I received word from a close friend yesterday that I have been a slacker (you know who you are!)...this is true in the sense that I haven't posted in almost a month, BUT I have been BUSY (and she knows it!) wink wink!! So I really should be keeping a journal of writings also so when I'm not posting on the computer I am posting somewhere, sigh, I've been busy...We received our I-800A approval last Friday with the actual approval date of the 14th!!! I went to Matt's office to get the "true and exact copy" notarized along with 2 POAs (power of attorney) stating that either one of us is allowed to bring MSX home from China.
I drove to Tallahassee on Monday morning through the fog for a while, then went to the Florida Dept. of State to get their verifications of my documents. I was there all of about 13 minutes and then gassed up the van and hit the road again. Meanwhile I received a text that my mother in law was out of medicine, I am 3 hours away and can't really do anything at the moment, but will take care of it when I get home...got home a few minutes before the boys got off the bus. They got their homework done and it was time to run to Walmart, to get the meds, go by FedEx to ship my documents to the courier service in Washington DC, and then Home Depot (nesting projects!!), and then my MIL's
house. Walmart didn't have her meds ready so we had to wait about 30 minutes, then we went to Fedex...by this time I decided there was no way to accomplish the trip to Home Depot, I really just couldn't think anymore...we went to my MIL's house to drop off her meds. She has Alzheimer's and her husband had a stroke 1 1/2 years ago. They have 24/7 care in their home, so that is wonderful! We got there and knocked on the back door and they really couldn't hear us since the TV must have been ALL THE WAY UP! I knocked on the kitchen window, she sat up, looked, smiled and then sat back in her chair...this happened one more time...Mason and I were in stitches, because if you don't laugh you will cry...I got my cell phone and called...Bill (her husband) could not find the phone. Mason and I were waving our hands in the window and he FINALLY saw us. The caregiver was already in her room, and there was no way she could hear through the sound of the tv anyway. We visited a few minutes and then journeyed back home...Everyone got showered and fed and then off to bed. Now was the time I realized I didn't have ANY cake mix in the house (for Maddox's birthday celebration at school) and I could not muster up the energy for "made from scratch" cupcakes IT WAS 9PM!! I was so tired!!! I did manage to make the yummy chocolate icing though! It would have been nice to know that I needed the mix while I had been sitting at Walmart 3 hours earlier!! Also, I didn't even think about making his cake for our family celebration!! So after his cupcakes at school on Tuesday, I came home and made a cake for that night, and the icing ended up being gritty like sand, but the boys didn't care!! neither did I!!) Did I really need to write all that??? The things we do for our children!!
Some do not know, but this I-800A approval is a HUGE milstone!! This approval is the US government telling us that we can adopt "A" child from another country, specially China, specifically a "special needs" child, one with dwarfism, but not limited to dwarfism. We have not gotten to the I-800 that names our son specifically (which I did not even know there was another step in this part, but this is all a learning process. The process for the I800A began back in November. I had received the receipt notice right before Thanksgiving for our fingerprint appt., which was on December 22. Since that date, we have been waiting for the approval. Thanks be to God that process is complete!!
