost

Today I received an email from Vica. The agency received our paperwork today. Yeah! However, I need to get them a new marriage license. Both notarized and apostilled. Ugh!

Not thinking much about it...when we got the list of documents to update I saw the marriage license was one of them. I had a couple extra notarized copies hanging around so I sent that one in. I guess I had them for awhile since the date it was issued was October 2007. That is when we started getting some preliminary paperwork for the agency. However, the marriage license is only good for a year. It has expired so Mike had to go get another one. Not too big of a deal. He was able to get it fairly quickly this afternoon. Now I have to bring it to Hartford in the morning to get apostilled and send it up to Mass for Friday. So, a little glitch today I guess but Vica wrote that she was sending the rest of the papers to Lala in Moscow to be translated. So the marriage license will catch up to it I guess. A small bump in the road but nothing too major.

On another note, Vica did mention that the judge will probably ask for the medical documents to be updated right before we travel. I had asked her about it because I don't have another set of medical papers. I would have to go around to the 8 doctors to get them to sign another set for both Mike and me. So, that is what I started doing today. I picked a great day to have to drive to various doctors' offices. It was pouring/raining on and off all day. I drove home in a downpour. I hate driving in the rain. I called all the doctors first and got a couple answers. Some of the doctors weren't in. I have to call back tomorrow or next week. I was able to get 2 of the doctors to sign the papers and 1 of them (the psychiatrist) Mike and I need to go see again before she will sign it. We have an appointment for New Year's Eve morning. Ugh! I was hoping not to have to actually see the doctors again but I guess we will have to see at least the one. So, although our updates are complete, I am now working on the next round of updates. Oh so much fun.......

A Modest YEAH!

I can't believe that my work, tears, and arguments have actually culmunated in the paperwork getting completed. Yup! It is done. The 24 documents have been signed, notarized, apostilled, and copied. They are going to FedEx right now to the agency. They'll have it tomorrow morning. Our deadline was 12/12 and they will get the paperwork on 12/10. YEAH! One big step forward.

We will now wait and see what happens. The agency and the coordinators in Russia are still trying to get our court date in late January. However, before we can go: our documents need to go to Moscow to get translated, then they need to go to the judge and he needs to review them, the judge needs to get all of Colby's documents from however is collecting them, everything needs to be up to date and organized, and it all needs to happen before the judge goes on his vacation in late January. Ugh! I'm not sure Mike nor I have had that much good luck ever. But, we will keep our fingers crossed, try to update a few more papers that I'm sure he will ask for, and just hope. I am not going to get my hopes up too high though. Everything has been such a struggle that I am sure we won't go until almost March. I don't want to be disappointed. If we go in January, that will be a big surprise. So, keep your fingers crossed for us and we will continue to WAIT and SEE!

Getting There....With Paperwork

Well, I can't believe how long it can take to update just a few documents. I realize we were given a list of 24 documents that the judge wants, but that was about 3 weeks ago. I still haven't collected them all. Last week was torture trying to get a couple of them. On Wednesday I called Ohio to see if they had sent my mortgage letter back apostilled. It seems that they LOST my document and were looking for it. However, I did receive our FBI background checks and the letters from Mass back. The car loan document came back from Nebraska as well. However, they DID NOT apostille it. It seems that whoever notarized the document doesn't know how to do her job and notarized it incorrectly so the Secretary of State's office refused to apostille it. The document was thus worthless. I called the Sec of State's office for explanation and got no where. They suggested I call Ford for a new document. After about 30 min on hold and bounced from one person to another, I was at wits end. I was then transfered to a nice guy in Florida who helped me. He said he would be able to write the letter and get it notarized correctly from Florida. I asked that he overnight it, and he said he would have to check with his supervisor. So, that was Wed.

On Thursday, I called Ford in Florida and they said the document was just noratirzed and put in UPS overnight. Thank goodness. That was happy news. Unfortunately, Ohio was not with our mortgage letter. When I called them, I was transfered to the administrator in charge of that area. It seems, whoever signed for the document on Tues decided to put it into the business office's mail, and they get a lot of mail. It was "misplaced" so she said. I told her she LOST it and asked what she thought I should do. She suggested I call Chase for a new mortgage letter. I said no becuase I had already spent $60 to get this one and FedEx it first to Franklin county for a county verification and then FedEx from there across town to the Sec of State's office, along with the two different fees. Besides, she would probably lose that one too. She had nothing else to say. I told her she better find my document because she had just ruined my Christmas and I not so nicely hung up on her. I was devistated. She called back about 10 minutes letter saying that she had sent 3-4 more people to search for the document and they had miraculously found it. Surprise, surprise. So, I finally got that document back on Friday. She is so lucky.

To update, right now I have 19 documents coming to me from Hartford, which should be all set, apostille and everything. The 2 Mass documents and the mortgage letter apostilled in Ohio are all done and copied. We are waiting on Florida to apostille the letter from Ford. That might be the document which holds us up. I have to call them and beg them to apostille it right away. The website says that it can take up to 5 business days. That would bring us past our Fri 12/12 deadline for the adoption agency. The last document, the letter verifying our CPA's license came on Friday. I will bring it to Hartford tomorrow to get apostilled and that will be all set. I am only worrying about this letter from Ford. I hope that they understand and apostille it right away. Even if they send it to me tomorrow, I will get it on Tues and the agency will get everything on Wed. I guess we need to wait and see, phone and beg someone for there understanding. Keep your fingers crossed......

Papers! Papers! Everywhere!

Well, we are making some headway on the updated paperwork trail. Of the 24 documents that the judge requested, I have 20 complete to the notary stage. Today I sent some of them off to be apostilled. An apostille is a state signature and stamp, from the secretary of state, that is necessary for all international documents. It simply guarantees that the notary who signed the document is a licensed notary for that specific state. Now comes the tricky part. Some of the documents have been notarized in different states. The verification of our social workers' licenses came from Mass, since our agency is headquartered in Mass. So today I sent those two papers to be apostilled in Mass. Our car loan document was signed and notarized in Nebraska so that was sent back to Nebraska today for an apostille. Our mortgage loan document signed in Ohio was shipped out last week to Ohio for apostille but was sent back. It seems that Ohio requires first a county verification on the notary and then the apostille. So that was sent out to Franklin County Court on Fri. From there they have the FedEx slip to send it to the Secretary of State (in the same town no less). Then they will send it back to me. What a mess. I have too many FedEx tracking numbers...Now I have lost track of which tracking number is which! Ugh!

Anyway, once I have the FBI background checks back and the letter from the CPA, I will send the remaining letters to Hartford for apostille. Then we will only be waiting for the state to verify the CPA's license. Not sure why but I can't have the state verify his license before I have his letter. His letter needs to be dated before the state's letter. What a mess. We are hoping to have everything done and sent to the agency next week. They asked for it by the 12th. Hopefully all the apostilles will not hold us up. Keep your fingers crossed for us!