One less thing.

Many days I feel like we are taking baby steps, but they are finally beginning to add up and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It took a week longer than I expected for our documents to return from the China Consulate in Chicago. No matter really, just glad they are back and safe. At this point in time, everything we can do towards our dossier going to China is completed except that holy grail, the I-171H. Today Jeff has dropped everything BUT that one document at our agency, CCAI, so they can begin processing it for us. They will review all the components making sure there are no problems so that when they get our last document they can translate and send it all off to China.

Finally, last Thursday, three full weeks after I expected it to happen, CCAI notified us they had sent our home study update and other documents to the USCIS for our "second filing." Fancy name for the application to get that rascally I-171H. They gave us such a concise estimate of how long it will take to receive that document; one to eight weeks. I live in total amazement at what we, as taxpayers, will put up with from our government. According to the agency, it just depends on whether your paperwork ends up on the fast person's desk or the slow person's desk. And rumor has it that if we complain our paperwork just might end up at the bottom of the pile, again. The attitude really sets me off.

Anyway, what does that all mean? It means we have no clue when our dossier will actually head to China. After that one to eight week period goes by and we receive our document, we then must process it through the Secretary of State--a few minutes of Jeff's time to walk in and have it certified--and then run it through the Chinese Consulate in Chicago, which will most likely take the two weeks again. If we end up at the long end of the eight week time estimate, we may opt to use a courier for the Chicago run, cutting off a week or more of the wait.

So what are we doing in the meantime? The usual stuff. Katelynn had a short break last week and was able to come home for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, Mara, Katelynn and I went to watch Nikki's band march in the CSU Band Days competition in Ft. Collins. Mara was entranced by the bands, especially the band who had a Sesame Street theme, complete with a player popping out of a trash can in full Oscar the Grouch regalia. She loved this band and threw an out and out fit as they left the field. She asked later in the day if we could watch more bands.

That afternoon, we enjoyed the local corn maze with the Collins family. The weather was warm but very windy. Fortunately while we were in the maze we could hear but not really feel the wind. We had a great time finding our way through with fun clues supplied along the way. Especially fun were the interactive clues Nikki read for us. Do YOU know the 21st word of "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes?" I don't either. We then had some time to enjoy other activities like a "roller coaster" made of old barrels pulled by an ATV, an Elvis look-alike roaming the area singing to and posing with customers, kettle corn to munch and a "corn box," (like a sand box but filled with corn kernels,) which Mara and Loe totally loved. Pure Americana. We finished up the afternoon with dinner at Subway where we were able to watch Nikki performing her job. I don't think we totally embarrassed her, but not for lack of trying.

Jeff is still working on finishing the landscaping. He planted a pine tree and began spreading stone this weekend. After all the stone is in place and some bulbs planted, we will be done for the year. Still some to go in the spring, I am beginning to think this is just a never-ending job. Hopefully we can pull it all together before Nikki's graduation party. Gives us a good goal, anyway. Despite the missing finishing touches, it is looking great out there and we so appreciate Jeff's labor of love.

God's Timing Taking Over

God just has his ways of slowing down our process. I finally got a call from our social worker this morning, who we've been chasing for a few days, only to find that she didn't get our update done in the time frame she promised. So we are almost two weeks behind where we thought we'd be by now. Oh well. This could be an issue, or it could not matter at all. From what our agency is telling us, it is taking from 1-8 weeks for the USCIS to process our filing and get our holy grail to us. (And you thought the cable company gave you a big window for showing up.) If we get the 1 week processor, then we'll be way ahead. If we don't get it for 8 weeks, we'll be racing the clock. So I'm praying for God's timing while hoping for mine. Maybe they will be the same!

Meanwhile, our documentation should be returning today or tomorrow from the Chinese Consulate. I'll get our pictures printed out and take our dossier, minus the holy grail, to CCAI this week. They can go ahead and get it reviewed, translated and put together so that when that I-171H shows up it can be shipped out to China in a big hurry. Today I have the fun job of going through our pictures to choose just which photos we'll send with our dossier. Do we send the pictures with Jeff and old mustache, with Jeff and no mustache while we were on vacation, or with and Jeff and new, smaller mustache and matching goatee? Some decisions are just so hard!

Okay, now we do have BIG and FUN news!! We finally got a call from the Weld County District Court notifying us that we have, at last, been approved to be Samara's parents in Weld County. This is good news because now we won't have to move to a less picky county or state to keep her in our custody. And it means she will finally get a Colorado birth certificate so she can get that driver's license when she is 16. Whew! I'm speaking somewhat tongue in cheek, but the Colorado system really is a mess when it comes to finalizing the process. They make no distinction between domestic and foreign adoptions. While they must check home studies and criminal records, etc. for a domestic adoption, they do not recognize that adoptive parents of kids from other countries have already jumped through a zillion hoops. We've already proved to the US Dept. of Homeland Security and, in our case, the People's Republic of China, that we are adequate to parent a child. So they basically "reinvent the wheel" and check us out all over again. This is not only costly and frustrating as an adoptive parent, it is a waste of taxpayer money to put time and effort into a repetitive process. Jeff and I are thinking of jumping into the fray to find a legislator that will sponsor a bill to change Colorado law on this so that like many other states, foreign adoptions are accepted automatically at the state level. Through his job Jeff has a few crucial contacts, including a legislative liaison who has adopted from China twice. We're hoping he might jump in there with us. But I digress--big time!

So on Tuesday, November 1 at 9 a.m., Samara Jing Stoll will officially become our child, per Colorado statute. We've been told we can bring anyone to court we'd like for this momentous occasion. Everyone is invited to join us at the court to celebrate jumping the last hurdle of Mara's journey to our family. Personally, I'll be celebrating the last of the paperwork in her name and the last of the financial outlay towards this end, $35 for that Birth Certificate! Woo Hoo! Onward and upward.