Progress

We have had progress in our movement through this wonderful world of paper chase. We finally finished our documents that needed to be updated. We were of the of few that turned in all of our dossier documents prior to the agency making others wait until referral or "crunch time". Everything was done, but since it has been such a long wait there were a few documents that needed to be re-done/renewed. We needed new police report, medical reports, an updated home study and renew our our Petition to Adopt. Along with getting the documents you must notarize them, county certify them, state certify and then send them to DC for Vietnam authentication.

The more you go up the ladder with the system the more the documents cost to have these things done. Notary was free (Eileen at Chris's work did them) County Certification $1.00 each, State Certification $5.00 each, Country Authentication $85.00 each (this includes speedy service 2 day turnaround). We got that all done and sent to the agency. They were accepted and sent to Vietnam today.

Just the other day I was sitting at work on my unit with "crazy" men yelling constantly and one bad news bomb after another. I said to one of the nurses that I work with "I need some happy news". I checked my email and there was an email from the agency stating our I-600 had been sent. This is good news because essentially it is the last paper step. We now wait for I-600 approval and a Giving and Receiving Ceremony to be set, then we travel. It's funny sometimes you get what you ask for. It usually doesn't happen to me so I was surprised.

The I-600 can take 60 days before getting the approval. Some families have waited 60 calendar days, some have waited 60 business days. All I can do is wait and hope it goes sooner. I just try to stay busy with other things, like running (I'm up to 4 miles).

Did I mention I'm training for a half marathon (13.1 miles.)? Liz started me on the path and now she and I both need the confidence that we could do it. It is October 19Th. So we have more time to train.

Just a little good news, brightens a week.

14 months

It's been 14 months since we were placed on the waiting list. Nieman turned 14 months old this month. I always wondered if I would be able to remember what I was doing when my child was born. Now that I know his birthday, I was looking at last year's calendar. May 11, 2007 was a Friday. It was a beautiful day with a high of 86 degrees. I think I went to dinner with Chris and probably Glenn since that is what we usually do on Fridays.

It's been hard waiting for him, not knowing what he is doing every minute of the day. Is he crawling around, is he trying to pull himself up to stand? Does he say any words yet? It's hard knowing he is growing up without me there to see it, experience it and enjoy it. Everyone can't wait to meet him and are very excited to see his new pictures. He has two cute little bottom teeth poking through. He looks happy and well taken care of and that is the one thing that gets me through each day.

Nieman has a bed waiting for him. Grandma J bought him a crib, she said Grandpa would have wanted to make sure he had a great place to sleep. As soon as we finish his room, we will put it together and put pictures on the blog.

Chris has put is smiley, happy picture on the site already. So enjoy, we'll keep you posted on any news.