Outa my hands..

The paperwork did make it to a fed ex yesterday and we rec'd confirmation this morning that our agency has rec'd it. WHOOHOOO!! They said they will get it to Cathwel ASAP. So you may ask..what's next my friend...How long will it take?
So glad you asked..because I was wondering the same thing..
I asked our coordinator...

She informed us that it takes(I always love this disclaimer..give or take) about two months to get a court date.
I was satisfied with that bit of information...Jon was not..
So I had to ask again..

And she told us that after we rec'v a court date, it is typically another two months until travel. So I am guesstimating August. And since our fingerprints will expire once again on August 25th, Let's hope we get a travel date before they expire.
I really anticipate having to redo them once more because we'll be so close...but shhhhhh!! Don't tell Jon that just yet!!

Not today!!

It's just not meant to be. It seemed like a comedy of errors today as we tried to get our authenticated paperwork back to our agency. It got delivered to us today, Jon dropped it off at my job, so I could make copies..
The goal was to get to the fed ex place by 5pm...
BUT....
-I had to stay late at work b/c a rep was running late. Which put me leaving close to 4pm
-All I saw were brake lights...Traffic was stopped on the highway.
-Jon was not back from trying to get meds at Walgreens when I finally got home
-Finally, get a few signatures, a couple of copies.....shooooot...I FORGOT, WE need the BIG check and one more notarization....
-Jon and I off to the bank to get a notarization and the "BIG" certified check. It's 4:45

NEW GOAL....get to other fed ex place, across the river and through the woods by 6pm
-Out of copy paper
-stop off at Winn Dixie to get paper
-Winn Dixie out of paper
-Go back the other way(by the bank we were just at) to get paper at Office Depot.
-{pass the fed ex truck picking up the 5 pm pickup}
-Back to our house, sign, sign, more copies, copy, organize...back out the door.
-Okay so not going to make it to the OTHER fed ex place by 6pm

NEW GOAL..get to the main fed ex hub by 7pm
-Drive halfway across town to what we think is the fed ex main hub...Nope it's the freight hub, with no one in the office.
Seriously?

NEW GOAL...just get to any fed ex place so Jon doesn't need to go another day without sleep and it will be ready tomorrow without an extra trip
-We're halfway to downtown, so we drive the other half...
-FINALLY....with paperwork in hand....go up to the counter..
-"we need to mail this"
-"fed ex?"
-"Seriously dude, we're in a fed ex kinkos, what do you think?"
-"Our system just went down"
-"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"
-"nope we have a call into tech support"
-"Thank you very much"
Out the door...
CAR WON'T START!!!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!

Another turn of the key and the car started, but I'm thinking that we weren't supposed to get these papers out tonight. Ya think? So off we headed home....

Never thought we'd see that!!

All the way from Taipei, Taiwan......
Making it's debut in Claire's room...


With the help of an unsuspecting new Daddy
and two unsuspecting furry siblings..


THE CRIB...
complete with a fill in Claire, and the biggest pink bunny ever...








I never thought I would see the day when there would be a crib nestled in the corner. This was always the "soon to be baby's room". It was the scrap room, the guest room, friends and relatives room, but it never seemed to get to the point of just being the baby's room. Now it is!! Now there's a crib in Claire's room!!

7..no..8..no...wait...7.....huh?

We rec'd a phone call today from TECO. We paid for expidited service for the authentication of 7 items. But apparently they counted 8. I swear it was 7. I went over in my head all the items that needed to be authenticated and couldn't for the life of me think of what the 8th item could be. But since regular service is 2-6 days, if they waited for us to send them the extra 23 dollars for the extra document we would fall under the regular service anyways. So I told them to just authenticate the 8 items with regular service(which is cheaper). They told me that they would issue us cash in the return envelope since they would then owe us some change(anyone else think that is weird...oh well) Anyways....after thinking and thinking about how I caused my child to have to stay a few days longer in the orphange I rushed home to prove that it was only 7 items. I looked again at all the documents, as we had made a copy of what we sent. 7...there were only 7 items...I made Jon come over and count with me...7...see Jon...7. Utterly annoyed with me, but thankful that the mistake wasn't his...he told me to call them and try and figure it out. So again they pulled our file...8 they tell me, there are 8 items..Seriously? What are the items....wellllll come to find out that an extra little document slipped it's way into the envelope during the midnight frenzy to get all the paperwork together. So now we will have an official TECO stamp on our agency referral acceptance contract.....which needed to be notarized, but not really TECO'd. Oh well. I'm sure they'll find that cute.

GIFTS

The generosity is already pouring in. Claire is already starting to receive great gifts from family and friends alike. I'm sure that I'll have a hard time showing them all and thanking everyone. So from the start..Thank You to everyone for all the wonderful gifts. Claire has rec'd clothes, stuffed animals, handmade blankets(one of which I don't show b/c it has our last name on it), bowls with spoons, and forks, sippy cups, clothes....all from loving family and friends. She is a much anticipated and much loved little girl already!!

TECO bound!!

On Thursday night one of my closest friends sister(who's also a friend) notarized all our stuff for us. Thank you Charlie!! We always knew that she would do it for us, but I always hate to call in favors from people. It makes me feel like I'm 'using' someone and that's why we didn't initially go to her. But since the girl at the bank was unaware of her job duties(yeah, I'm still a little irritated) we had to call in the favor. Thankfully so....we got all the paperwork together and Jon got it to fed ex on Friday. The other good thing about going to my friends house was that Claire got this...














Isn't' that just too too cute. And it means more because my friend Jennifer is a die hard Georgia fan. I'm surprised that this outfit didn't spontaneously catch on fire in her house. Thank you Jennifer!!

And I saw this the other day and thought it was so so sweet I had to buy it for her. I can't wait to see a picture of her in it.

So all is well, we should get the TECO papers back next week, then off to our agency, then back to TAIWAN and into court!! It's so weird. I remember reading all about others who were TECO bound and it seemed so far away. Now it's us. WE'RE TECO BOUND!!

To the B*t*h at the Bank today...

NO You do not know what it is like. You could not sympathize with our situation. Have you waited in excess of five years for a family, then two of those for a picture of your child that resides on the other side of the world? Because if you knew what that was like then, you would have notarized the Effin contract. Do I know what the contract says? YES!! I provided you with the translation. But just so you know. Your notary stamp has nothing to do with what the document says, only that we signed it, and that we are who we say we are. That's it. The document could say in English that my Brother resides on Mars, and you would have to notarize my signature, that is it. Nothing else. You effin witch. Seriously could you show one ounce of compassion. We are not the only people in the United STates that have needed to sign an adoption contract in Chinese. Seriously it goes on every day. You told me that you would notarize the translation, Please explain to me what the FUCK good that would do me in a Taiwanese court? Don't give me that flippant' smile, and tell me you wish you could help me. If you wish you could help me then you would have done it and notarized the contract!! You could loose your license? Seriously your license, to notarize? ARe you kidding me? It's not a license to practice medicine lady. No one is going to die if you notarize our contract. But instead, because of you, because you choose NOT to notarize our Contract, my child, my sweet sweet daughter will have to spend more time in an orphanage because now we have to wait yet another day to get our documents notarized, then copied, sent to TECO and so on. Because of you, you little witch. I will find the supporting documentation that states you were supposed to notarize it. And I will provide you with the information on what your job is. Bite me@!@!@!

RANT DONE...I normally try not to use outright profanity on this blog(even though I do in real life), BUT she warranted the F word!!

Today...

The 9th. Of every month. I celebrated it. I cringed it. I watched it's passing every month with nary a word. I marked it's coming and going every month. Today would have been 24 months on the waiting list. 24 was causing much strife and knots in my stomach. I hated 24. I knew it was coming. But it didn't see us, not this time. And I am grateful that I didn't have to post a big ugly 24, but instead a big beautiful picture of Claire. But it has visited my friends. And some of 24's friends have visited my friends. I don't like 24 and his friends. Go away. Stay away from my friends!!!
To my friends that are still waiting...I am thinking of you. I know that it is hard. I'm going to hunt down 24 and his friends and annihilate them....Banish them...roast them...
On the Anniversary of what would have been 24 months for us, I am celebrating the strength and support that you all have given me to get through each month to that call. Thank you for journeying with us, celebrating, crying, hoping, and praying. It has made the difference. And I hope and pray that you are sharing that call and photo with me very soon!!

{{{HUGS}}}

She's not missing any bottles!!

We rec'd the rest of the paperwork yesterday. I will tell you that I am a little overwhelmed and had to just put it away for a day. Jon is out of town for the weekend so we can't do anything about it right now. You would think that after 5 plus years of trying to have a family then almost 2 years on a waiting list, that we would be ready to bring little Miss Claire home...NOT!! We have so much to do, so much to buy, so many things to sign, gifts to buy........Can I just fast forward to holding her in my arms....

Our last stats had her at 60 cm, with her wt @ a whopping 14.3 pounds. Seriously, I don't think she's missing any bottles. She's a healthy little thing and that's how we likes it.

Oh yeah, and here are more pictures to ooogle over..

I don't know why I love this picture so much, she has this odd look on her face, but for some reason it's my favorite right now!

Love her little smile!!

Introducing....

Our Daughter.....

Claire Jocelyn

Our prayers have been answered.....

Just a few more...

We have pictures!!! I will post them later though...after all of our family has seen her gorgeous face. Seriously, she's cute, I'm not joking...she's beautiful!!! I'm not biased..she really is cute....Ok maybe just a little biased....

update @ 7:46 pm. I am sorry guys....We are having a difficult time with one email....once this important person gets to see her face, I will post for you all!!