Random bits of news

1. Juliana grew! We got updated height and weight last night and I was so sad as Julina still weighed the same as she did in January (we got May numbers yesterday). This morning I took a closer look and she grew 2.75 inches between January and May. This is very exciting. She still weighed 30 pounds, but she was taller - 3 feet tall in May. Andy gained 1 kilo and 4 centimeters between November and May, so he was 44 lbs and 47 inches tall in May, when he was last measured.

2. The kids are and have been at summer camp all summer. !!!!!! That's all we know. It is rather surreal to get email telling you where your kids are, and it is somewhere you had never even thought about.

3. Our really important HAS-TO-BE-THERE-BY-AUGUST-FIRST-OR-ELSE documents were delivered to Khabarovsk last night. Remember the road trip on July 12th? Same documents. Apparently they have been touring the world the long way between leaving in Olympia on the 12th and arriving in Khab on the 27th.

4. Yesterday was, btw, our 19-months pregnant marker.

5. One of the bloggy families I follow -- Damon and Kim -- just brought home two little boys who are only a month older than Juliana. You may enjoy reading her informative posts.

6. We bought a Mommy-Car. Yup. It's the newest car I have ever owned, only ten years old, 1996 Green Subaru Legacy. I'm very happy with it.

7. Art for the day, courtesy of art.com:

Road Trip

We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Apostille. Yes, it is Road Trip #4 to Olympia for the most recent version of the "one last document". This time we are picking up in Renton, apostilling in Olympia, FedExing to Alaska and saying (again) "Done! Done at last! Done at last!"

What does apostille mean? It is adoption speak for getting a State seal put on your document thereby affirming that the notary's signature is that of a legitimate authentic notary. Of course the notary was affirming that the document is a legitimate authentic copy of a licence. What does the license do? It documents that the social worker is a legitimate authentic social worker. What does the social worker do? She documents that we are a legitimate authentic couple waiting to be parents. You might think that this last part is the important part. You would be wrong in thinking this. The important part is the fancy State seal that we will drive across state for tomorrow.

Three cheers for Dad, who is doing this trip with me, again.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

See all those fireworks out there? They are in celebration that we have been filed. They are actually FileWorks, but we have that "l" "r" pronunciation problem -- must have picked that up from my Korean students. Okay, yes, I am silly - giddy even.

What does being filed mean? That the court has all our documents, and all the children's documents, and that we are now eligible to receive a court date. It is theoretically possible that we could be asked to travel at any time. Unlikely, but possible.

The judge had 60 days from whenever we were filed, presumably last week (let's say the 28th of June) in which to either ask for new paperwork or set a court date. She could, on the 27th of August, set the date for ages and ages hence, but it is more likely that she will set the date for around the 60 day mark. Yes, this puts it near my birthday -- that would be quite a birthday present!

So, I'll get those bags packed and gather up another round of paperwork.

Happy I-171H Day!

We were fingerprinted on July 6th (edited: actually June 6th, no time travel) and quite stunned to find our I-117H in our mailbox today, which means it arrived on Saturday, the 17th. That is wonderfully fast and we are very grateful. It is the last piece (that we know of) of paper. We just have to get it notarized, apostilled, and FedExed now, but we are old pros at that.

Oh, "What's a I-117H?" you ask. It's the essential document that lets you bring a child or two back into the US with you. Without it, nothing happens. Our old one was expiring.

In other news, I've fired up a new blog devoted to house pictures: Fazenda.

A Wee Step Forward

Two bits of news:

Our dossier and the children's dossiers will be filed with court during the last week of June. Our judge has 60 days from filing to either request more paperwork or to schedule our court date. This would put us, at the latest, in court the last week of August.

Two families with our agency had smooth and successful court hearings yesterday; no new paperwork was requested. These two families are the first ones for our agency this year, so their experience sets some expectations for us.

Have a lovely evening,

Suzanne

Recap

So, just to clarify for those that got a bit lost in all the changes of the last year:

• December 04 - started mountain of paperwork
• April 05 - sent paperwork to Russia
• May 05 - received pictures of two kids and made plans to travel in June
• June 05 - plans canceled due to bureaucratic complications in Russia, rescheduled for July
• July 05 - plans cancelled again, no re-scheduling
• August 05 - October 05 - prepared and submitted 'just in case' paperwork to China
• March 06 - receive whispers of hope from Russia
• April 06 - go to Russia to meet two kids (one from last May referral, one new referral)
• July 06 - go back to Russia for court hearing
• August 06 - arrive home, we hope, with two brand new Chandlers.
• May 07 - receive referral of China-born baby sister
• July 07 - go to China and pick up little sister

Marathon Dash to Olympia

Jump out of bed. Final check 15 official documents(signed? notarized? duplicates?). Pick up Dad. Drive to Renton. Obtain two more official documents. Check (signed? notarized? duplicates?). Drive to Olympia. Obtain State Seals on each and every piece of paperwork. Write large check for said seals. Go to FedEx. Notice error on one State Seal. Go back to State Seal office. Obtain correction. Dash back to Fed Ex. Write another large check to get packet delivered to Anchorage by noon. Drive home (we left Olympia at 3 and were in Bellingham by 6. I slept the whole way, but it sure appears that some speeding occured, doesn't it. Hmmmm.)

Waiting on Visas now.

In other news, I got all my subs lined up (I have such nice colleagues), and we almost have the pet-sitting covered.