Another Snag (we'll view it as a small twig)

Throughout this adoption, just as the one before, Darrell and I are intentional about remaining positive. Don't get me wrong--we have our moments of anxiety--but it is what it is and we deal with it, with much talking to God in the process. :-) Well, this week we had several of those anxious moments.

MONDAY I went to the doctor to complete a medical form that needed to be done. We found out that morning that Darrell's form, which was done early, expired (the notarization had surpassed the 6 month mark). Of course I'm on the way out the door and he's at work. This could be a very long story but I'll just say that I took his form with me and after TWO attempts the doctor signed off on it. When I left the office I felt like a foreigner in another country who had infiltrated their government and stolen secret documents without being caught. Anxiety experience #1.

TUESDAY my dad and I drove to Austin, the State capitol, to have our dossier certified. The original approval from Immigration was not signed (nor should it have been), so we had to walk a couple of blocks to the UPS store, get a copy made and have it notarized. When we returned to the State Department they threw away the "Denied" letter and approved all our documents. Whew!!! Anxiety moment #2.

WEDNESDAY Darrell went to the Chinese Consulate's office to get everything authenticated and--you guessed it--they denied our dossier. WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED??? Well, apparently the State Department removed a staple on one of their certification letters and China would not accept it because it had two extra holes in it. Also, Darrell bound our home study with a staple because the Consulate's web site said they would not accept documents that weren't bound. China did not like that Darrell did this (he was honest and told them that he did it. If the State Department had done it, it would have been ok). Apparently we are the first family that both agencies had ever heard of this happening to, and it must just be the woman who took our paperwork. EXTREME anxiety moment #3.

Thank the Lord for Kim at the agency we used for Katie's adoption. They are not our primary agency (they did our home study only) but they went out of their way to help us in our moment of panic. We overnighted the two documents back to the State to be recertified and paid a courier to wait for them so we would not have to wait two more weeks. We should receive the documents back tomorrow, at which point (if the Consulate's office is not closed) I will go back and try again. Anxiety moment #4.

We know everything should will be OK, but we will breathe easier when our primary agency receives the dossier, gives it their stamp of approval and sends it off to China. At that point we will let out a big, big sigh of relief. :-)

Hello all! I would love to update you on our sweet daughter Qing Nan's adoption. We were able to walk in early for our fingerprint appointments.The original date was 7/16 and we had our biometrics done 6/27. Yay!

In the meantime, the kiddos and I went out of town and then Darrell went out of town, and just before going out of town our police clearances expired. SOOO, Darrell was able to get that redone yesterday. Apparently the Dream Act has caused long waits for clearances here in Houston but fortunately, since Darrell took time off work to get it done, he was able to do it in about an hour (it helps that he knows the folks in the permitting office :-)).

SOOO...I need to have a medical form notarized Monday morning and on Tuesday I will travel to Austin to have everything certified. That's our plan anyway.

We all think of Qing Nan all the time. We pray for her, we talk about her, we think about her and we look at her pictures. We (mostly I) cry sometimes, too. Katie made her the cutest card with a funny picture of a girl in a St. Patrick's Day costume on the front, and Luke made her a beautiful piece of shell art with pink ribbon hanging down and her name painted inside. The four of us are trying to learn a little Chinese so we can communicate with her, but I'm pretty sure that yours truly will only remember a few simple phrases like "Wo men fei chang kai xin ni shi wo men de nu er!" (We are very happy you are our daughter!) If I remember nothing else, I want to remember those words. :-)

Darrell and I want to meet our daughter and get started loving on her. We would also like to thank you all so much for supporting us on our journey.