There's Always Hope!

Last week (Wednesday) I had this feeling that I needed to go through our adoption binder and just 'look' at all our documents and the info again. I took the binder to work with me on Thursday and when we finally had a lull in patients I began reviewing our list of documents to be authenticated. I immediately started to panic when I saw that some of our documents were notarized in December. I remembered reading something on the Facebook group I belong to about documents with notarizations over  months. I scrambled to find that post and discovered that the embassy in Chicago will reject any documents that the notarization is over 6 months old.

FULL PANIC MODE

We had documents that were going to expire June 9th! As soon as I got home from work Thursday night, I started working on getting everything ready to ship to the courier, There's Always Hope!, in Chicago so she cold take them to the embassy. Brian had to go to the bank and the post office for me on Friday because I was going to be working 7a-6p, so I had to write out all the instructions and make sure everything was perfect.

NOTHING IS EVER PERFECT

1) Because documents were about to expire, we had to pay extra for a faster turn around time at the Consulate. No big deal, wasn't going to let that get me down. I transferred money from our adoption saving account into our checking account and wrote a big fat check for Brian to take to the credit union where we have a savings account to get a cashier's check. They wouldn't authorize it because it was over $100. Our primary bank doesn't have a branch in Lafayette, so Brian had to drive all the way to Crawfordsville to get the cashier's check! (I felt really bad about that!)
Then he took everything to the post office and sent it Priority Express Mail to be delivered Saturday. We were feeling pretty good.
2) Yesterday, Memorial Day, I get a phone call from Denise at There's Always Hope! She informed me that the Indiana Secretary of State has misspelled the name of one of the notaries but that that particular notary had notarized 2 documents and they are 2 of the few that will expire soon!

WOO-SAH... IN THROUGH THE NOSE, OUT THROUGH THE MOUTH
Actually, let me stop and say that Denise is amazing and she took charge of the situation before I could start to panic... too much.

First, she said she see's this all the time; which made me feel better because I thought I had double checked all the spellings!
Second, not all the documents HAD to be expedited. So, she pulled those out and will get them done at the normal turn around time. She is going to us e the leftover money to ship the 2 documents back to the Secretary of State to get fixed and have them shipped back. She even said she would mail us back whatever was left!

So, there actually is nothing for me to do and nothing for me to stress about. Denise is taking care of it all and I have to do is wait to get our documents back! I am so thankful to her and the service she provides adoptive families in our region!


AND....
Another answer to prayer: We received a decent refund check from our Infertility Specialist out of the blue the other day! It's been over 6 months since we've been there... who woulda thought?!?


Until next time...

Slow going....

I have no news about the actual adoption. We are still waiting for our social worker to finalize our home study report. I know she is a busy lady, but it's really hard not to get frustrated. I think we've been waiting for about 3 weeks and we can't move forward without it.

In other news...
Our agency (AWAA) has made a policy change regarding the Eternal Family Program. This is a program where donations can be made on behalf of the adoptive family through the AWAA website. The changes are as follows:
          Effective May 30, 2014 an administrative fee of 5% will be charged to each contribution made. While this is  not a significant fee in the grand scheme, it will help us to ensure the continued growth and effectiveness of the Eternal Family Program.

A second change that will be effective May 30, 2014 affects cases where families raise more than their adoption costs. In such cases, the excess funds will be retained by America World and go directly toward furthering our ministry to orphaned and vulnerable children.

Lastly....
The Origami Owl fundraiser my cousin Melissa put on was a huge success! Her commission for the party was over $500 and she gave it ALL to us! We are so thankful for all the love and support from everyone so far!
These are my 2 necklaces. My sister-in-law bought me the first locket with carriage, feet and cross when we were going through infertility. That's the beauty of these lockets; they can grow and change with you!

This is my adoption locket. We hope to get a big and a girl! 

Did you know ladybugs are good luck in China?

This one is all Brian and I.

Until next time... Hopefully I'll have some real news!