Day 52 Of The Wait...

We are currently still waiting for our Letter of Acceptance. We are on day 52!!! Our friends in Haymarket (right across the highway) received their "Letter of Acceptance" from China on day 80! And they received their travel arrangements to China 21 days after that. They will be travelling to bring home their beautiful baby boy very soon...sooner than we will. LOL. He also has a cleft lip and palette, like Garrett. We are close behind them in this race to the finish line, and close to receiving our own LOA, I believe. I am so happy for them. The Bakers are a great family. The link to their blog is in my list in the sidebar here, "Baker's Sweets", if you want to check out their beautiful family. Their daughter, Kiah, came home from China at the same time Gracie did. They have an amazing story to tell about adoption and growing their family.

Well....Well...Well...

Here is the LOVELY email we received today. I am a little miffed (ok, pretty ticked off really) mainly because of the tone of the email. Seems that we are "missing" some other documents again. How does this happen? Is it because we never received any word that this International Adoption Services Agreement was needed or wanted? YES. We have never seen this document before. (It could be that I read it SOMEWHERE in the 500 PAGE BINDER from Small World that they sent us at the beginning of this process, but I just might have overlooked it somehow in all of that reading!) . Also, this is something we should have signed at the VERY beginning of our process with our agency...not NOW. I cannot tell you how many times we have asked them if ANYTHING ELSE was needed from us! And the copies of our tax returns??? HELLO! We have given this to them now I think twice! But from the way this sounds...just the wording of it..., we are the ones that are deemed disorganized and negligent in not sending in the required information...like we wouldn't send it in to them!!! And they need to know we have received the email she sent and will get these items to them pronto.

Here is the email...

"Hi Madeline,

We still have some documents remaining that are necessary for your adoption.

I have attached the International Adoption Services Agreement that we do not have in your file. We MUST have two copies of this signed and in your file before we can give you the Letter of Acceptance for your child. PLEASE sign this and send it to us ASAP to make sure all is complete.

We also need photocopies of the first two pages of your income tax statement.

Please let me know that you have received this notification and that these are on their way. I don’t want to hold anything up, but will be required to if we do not have these.

(Ok, DIG DIG DIG in my HEART and SOUL!!! Knife in the heart!!! Like we are going to do anything at this point to HOLD THINGS UP!!!)

Thank you!"

(No, Thank you! Grrrrrrrrrr!)

I am still working on getting our Power of Attorney document authenticated and certified. It is notarized now, and we are sending it to the Secretary of State tomorrow.

I cannot tell you how HAPPY, RELIEVED, OVERJOYED, (etc.) we will be when we are no longer required to do ANYTHING on paper in THIS country for this adoption. China is a whole different story, but Van will be dealing with all of that paperwork in China not here. And at that point, our beautiful baby boy will finally be our son, and we will finally be Garrett's parents.

And let me tell you, everytime I whine about this process on this blog, I feel sooooooooooo guilty because there are soooooooooo many people in the world with REAL problems. This should NOT be this hard! It is not rocket science, but you would think it was! Crazy! Maybe ya'll can just chalk it up to hormones...but I am not pregnant...so I guess I have no excuse. Anyway, it is what it is.

Just say a little prayer for us.

Next on my worry list... I will be going to my niece's wedding in Alabama on October 3rd. I am going alone without Gracie and Van, and I have to tell you that I am really getting sad already just thinking about being away from Gracie for that Thursday afternoon/night, all day Friday, all day Saturday, and then home again on Sunday afternoon. I have never been away from her. I keep thinking about how Van is going to handle it. He will be fine/wonderful/the great Daddy that he is, but I expect that Gracie will have many little breakdowns throughout the weekend. And I have to FLY on an airplane by myself which leads me to soooooo many wierd, irrational, terrifying "what-if" thoughts.

Also, September 11th is just around the corner now. Will you be flying your American flag out in front of your home in memory of all of those that died on that day? We will be. Van and I have watched some of the footage they have been playing on television, and even seeing it now is so terrifying and heartbreaking...Maybe that is why I am having all of this anxiety about flying to the wedding in October, come to think of it. Van has a friend that actually made it out of the second tower alive, but the people she tried to help on her way back down the elevator did not get on with her. And they did not survive. Can you imagine seeing your coworkers and friends standing there outside of a door to an elevator, trying to coax them on because the building next door is burning, and having them tell you that they would not get on (remember many people were told by their bosses to stay), and watching that elevator door close...never to see them again? There are so many stories like this. That one hits home for us. I had a little boy checked out of my class that day early because his dad had been working at the Pentagon and had narrowly escaped being severely injured inside the building. Those memories will never fade. Seeing the footage of the planes hitting the twin towers on the television for the first time...I still remember that. Time stood still. God bless all of those families, all of those survivors, and all of those children who lost so much that day. They have a REAL reason to be hurt and sad and angry. September 11th, We will never forget!!! With the elections coming up in November, we have a lot to think about. The security and safety of this nation is a critical issue.

Uplifting blog post today, huh? LOL. Sorry! I am just in a mood... And "This too shall pass."