August 11, 2004

Last week (on Thursday), we did the hardest thing so far this adoption. We watched as Big Brown (AKA the UPS guy) too three envelopes away containing upwards of a thousand dollars and three months (and a lot of stress). Their destination? The Chinese consulates/embassy. There they will be authenticated and sent back to us in overnight envelopes. We were told they could take three to four weeks. Owie. Thats okay. Last Thursday night we came to a realization, sitting there stressing over "I hope it doesn't get lost" and "I hope it doesn't take too long". We decided there was really no point in stressing over it from here on out. Everything from now until the time that baby is placed in our arms is completely beyond our control. It was actually a good feeling. A release.

Today, the 11th, we got a wonderful gift in our post office box. We got a slip from the postmaster saying that our envelope from the Houston Consulate is there! COOOOOOOLLLL! We knew it would be the first one back, but that is excellent service! Those folks deserve a raise! We had heard through the adoption grapevine that the Houston Consulate was really moving things through but that surpassed our expectations. Its always nice when that happens. This had made Rob a little anxious. He said "if we get the other ones back by Friday then we could...". There is no point expecting it, because then Murphey's Law says it's NOT going to happen. It would be nice, but we WON'T be expecting it. Next week would be nice too. Heck, the only thing the consulate needs to really do with the paperwork is give it a once-over, make sure all the "i"s are dotted and the "t"s are crossed, staple a nice cover page on it with their seal and VOILA! Done, just like that. Well, I am sure there is probably a little more to it than that, but my way sounds much FASTER. The way fate is laying out the cards, we will be a September DTC group. Thats okay too. August would have been better, but again...we can't expect it. (But then again, you never do know do you.........)