Cry me a river all the way to China.

Well, I ain't gonna lie

Today
was
a
day.

I think I went from one end of the emotion spectrum to the other.
And I have the crying headache to prove it
and,
worse yet...
I
am
out
of
hot
fudge.

-sigh-

Remember that adoption roller coaster we talked about. Well I can hardly imagine that there is a better adjective to describe what this process is like.

Wanna ride?
Well buckle up. Here's my story of today.

Today as 8:30am approached I was sitting in view of my front door with my coffee waiting and waiting for our friendly Fed Ex man to arrive with our immigration approval.

Just as I was beginning to let it sink in that our form may not show up today dashing all chances of our dossier going to China on Friday, he showed up a little after 9:30.

If I weren't married I would have ran up and hugged him I was so happy to see him and his purty little envelope...but I am married. Thus I don't make it a point to hug other men...especially strangers. It's not really recommended. Don't mind me honey, the Fed Ex man and I were just sharing a moment out here on the grass in my pajamas...it's fine. You can go back to bed.
Yeah. Not cool.

Anyhoo, so I dashed up the stairs,threw some clothes and makeup on and sat down at the desk to check over everything one last time. And that's when I noticed a small error on our approval form. With panic rising I called our totally rockin dossier coordinator who assured me it was fine.

Whew.

I swallowed the panic and headed out to make copies of our home study that my equally awesome friend Liz picked up from our home study agency on Monday while she was in their town(an hour and a half away)and copies of our immigration approval.

I arrived at the copy place, skipped through the parking lot....ok
I didn't really skip
(grown women look funny skipping
unless they are holding the hand of a child
then it is nuthin but precious.)
I didn't have a child with me because really, running errands with mom at their ages is just
so
not
cool.

So as I skipped(in my head) through the parking lot and up to the door I walked in and as I was standing in line I began checking through everything...
again.

And then it happened.
I
saw
it.

Ya know that little line under your name and your husband's name that has their fingerprint expiration date?
Yeah.
Well, John's fingerprints....according to the approval form.....
expired on the day he was born.

Yep. Right there in black and white under fingerprint expiration date was his birth date instead.

Gulp.

So I stepped out of line and outside and called our dossier coordinator again...and this time....
it's a problem.

She, in all of her wisdom, had some great fix it solutions and she said she would work on it and call me back...to which I tried to thank her for before bursting into tears...but I didn't make it. Sorry Jessa!

So I had my little breakdown in the parking lot, drove home and waited.
And waited.
And waited.

Turns out our immigration officer had a sick kiddo this morning so through Jessa's perseverence, she managed to get a hold of her and success! Looks like we have a solution and we are still on track!

Woo-Hooo!

So I had to wait a bit more for some things to come through but then there it was and I was off yet again. Made copies, and then arrived at our county clerk's office to get the notary signatures county certified before taking it 2 blocks north to the Sec. of State's office.

And then
it
happened.

No go. Our home study was notarized by a notary from a different county other than our own.

Seriously.

Totally my fault. Since all other 538 documents that we have had notarized are from our county it did not even cross my mind. So here I am at 3:00...been at this since the doorbell rang at 9 and the other county clerk's office is 1 1/2 hours away.
Not a chance I am getting back here before 5 when they close.

At that point...through tears. All I could do was laugh.
Sometimes you just see the hand of God at work. We tend to claim that through the good times but eventually you see that He is working on our behalf even when it looks like nothing but road blocks as we try to ram our way through to make our own imposed deadlines. Who the heck am I to tell HIM when this should all be taking place. Who the heck am I to know what is going on half way across the world that may warrant our delay. Who am I?

So I am throwing in the towel.
I'm done.
I'm done until tomorrow when we make the 1 1/2 hour drive to the other county's office.
I'm going to pack up the kids and make a fun day of it. A little Children's Museum, a little Barnes and Noble and hopefully, a whole lotta laughter. I am sooo looking forward to that right now.

You know all those scripture references that tell us that His timing is perfect? Well, I don't have a clue why on earth we have had so many ridiculous delays. But what I do know is that He is up to somethin. His timing is perfect. And if the crumminess of today taught me anything it's that I have finally surrendered to it. He's there. I know it. I believe it. I can feel it.
I'll do my part and wait on Him...with my hot fudge.

Thanks for taking the time to listen to my dribble. This adoption road is a rocky one for sure and my aim is to be honest. And to be honest. Today. Was. Not. My Favorite Day. But alas, tomorrow is waiting for us.

As for our dossier. Let's go with NEXT Friday.
...and if that doesn't turn out to be the case.
It'll be ok. But it will take me a few days to emerge from sucking my thumb in the corner. But I'll get up eventually. Because those two sweet precious boys are so, so worth it.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven

PS I do think I figured out why we keep getting delayed. There is a rumor going around that beginning next week if your name is Sonia you will be able to bring home as many orphans as your home can hold and you can leave to pick them up next week. Anyone else hearing this rumor? No? Is it just inside my head? Oh. Ok. Thanks for clarifying.