finished!

All documents are in the mail.  Larissa will get them on Monday, and hopefully they will arrive in Ukraine sometime next week.  Since the documents are mostly just updates,  I am assuming it will not take long for the translation.  

I will for sure be more on top of things when June rolls around in terms of updating!  However, I will keep my fingers crossed that updating will just be a distant memory. :)

it pays to call

After paying $90 to have my marriage certificates expedited to me, and still waiting for them a week later, I decided to call VitalChek.  Well, turns out they were never sent, and they could not tell me why.  So, I canceled the order and called Macomb County.  I feel so stupid, but I can get an original copy from them for $10, and each extra is $3. I had no idea!  So, I drove over there and had them in no time.  $90 vs. $16?  Wow.  Anyway, it was nice to see Paul.  He met me down in the clerk's office, and then we went upstairs walked through the courtroom, and he showed me his office.  It reminds me of Papa's office, kind of dull and gray.  They could both use a decorator. :)  

Yesterday I called the Michigan State Police to find out where my fingerprints are.  They should have been here by now, too.  Well, there was a problem when they were scanned...not scanned well.  Anyway, that caused a delay, and now we are set to go.   They should be arriving today or tomorrow as they were sent out on Wednesday.

On top of that, we were sent new documents to fill out, notarize and apostile!  By next week, the paperwork will be done, and hopefully we will be registered.

frustration

On Tuesday the 20th, we had great news.  Our facilitator took our dossier to the SDA to register it in their system!!  However, it was rejected because most of the paperwork would expire in JUNE.  So, we have had to update every single document.  We were at the police station that night until 9:00 being fingerprinted , and every morning and afternoon since then, I have been frantically rushing around having blood drawn, sitting at doctor's appointments, trying to find a CPA that would sign their name to the most peculiar letter,  picking up documents,  and having them notarized.  I am mentally exhausted.  If I was working full-time, I don't know how we could get it all done.  It would take weeks.  The good news is, that all documents are accounted for.  I am waiting for the state to send our clearance letter and marriage certificates.  

I am beginning to worry about our UCIS paperwork, so I am going to check to see how good those fingerprints are good for.  We had those taken last spring.  

So, now I see can see why this can be such a frustrating process. 

update

I know it is late for a work night.  However, with tomorrow (today!) being inauguration day, I thought I would try to come up with some ideas/lessons.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute!!  I think the kids will be excited about all the fuss.  Hopefully they replay Barack Obama's address in the afternoon because I'd like the kids to watch it. 

Please pray for Billy tomorrow.  He is meeting with the superintendent as part of our data team.  He is sleeping now, but he was nervous earlier.

We received word that the SDA would begin registering dossiers today, January 20.  I was very excited to hear this news.  What is even better is that our facilitator told us that ours will be among the first to be submitted because we have all of our paperwork updated.  Yeah!

However, I am remaining realistic.  We know that things can change at a moments notice.

In the meantime, we filed a complaint with the Macomb County Sheriff's Dept. today in regards to our ROCK TOPS debacle.  The officer told us that it looks as though it will be a criminal case. That is good because then we just become part of a class action lawsuit.  If it is does remain a civil case, however, we will not pursue it any further. We would end up having to hire a lawyer and paying more in legal fees that what we lost in the countertop.   Regardless of what happens, I doubt we will ever see any of our money.

Please pray that all goes well with our dossier.

update

Last night we had a "mandatory" meeting with our adoption agency.  To back track a little....we received a letter in January from the chairman stating that "A perfect storm has hit the adoption industry".  Basically it stated that international wait times have dramatically increased, there has been a significant drop in the number of people signing up for international adoption, and there has also been a significant drop in the number of birth mothers giving their children up for adoption. We knew before we left the house that the news we were going to hear was not going to be good.  It turns out that if current parents do not contribute a pre-determined amount of money, the adoption agency will have to close.  The amount they are asking for is not that great, so we have no problems sending them a check.  However, it is just one more obstacle.  Oh, and yesterday was the day our new granite countertops were to be installed.  Why weren't they? Because we orderd them from ROCK TOPS....yes, the same company that took peoples money and then closed their doors and fled town.  So, we are out that money, and still have the old countertops.

We chose to do some updates around the house, instead of going on our yearly February vacation to Mexico.  Lessons learned?  Always pay with a credit card and go on vacation.