Documents in!

I called our agency the day they received the documents from IL and they said they are perfect!  Yay!!  Originally Crescent Moon had wanted them to be Authenticated at their embassy, but our agency's in-country contact checked with them to see if we could skip that step for the sake of time.  Surprisingly, they agreed!  So, the state-certified documents are in Crescent Moon being reviewed and our LOA should be on its way any time.  I think this is our first shortcut and I am hoping for a few more in the sake of time.  ;-)

While I was talking to my agent, I asked if we were close enough that she could guess a time frame.  She knows by now that I'm more than familiar with the unexpected and I won't call her screaming if we're a bit beyond what she guesses.  lol!  She thought that if everything goes as usual (going by the process thus far, that's unlikely, but here's to hoping!), we could get our travel papers as early as mid-March!  It's much later than I had expected when we originally started this process, but at this point I'm excited that it could be that "soon"!  I'm excited to visit in the Spring because I hear it's beautiful!!  (Then again, I would be excited to visit any time of the year because it's a new country and we're there for a wonderful reason!)  

-V

Great news!!

It seems the 4th time is a charm!  After having our documents rejected yet again by the state of IL, my mom called them to figure out why.  The lady who had rejected them was off that day, but the lady my mom spoke with couldn't tell why they were rejected.  So, mom sent them back on Friday and they are now certified and on their way to her!  Once she gets them, she said she's going to overnight them to our agency and they will get them Authenticated by the Crescent Moon embassy.  At that point, they will get sent to Crescent Moon and then we will get our LOA!!  I found out about this yesterday morning, but wasn't around my computer to update this blog.  I have been on Cloud 9 ever since!!  It was hard to sleep last night because I was so excited.  This morning, I took our van in to have it looked at.  It needs quite a bit of work (alignment, balancing, new front brakes, fuel filter, and oil change) and is going to cost 770 Euros.  Not exactly chump change.  Do I care?  Not really!  Typically somewhere around 80-110 Euros is my cutoff for freaking out about vehicle maintenance/repairs, depending on our situation that month.  (We're never really hurting for money, but our European account is kept basically paycheck to paycheck, so local expenses freak me out more than most)  Inside my head, my little mini-me has been in a constant happy dance.  And I hate dancing!  lol!!  I'm not sure how I can possibly get more excited than this when we finally get our travel approval, but I'm sure I will find a way.  ;-)

The only downer right now is that L has been talking daily about how excited she is to travel to Crescent Moon with us.  Yesterday, she spent a considerable part of the day asking about getting her own suitcase so that she can put stuff in it to bring with her, etc.  If it were up to me, she would come in a heartbeat!  Heck, I would love to bring all 3 kids!  But, D is very much against it.  I know in my head he's probably right.  But, it's so hard to tell them that they won't get to come on a trip of a lifetime to meet their new sister.  DJ will probably have school, so he would be pretty easy to explain it to.  N is too little to really care about the trip, but he's never really been away from me so I'm not sure what that's going to do to him (or me!)  But L has her heart set on going.  And when I say she "has her heart set" on it, I mean that 110%.  I worry about how crushed she will be if she doesn't get to come with us.  I can easily envision her crying the ENTIRE 2 weeks and hating us for not letting her come!  I would love to just bring her, but then I'm not sure how the boys would feel about her getting to experience it when they don't.  My ideal solution (which D thinks I'm insane for) is to take a family trip to Crescent Moon for Z's birthday.  We should be close enough by that point that we can visit her, but not close enough to actually get her, so our kids would get to meet her & see the country and yet they wouldn't be a pain during any legal proceedings.  Then when we actually get to travel to get her, the kids will know where we're going and won't feel like they're missing out on anything.  The best of both worlds!!  :-D  The only downside is that we would meet Z, but not get to bring her home and that would be hard on everybody.  Of course, we could just visit the country without actually meeting her too, but I'm not sure whether that would make the kids ok with not going later or just make them more excited to go when we get Z.  Ah well, we have time to think it over.  Besides, D doesn't even want to take that trip, so my thinking and "planning" could be all for naught....

Care Package

I guess I haven't updated in a while.  I've been trying not to because there's been some major frustration, but I forgot to update about the good stuff too!

Our agency emailed me just after Thanksgiving with updated pictures and updated measurements for Z!  It came on the perfect day because I started that day feeling depressed that things were dragging on for so long and that helped put things into perspective for me.  I can't post pictures publicly, but she looked absolutely beautiful to me!  Her hair was put up a little differently, but she had longer hair!  I was so worried that they would chop it off to make things easier, but it's longer and beautiful.  Her complexion is perfect and she looks VERY healthy!  She also seemed like she was looking at the specific people rather than openly gazing off into the distance, which is also very encouraging.  In that email, they also told us to start putting together a care package to send to her.  They gave suggestions for what to include such as clothes, a blanket, a toy with our voices recorded (hello, Build-A-Bear!), a disposable camera, small gifts for the caregivers such as chapstick, and letters and pictures drawn by the kids.  I must say, I have really enjoyed getting everything together!  This process has been therapeutic actually.  I emailed our letters (one for Z and one for her caregivers) yesterday and they had already emailed translations back that evening!  Talk about fast!!  So, this morning I am printing out the newly translated letters, we will all sign them and I will mail it today.  I hope it gets there by Christmas because I included a Christmas outfit for Z.  Though, I'm not really sure if they celebrate Christmas....does Z know anything about it?  I'm not sure.  Either way, she'll have a pretty new dress!

A quick update on the frustrating part.  My mom had been getting our local police clearances for us.  They needed to be notarized, then state certified before the agency could get them authenticated and sent to Crescent Moon.  The state rejected the forms 2 different times because of issues with the notary!  Once the notary "signed over the seal" and the other time it didn't have a "statement of acknowledgement".  The most frustrating part was that when we called the state department, they were rude and not at all helpful!  Mom finally got the 3rd forms the other day and she said the notary looks great!  They should already be at the state.  Hopefully this time they will certify them and with any luck, they will do it quickly!  Once these forms get to Crescent Moon, we will get our LOA and be well on our way to meeting Z!!  :-D

Hoping this forward momentum is real and not just wishful thinking and hoping it continues!
-V