We have had a lot happen in the last couple weeks. While school is winding down for the year, (happy dance) a lot is happing with our adoption. Last week we had a great time at a fundraiser at the Friendly’s in Huntersville. The owners, in conjunction with our church youth group, set up a family night event with 10% of the evening profits to go to our adoption. It was fun to talk to people and introduce Vanda via a movie of pictures projected on a sheet that our youth pastor had set up. We all had fun, and the place was full all evening! Well up until Alyssa had too much fun, (Yes there is such a thing) and after dropping her ice cream, started crying. She then progressed to coughing, which was followed by her showing us her dinner, all her dinner -- all over the floor. Fortunately, most of it landed on a carpet, which the staff, quickly rolled up and moved outside. Despite the ending, we were encouraged by so many who wanted to show their support for Vanda. Our hope is that this youth group will become part of Vanda's support structure here.
At this point, we were hopeful to receive notice from Latvia before Christmas. Well, that did not last long. Due to the fingerprinting escapade we thought I was going to have to run to Raleigh to get it certified, and we were scrambling to see if it all could be done in less than 24 hours to get it to a family leaving for Latvia. Well, as we resigned that it was not going to happen, we receive an email, saying a scanned copy would suffice for now and we could just mail the document for certification in Raleigh. All right! We are on track again, or so we thought. A few days later, we get another email saying requirements have changed, and we need to send three apostilled certified copies of our divorce documents, per divorce, to Latvia as soon as possible as our paperwork is now waiting on it….Great, another ASAP, jump through hoops as fast as we can trick. Are we part of a political circus act or what?
So -- Beth was able to get to the courthouse to get our copies, and I made plans to take off Thursday to Drive to Raleigh. Then we would have to overnight the documents to get them to a couple in Buffalo NY who are leaving Friday Noon. Nothing like a little excitement to get the heart a pumping.
Speaking of Buffalo, It only gets better. The weather forecast was for snow, sleet, and freezing rain. (I can't decide which of these I like more.) I leave the house at 5 am and get to experience all the above weather. Returning to days gone by of living up North, I try to remember what was required when driving in such nasty stuff. Let me see, something to do with brakes…. I am thankful for a nice invention (since those days of old when we had to pump brakes) of anti-lock brakes. Yes, I had opportunity to test them, and they worked great, because at times I was driving on a thin sheet of ice. Weeeee look mom, no brakes. (I'm ok mom, I'm not writing this from the hospital.) At one point in the pre-dawn morning, I saw a car in my rear view mirror swerve, and then smoothly, slid off the road and then came to a sudden stop in the grass. Not what the driver planned on for the morning, I’m sure. The police were busy this morning. After about 2.5 hours of this fun, I stopped at a gas station to de-ice my wipers. There was more ice than wiper, and for some reason, they were not working well. Now to continue with the journey.
Many of you know I am directionally impaired and require such things as a map or in these days, a GPS to get anywhere. I had my phone in GPS mode when it decided it had enough fun as well. Turns out my car charger was not able to keep up with the demands of my phone, and the battery died. Yikes, I’m driving on ice and don’t know where I’m going. Yee - hah. (Perhaps I need to invest in homing pigeons.) I knew I should have printed out those directions. I continue on, trying to remember the way, while I try to coax my phone to accept a few electrons and charge. At the last moment it came on and told me to take the next right. Ahh, there the place is.
It is 9:15, I drop off the papers, and then call my wife. Beth answers and says, “I thought you were going to call when you got there.” I answer, "that is what I’m doing; a mere 4 hours after leaving, I have arrived." Now I have to wait until 1:30 and find a place to overnight the documents. A simple task for a directionally impaired paperwork road warrior. The ride back promises to be less of an adventure, as the freezing rain has turned to a cold wet rain.
Even after all this effort, we did not get our documents to the Family leaving for Latvia on Friday. UPS "overlooked" our package which was scheduled for a guaranteed 10:30 delivery in Buffalo. This resulted in me spending a couple of hours emailing, phone calling, and waiting with UPS and others to find the package and determine a course of action. At this point they have agreed to send the documents to Latvia. It won't leave until Monday as they needed various approvals as I insisted they were to pay the cost of getting it there. The agent I was working with asked me what to do if there is an extra cost associated with sending the package. My response was to have them talk to me (the unhappy customer). She said that department did not like talking to the customers,only the agents. I said, "fine, then just get the package there."
Even after all this effort, we did not get our documents to the Family leaving for Latvia on Friday. UPS "overlooked" our package which was scheduled for a guaranteed 10:30 delivery in Buffalo. This resulted in me spending a couple of hours emailing, phone calling, and waiting with UPS and others to find the package and determine a course of action. At this point they have agreed to send the documents to Latvia. It won't leave until Monday as they needed various approvals as I insisted they were to pay the cost of getting it there. The agent I was working with asked me what to do if there is an extra cost associated with sending the package. My response was to have them talk to me (the unhappy customer). She said that department did not like talking to the customers,only the agents. I said, "fine, then just get the package there." It would seem that sometimes we need to fight for our children. In this case, I was fighting with phone, email and paper.
Like all good and worthy adventures, we are growing because of it. God truly provides, both the challenges we need to grow and the means to go through them. I am very thankful, a bit tired, but thankful.
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