Here...kinda?

So...the Home Study arrived in the mail today! 

BUT...

(Did you know that was coming?  Of course you did if you know anything about life in Wade World!)

...we only received two of the three copies we expected.

(deep breath...heavy sigh)

Well, at least I can get all our paperwork ready to mail off to immigration so that we can begin the process of receiving the US governments approval as a good family for our little sweetheart to come home. 

Then I can figure out what to do with the other copy next week.  I had hoped to take a day for a trip downtown to the Secretary of State's office to have all the notaries certified.  Then I could bundle everything up and send it off to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago to have all the certified notaries authenticated.  (Doesn't adoption paperwork sound like fun?)  Once I had all that completed, we'd just wait for the piece of paper from Uncle Sam.  Of course, once it arrives it will also need lots of attention, but we'd be so close to having our dossier ready to ship off to China. 

Enjoying all this paperwork fun was kind of important to me right now because all the kids are still in school.  Within the next few weeks, school will be ending.  The thought of dragging five kids with me for an outing in a government office which could include waiting in lines and delays...hmmmm...just doesn't sound like the kind of summer fun we're all looking forward to.

Part of my impatience right now has a genuine reason.  Not just me being crazy.  When we officially asked China to adopt Hadassah, we were also given an official deadline by which they would like to have received our dossier - June 17th.  Right now, that is an impossible dream.  We have been assured by our agency that we can receive an extension.  But more than anything, I just want my daughter home.

Oh, one other confession.  I forgot just how crazy adoption stuff makes me.  I try so hard to focus on God, to trust His timing, to focus on what I need to do each day.  But some days it's just so hard.  My mind becomes total mush.  I can't figure out what to make for dinner, what chores need to be done.  I get lost in my own home, lost in my thoughts.

This has been a really tough week for me.  I've been waiting each day for the mail.  Wondering if today will be the day.  Preparing in my thoughts for exactly what I needed to do if our home study arrived today.  I wait to hear our dogs barking, hoping that it's not just a neighbor walking, but that this time it's the mail truck.

Now it's here.  Now I can move on to other things to ponder and other tasks to accomplish.