Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Can This Really Be Happening?








You know, I am documenting all of this as a way to "process" the process, if that makes sense. I am not writing to complain or to whine about it. It is a way for me to keep up with dates and what has occurred. I must say though that at this point, I sometimes feel like throwing in the towel. That feeling doesn't last long though, and I realize it is my fear talking to me and not what I really want to do. I also have questioned whether or not this is God's way of trying to tell us that Garrett needs to stay in China. In talking to our Small World social worker today, Janell, she made me realize that our baby boy will have a very BIG story to tell about his homecoming and exactly what took place over time in order to get him home to us. The obstacles thrown our way so far have been enough for anyone going through this to start doubting things. I simply just don't know sometimes what else can possibly go wrong, and then something inevitably does. I want to hold our son. I want him to come home to us. Gracie talks about him pretty much everyday. He is HER brother. She knows it, and we know it. His pictures are everywhere. His second birthday is coming up, and we are going to miss it. Two birthdays of Garrett's have come and gone since we started the process. He should have been home many MONTHS ago. My sister reminded me the other day that God is in control. We are not.

All of this said, we received a call from Janell today at our agency. I could tell right away there was something going on. She stated that she had received all of our paperwork back from the state of VA, and that they rejected four of our documents because the notaries had not been written correctly. You know, the notary thing is just so confusing. We have been totally confused by the process of the "exact words" to be used...So we know everyone else is. There are many different ways apparently to notarize a document. And pretty much everyone does it differently. But the state of VA wants it done a very specific way in order to give their seal of approval to the documents. We thought we had dotted every i and crossed every t. Apparently, Not so. It is a very exact science. Our government is amazing in so many ways, but I think we need to revamp the requirements for all of this paperchase stuff so that more children can come home sooner to the forever families. The red tape is much too much to have to deal with.

So, we are going to go over this additional speed bump and continue on our way. It reminds me of that song that goes, "It's a LONG LONG ROAD with many awinding turn" I have been singing that a lot lately. It is so true.

You'd think we'd be paperchase professionals at this point since we adopted Gracie first, but we have had so many more little hiccups along the way. It isn't anyone's fault really that this has taken so long... that so many little things have happened. It is just that THIS paperchase has been a FAR different experience for us than the last one. If I could change this red tape paperwork circus, I would though.

















1 comment:

Ramona said...

Omigosh! You are having the worst luck with this dossier business! Can anything else happen? Good luck with everything. We are anxiously awaiting Garrett's homecoming.