and here we go again....

Well it has just been 3 short months since we last saw each other.... 3 months and BOOM, we are magically at the midway point in the process....

Ok, so maybe there wasn't a magical waving of a wand and poof here we are....  3 months was plenty of time for some excitement....

Some highlights of the craziness that is the adoption process:

*   Multiple letters sent to us by department of homeland security getting lost in lala land courtesy of the USPS.... which allowed us the opportunity to place a fraud alert on all of our cards because the letters contained social security numbers and the whole shebang....

*  My failing a fingerprint test and Derek passing to then have us both go back because they lost his results and then discovering they had misspelled his name which was why they thought they lost the result.  (I'm thankful for the USCIS but I wouldn't give them an A in organization)

*  The following classic interaction with the security guard at the USCIS office..... anyone in the adoption world in Birmingham has a similar story to tell.  This man is pure awesome.

Me: I'm a few days early but wanted to see if I could please walk in.
Officer: oh, no. oh, no. I don't know that this is possible (He appeared to be having a genuine inner struggle over my request.  Lots of deep sighs and groans)
Me: Please, we've had some issues so just trying to get this taken care of. I really appreciate it.
Officer: Can you come back tomorrow morning?
Me: No. I'll have 2 small children with me then.
Officer: Oh. no, oh no (appearing to really be having a struggle within himself) We really like walk ins in the afternoon. Can you come at 3:00 today?
Me: No, I'll have 4 kids then. (refusing to back down every so nicely but this was the longest I have ever had to plead with him.  I actually started getting nervous!)
Officer: This just isn't going to work, I have my appointments coming at 9:00, then my 10's them my 11's then my 12's then my 1's then my 2's. You really can't come at 3:00?
Me: Nope. Can I just sit and wait and see if you can get to me? (keep in mind there are 2 other families in there)
Officer: Sure, but you may be sitting a super long time. 
Me: That's ok, I'll risk it.

So he lets me sit for all of 2 full minutes, then turns around with a big smile and a clipboard and said ok, fill this out. Then I after I filled it out, he even said "Let's hurry and I can squeeze you in front of this other family."

The best part was as I left, I said to Mr. security man, "I told my husband to try and walk in as well, Do you want me to tell him to come at 3:00?" 

Officer: Oh, no no no. We like our last appointment to be at 2:30. 3:00 is too late. So tell him to come right now and I'll get him and in and out real fast. 

Ha!

*  And then a miracle occurred... a first for me actually.... I passed my fingerprints!!! The best part is that the day I found out that I passed, I was on Loretab for a minor procedure and I immediately e-mailed my officer at immigration once I saw the news..... only I didn't remember I had e-mailed her until the next day.  There was a moment of panic as I ran to my computer to see what in the world I had written to her and thankfully it was very normal.  Something along the lines of "What a great Mother's Day gift." Whew.  Disaster averted.


And then the crickets began chirping as we waited and waited for documents to be certified.... this is the step where our Dossier ("Mountain of Paperwork") is sent to various places to have stamps and seals put on them...

We waited and waited some more and then got the word on June 13th that we were DTC (Dossier to China).  There was much excitement in our home that night.  We were actually at the farm and AR took off running to find R while screaming "OUR PAPERS ARE ON THEIR WAY TO CHINA!!!!"  

Next the wait to hear 3 more letters from our social worker "LID".... Log In Date....  in other words: you are now ready to be matched!

On monday, June 30th, let's just say I had a hectic day.  I about lost my sanity dealing with alagasco for an hour on the the phone.... and I might add talking to them while trying to watch my kids at the pool.... the kids were particularly unruly that day.... but I had backup.... a sitter.... PTL!  For the first time since school got out, I was going to have a moment alone and go for a run.  I got to my running spot only to discover my kids had deleted my running mix.... and the songs that were still on there? they somehow made it where it repeats each song 2 times.  Nothing I could do would undo that setting.  So minor in the scheme of life but my run to de-stress actually made me more peeved.  Fast forward a few hours, the cherry on top was a heavy jar of molasses falling from a top shelf in my kitchen onto my head.  As I'm laying on the floor in pain, Henry took the opportunity to teetee on an unsuspecting AR who was relaxing in the bath... more screams, more chaos.....(and aside but Rollins was so sweet to see the depths of my despair and took it upon himself to clean the entire house.  He even mopped the kitchen!  Sweet boy. )

All that to say, a few days earlier I posted this pic on Facebook:

A pinterest worthy moment.... Our first jar of honey from the bees we are raising on the roof of our house... because we are just that cool and hip....

But in fact, this is my reality:

A mess on the floor that nailed me on the way down.....

And it was only the next day that I found out that during the previous days chaos, we were apparently being "logged in" in China... gotta love God's timing in all of that.  Updated pic below:

June 30th, 2014

Well, assuming anyone is still out there, that's enough for one night....  For now, you can pray for wisdom and peace as we wait to see our baby's face...