Held: It's Outta' Here!!!

This part of the waiting is over! Our Immigration approval (officially called an I-171h) arrived via email on Wednesday. (Hooray for an incredibly helpful Immigrations Officer who completed our approval in less than 24 hours!) We were able to get our I-171h notarized Wednesday afternoon, and I took a trip to our state capital yesterday to get it apostilled and on its way to Eastern Europe. The trip turned out to be a little more of an adventure than I'd planned...

THE GOOD NEWS: Two wonderful friends offered to watch Emma and the little girl I babysit so that I could make the five-hour roundtrip drive without a two-year-old and a nine-month-old in the backseat. Thank you, ladies! You made my day!

THE BAD NEWS: Although I made every effort to get on the road early, I didn't leave quite early enough to miss Emma using a plastic comb to decorate the new drywall in the bathroom with “polka dots” (her words). Oops! Daddy was not excited about Em's contribution to his remodeling project.

THE GOOD NEWS: I had an awesome new CD by 40 Miles North, phone calls with fun people, and the ~~muddy cornfields~~ scenic Midwestern countryside to keep me occupied on my drive, so the two-hour trip wasn't bad at all.

THE BAD NEWS: I arrived at the Secretary of State's Office at 10:55. One of the two women behind the counter told me that the lady in charge of apostilles had a morning meeting and would be in at 11:00. Perfect, I thought, I'll find a restroom, and she should be here by the time I get back. Ummm...not so much.

THE GOOD NEWS: They have very comfy chairs in the Secretary of State's Office.

THE BAD NEWS: Around 11:20, a lady came into the office and mentioned that Miss Apostille would now be arriving at noon. Suddenly, both of the ladies behind the counter remembered that they also were capable of printing apostilles for my paperwork. (I don't know why they forgot this for the first 24 minutes I was in their office, but oh well...)

THE GOOD NEWS: I remembered to bring change for the meter. Thanks to my impulsively putting in one last nickel before leaving the car, I still had two of 59 minutes left when I dashed back to my parking spot after my long visit to the Secretary of State's Office.

THE BAD NEWS: I remembered quarters; I forgot an umbrella. Monsoon season has apparently arrived in the Midwest. My little sprint from the SOS's Office to the car was just long enough for me, my purse, and my cute little purple accordion folder (90% practical, only 10% OCD) to get completely soaked.

THE GOOD NEWS: Even though I couldn't walk to FedEx/Kinko's like I had planned, I found a parking spot (without a meter) that was only a short hike from the store. A small miracle in downtown.

THE BAD NEWS: I didn't realize that the address I needed was in the car until after making the short hike to FedEx, meaning that I got to make the short, wet hike – in my flip flops – four times.

Here I am: wet and sticky, hair curling everywhere, and totally excited to be sending this package.

THE BEST NEWS: Every paper we need to continue our adoption process is notarized, apostilled, and on its way to Eastern Europe. We are one giant step closer to bringing our little ones home. As of late tonight, our package has made a stop in Germany and is now hanging out in Paris. (Who knew FedEx online tracking could be so totally addicting?)

Remember what I said about monsoon season? Here's a picture I took on my way home. Yes, that river in front of me is supposed to be the road, and those ponds are cornfields. And, yes, I totally ignored the don't-drive-through-standing-water rule and drove right through here. Good thing I drive a big, tough Saturn sedan! ;)