Documentation Drama

Its 7am here and I've been awake since 4, up since 5:30, and have already made a trip into work (and Panera). I'm a tad stressed out due to events of late last week and this morning. This is what happened.

It may be hard to believe for people who are currently or have recently been through a Russian adoption, but, I did not know that our Police Reports/Criminal Background Checks were only good for 90 days (thought 365) until I read a thread on the CHI Yahoo Site regarding documentation updates (thanks all that helped trigger this realization for me, I think it sunk in due to posts from April and Rachel :-). Anyway, up to that point, I thought I had done really well with keeping up with documentation updates and that we were in good shape, not quite. Prior to trip 1 we had requested updated Police Reports which we didn't receive in time for trip 1 but received immediately upon return, dated April 18. Court is July 31st, so with the knowledge of this new timeframe, these docs will expire July 18th. Thus the drama ensued.

I first called CHI to verify the life of these documents. Our rep was not available so I decided I'd rather be safe than sorry and immediately tried to contact my local Social Worker for help with requesting a new set of police reports. Turns out she was on vacation so one of the other Social Workers walked me through the steps. I then left work and headed out for the appropriate signatures. While I was at the Social Workers office, we called the State Police and they said I could hand deliver the request forms. So, that is what I did, with a letter begging them to process by Wednesday and I also included a pre-paid Fed Ex envelope for next day delivery once the request is processed. I called the office that handles these requests and explained my problem. The women I spoke to was very nice, but wouldn't commit to the needed turnaround. I feel like they will make it happen, but have no guarantees. After much thought in the wee hours this morning I decided that I will call again first thing Monday morning and beg them to process it as soon as they can. I am beside myself about this and not sure how this requirement fell through the cracks for us.

This morning, as I was stressing out about the Police Reports, I decided to check the timeline for getting these reports back in April, to try to understand the normal processing time. Its 5:30 am and I go to the spot where I keep my "adoption bag" (adoption bag = tote bag full of all important adoption papers and the accordian file with copies of the dossier, our original I-171H, etc.), its not where I normally put it. I looked in my car, checked by the garage, scoured the house and my adoption bag was nowhere to be found. This is the kind of thing that will undo me. I will obsess about a lost item, be it an earring, sunglasses, clothing, for much longer than I should. I knew the only hope for me getting through this weekend was to go into work to see if I left the bag there. Lately I have been taking this bag everywhere because you never know when something is going to pop up. It had to be at work.

Luckily work is pretty close to home so I set off to find the bag and there it was, sitting in my chair. It is so unlike me to forget something so important. I guess I've got a little bit on my mind!

We had another mini-drama Thursday night that I won't go into in detail except to say we've now got that one under control. I will say this, know how long it is going to take you to get any required finances in place so that a Registered/Certified check can be ordered by whatever deadline you have!

I have a few updates. The leak from the dishwasher was caused by a puncture in the bottom of the dishwasher. Crazy, it looks like a very sharp knife or something was dropped straight down into the bottom of the dishwasher. We have no idea how this happened, you couldn't do it on purpose if you tried. Oh well, our wonderful friend and handyman Glen put a patch over the puncture wound that we hope will last until we have finances to replace it (in about 20 years or so). We haven't actually tried the washer yet post patch.

My running has been going pretty well. I think my leg is almost healed and I have been able to run every other day for the past few weeks and even went 6 miles last weekend. I was going to try 7 this morning but due to the trip to work, etc. I missed the coolest part of the day so I am going to try tomorrow instead. Also, due to the timing of our Russia trip there is no way I'll be able to do the Rock 'n Roll 1/2 marathon in September. Now I'm thinking maybe the Richmond 1/2 in November. We'll see how it goes.

Thats about it. This weekend we are focusing on picking up the remaining items we need for the baby and making sure everything around the house is in good shape for us to leave for 3 weeks.

Have a great weekend!