Still here!

I'll bet you thought we fell off the face of the earth. Not so much, just not a lot to talk about on the adoption front. Made some progress last week and hope to maybe get the final documents we need to do done this week and off to the agency so all we "have" to do is wait for the background checks to come back. Fingers crossed.

A breather kind of day

With today being Martin Luther King Jr. day, federal offices are closed - so, we're taking a breather of a day in regard to fretting about our FBI documents. My psychology is strange - knowing that there's nobody in the office to work on our documents is easier for me than thinking about them sitting in a bin, waiting, while work goes on around them! We need to send some paperwork in to ask for some senatorial assistance in pushing the documents through, but we'll send that in tomorrow since today is a holiday.

Fresh day, fresh week. (Come on, I'm trying!)

My petition to the universe - want to sign?

A dear friend had a crappy day. Her job was "eliminated."

Another friend has a horribly ill husband, in a hospital bed, facing surgery.

We're battling...well, you know what we're battling.

So today I decided I'd start a petition, one to the universe. I think I'll call it, "Please Stop Having Bad Things Happen to Good People" with the subtitle of, "Because really, why does it have to be this hard?"

But then I remember that still another friend held her daughter for the first time this week and introduced her to her online adoption board aunties and we all cried tears of joy and celebrated along with her.

Then I come home and there's a box from a friend that Brian's ripping into right now. There's a dancing Elmo and books and toys and Brian is simply having too much fun.

Then I get a call from my husband saying he's at Walgreen's and do I need anything? Just because he wanted to save me a trip.

And then I realize that it's not all bad, it's really not. But the bad is hard, and icky, and stressful, and hurtful and sometimes seems so much more powerful than the good sometimes. My challenge to myself is to try to experience the good and make it win.

frus⋅tra⋅tion /frʌˈstreɪʃən/ [fruh-strey-shuhn]

Definition: Managing an adoption.

I'm drowning in the bureacracy. Lost in it all are two little girls who we are trying to bring home from a Russian orphanage.

Now it appears that our FBI background check requests might not have been lost, after all. There is a huge backlog in even entering the requests for background checks into the system. Today, i was told, they were entering requests received on Nov. 15. Yes, today is Jan. 12. FBI, if you're reading this, please don't put a black mark next to my name. Then, after the request is (finally) logged? It's 8 to 10 weeks to get your background check complete.

Hm. I don't think we have that much time between now and Feb. 18.

It's not just the FBI background checks. It's every document that needs to be done before court, practically. I won't bore you with the details, but there are many. They go on and on and on and on.

Bureacracy. Drowning. frus⋅tra⋅tion  /frʌˈstreɪʃən/ [fruh-strey-shuhn]

Requests received; hoping commences

Our second batch of requests for our FBI background checks have been received - this time we used the FedEx service we should have used all along. My brain was simply too full the last time (we finished the paperwork the Thursday night before we left for Russia early Saturday) to have the idea occur to me. I'll follow up tomorrow and beg someone in customer service to quarterback the checks through in hopes that we can get them complete and stay on track for our Feb. 18 court date.

It looks like we more than likely will go for court, then immediately come home without the girls and spend the 10-day waiting period here at home. Then we'll turn around and go back, take custody and wait for their Russian passports in their new names, which they will need to leave the country. Then we'll route through Moscow and get their US passports, so that the second the plane wheels hit US soil they're also US citizens. We're not 100% certain yet that this is the gameplan, but it's shaping up to appear so.

Not much else going on, which doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'm taking bets on when the snow will melt - we have one drift to the top of our chain link fence.

We have a twin bed in the girls' room now, with a trundle. Here are some pics. The bed/s were my cousin, Lindsay's. We also have my cousin Nick's chest and bookshelf. At the very bottom is a pic of the bedding that will eventually be on the bed/s. There's actually more space at the foot of the bed than tbere appears!

A million thanks

I can't thank those of you who posted comments enough! They are wonderfully supportive and you had some GOOD suggestions and made me feel more encouraged. Our FBI FedEx package is ready to head out tomorrow and should arrive in West Virginia on Friday. I'll keep you posted.

I really, really mean my thank you. I'm constantly comforted by those who have endured or are enduring the adoption journey and those who simply love Brian and me and want the best for us and the girls. I hope you know how your comments and support truly help us both!

My (minor) meltdown

My name is Negative Nelly and I will be writing this post.

Holly thought we were in the smooth sailing portion of our story. Ha, I said to her! Ha!

Before they left for Russia, our friendly couple finished the paperwork required for their FBI background check. This was a major feat in itself; they finished it the Thursday night before they left on Saturday. In the rush, it never even occurred to Holly to FedEx said documents; instead, she gave them to her lovely and wonderful mother, along with some other mail, and said lovely and wonderful mother stood in a post office line on Monday, Dec. 14 to make sure that it had the right postage and then passed it off to the clerk behind the desk.

When Holly & Brian got back from Russia, their Kansas Bureau of Investigation background checks were waiting in their mail pile, which their helpful neighbor brought to them with their other mail. But, there was nothing from the FBI (no surprise, really). Holly started working through the banking and charges that had hit their checking account while they were gone, and there was no charge from the FBI.

Long story short, she called the FBI yesterday and THEY HAVE NEVER RECEIVED OUR REQUESTS. This means that we - oops, they since this is a strange third-person post - have lost about 3 to 4 weeks, when they have a published 8 to 10 week waiting time. This means Holly & Brian have to go get fingerprinted by their local PD - AGAIN - to send to the FBI. This time, the package will be FedExed and there will be a pleading letter inside explaining the Feb. 18 court date and begging for a quick background check - during which, of course, the feds will find NOTHING.

On a more postive note, registeries have been created; we (I'm done with the third person, go away Negative Nelly!) had fun at Target and I've been having way too much fun online at Land of Nod.

Snow's coming again. I'll update tonight if the snow apocolypse (as my friend Jodi called it today on Facebook) comes to fruition.

The refreshing view ahead

Happy New Year, all. This year so far is an amazing one for us - since we have such an incredible view ahead of us. While we have wonderful memories in late December 2009, meeting the girls, 2010 is the year that's occupying our imaginations and hearts. We do have a court date NEXT MONTH and, if all goes well, this spring should be a wonderful, strange, unbelievable, life-changing and surreal time for all of us!

I usually find myself somewhat  melancholy at this time of year, because I've felt that while we've made such progress and have been on our journey together, me and this wonderful man beside me on the couch as I type, my feet tucked under him, there was always the "but" hanging there. But we didn't really know where our adoption journey was leading. But we didn't really have any news. But we couldn't really plan because everything was so wide open.

But...this year? This year is different! We know two real girls. We love two real girls. We dream of two real girls and imagine them here, at home, with the dogs (yeah, that's going to be its own adventure!) and us. The future that before held so many possibilities still seemed somewhat like a void. Now? Just full of real possibilities, if that makes any sense.

Our 2010 is shaping up to be the year dreams come true. May the same be true for you!