Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Will The Loose Ends End?

I'm still awaiting the blasted birth certificate, but I was able to get a hold of the Illinois folk as they were processing my request, so now I'll not only get the certificate, it'll be authenticated too! Then it goes to the Guatamalan consulate in Chicago. The divorce certificate is in, and authenticated. But did I tell you it doesn't mention anything about me taking back my maiden name... a document that must be part of my dossier? Well, now I have to get the divorce decree from the court authenticated too. Luckily, the Virginia authentication office called today and I should have it tomorrow. Despite the confusion I had with them, they really stepped up. The woman I spoke with this evening was personally dropping it of at the Fedex drop off box. Thank you Virginia!
The most exciting news is that my agency thinks I might see a referral in the next month or so. No guarantees, but still... wow! I know that's when the big wait sets in, but it really is exciting.
Speaking of exciting, in just two days the G man and I will be on a plane to DisneyWorld. Grams and Papa are meeting us there, and we are going to have fun fun fun! Especially Griffin. He so deserves this; he really is my wonderful sweet boy. He had kindergarten assessment today. It is so hard to believe my little guy will be starting kindergarten in the fall. I'm very proud of him!
Well, I must get to work on some freelance projects I have.
Ciao for now.

Monday, April 16, 2007

The Blasted Birth Certificate

So obviously the divorce decree has put a kink in my process. But how tough is it to get a birth certificate? I sent for it the first week of March, and here it is the third week of April and nada! I do hope it comes in the mail this week... or at least by early next week! Regardless, we're going to DISNEYWORLD! Yep, gotta go for a conference and thought it'd be a great opportunity to take the little monkeydoodle down there. I can't say he's overly excited about it, but I'm sure it's because he really has no concept of what Disneyworld is to kids. I'm so excited to see how much fun he is going to have. My dear parents are coming with us, and they'll watch my guy while I work at the conference during the week. It is going to be fun.

Ciao for now. I've got some serious deadlines this week!

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

I'm approved to be approved!

Yep, I cleared the first hurdle (albeit the easiest) in our journey to bring home little sister. I got CIS approval, which came about a month before I expected. Of course I was over the moon. Now if I could get all those niggling little pieces of paper to finish their journeys for notaries, stamps, authentications, reviews, etc., etc.

I've hit one snag along the way... not realizing my divorce decree had to come from Virginia's vital records department, I got a notarized copy from the court where the divorce was granted. Then I sent it off to the Virginia state department to get authenticated, where they told me it wasn't dated so they couldn't authenticate. So I called the court, and they said, oh... you need it certified and authenticated so you can get it authenticated? Okay, we'll do that. Send us a letter... so the court in speedy order sent me a new dated, certified divorce decree. Then I was reading the form letter that the Virginia state department had sent me, and saw a spot (not checked, mind you) that said vital records that need to be authenticated must come from the vital records department. Sorry, didn't know that a divorce decree was a vital record. Apparently in the commonwealth, it is! So now I'm back to square one on the divorce document. I've sent a letter and money to the vital records department requesting a certified copy of my divorce, and asking them to send it on to the Virgina state department to authenticate. This has set me back about two weeks in getting the dossier done. I always hated that divorce.

And, I'm still waiting for my birth certificate from the middle state of Illinois. Hurry up!

Griffin is so sweet, by the way. He built me a house in the living room (using his favorite building materials, every pillow and cushion within the living room confines, plus a few step stools). This house has an upstairs and a downstairs, and a super-soft floor. He is amazing. He told me he built it just for me, using all his skills.

Adios for now. I must work.

Monday, April 02, 2007

NC off to GC, two more to go

On Friday I sent off a stack of notarized and authenticated docs (all done in NC) to the Guatemalan consulate in Georgia, where they'll legalize them. I hit my first little snag with my docs (done in VA). My divorce decree from the courthouse needed to be authenticated, not certified, in order to get authenticated again by the VA state department. Go figure. So back to square one with that. Luckily the courthouse is very quick, and then I'll send the two docs to VA state department for authentication, then send those off to get authenticated again by the GC in DC. Still waiting for my birth certificate from IL, then that has to go to the GC in Chicago. Are you with me? Well, once all that is done I'll have my paperwork finished. And hopefully that'll all come together by Mayish, the same time I hope to get my CIS approval. Then sometime after that, hopefully a referral!
Now that I'm this far along in the process, I cannot stop thinking about her. I'm finding it hard to work. But work I must.
Griffin is on Spring break this week and spending lots of time with his grams and papa. He is very happy to be at their house having lots of sleepovers. Of course, it is very quiet here... and it is only 1 p.m. and they all just left a few hours ago. It is going to be a quiet lonely week. Luckily I have more than enough work and projects to keep me busy.
I'll also be anxiously checking the mail every day. Dernit, I wish my birth certificate would arrive!
Adios for now.