24 hours in a day...

I think I need more than 24!

one week ago today the homestudy update arrives completed.... I start mailing it to all the places it needs to go for applications, immigration, certs, apostille etc etc....then I realize by tuesday that the notary dated it wrong and Shea's country won't accept it....

on the phone immediately with our social worker in NYC, corrections made, should be overnighted and arrive to rochester for one more social worker signature by wed noon.  Oh yeah, a phone call from the suffolk county clerk... they can't certify it anyway, not because of the date error, but because the notary is not valid in NYS.  For PETES SAKE!!

By now I'm ready to spit nails as I feel each day that goes by with paperwork mistakes is a day closer to the institution for Shea.  I call back to NYC to make sure they did not use the same notary....they didn't thank God!

But Wed comes and goes and no overnight arrives in Rochester, nor does it on Thursday...by Thursday night we are scrambling to find out where the documents have gone.  NYC forgot to waive the signature for receipt, the package was delivered but then returned to the post office bc no one was there to sign for it.   So we should just have the rochester worker go to the post office and pick it up right??  Not so easy....instructions on the tracking website state pick up at the post office indicated on the delivery slip left by USPS....hmmmm guess what,?.... no delivery slip to be found.

so with the help of google, some facebook friends and the phone book I make a list of the post offices closest to the original delivery site and also jefferson rd post office one of the hubs for Rochester.  Nothing can be done till morning, cause it's late...so we sleep.

6 am! Up and at em kids, morning routine, kids are on the bus and mama's free to play sherlock holmes by 8:25....but post office phones don't open until 9!   My plan....drive as far as the midway point between the 3 most likely offices, park and then call at 9:02!  Eureka, first call and it is found...again thank you God!

Next step, go in to the post office, praying as I go, that they will not ask for ID, because even though they are my documents, they were not mailed to ME....  5 minutes later after some smiles and holding my breath I walk out with my package!  Didn't plan on driving to Greece today.  Thought I would be doing laundry and cleaning the house on my first day off this week!  Oh well, some day my house will be clean.

From Greece on to Henrietta to meet the social worker as she still needs to sign the papers.  From Henrietta on to the post office to overnight them to suffolk county for certs and enclose an envelope for them to go straight on to albany for apostille.

Next stop, onto monroe county clerk to get my last 2 uncertified documents completed.  Now I have a thick little package to send out tomorrow to albany also with full county certs and 350$ worth of apostilles rarin' to go and ready for processing.  JILL I used your tip about the I 171 cover page.  By tomorrow all of our documents will be in transit to albany, and once they are back we eventually staple in our USCIS document and off it will go to Shea's country. 

Scanned all new documents to Shea's country for the final check.

Phew...45 minutes until I have to pick up simon for his GI consult.  Spent 55 on the phone doing prep work for Simon's CSE meeting in regards to school funding....how fun!

Picked my little cutie up after a bunch of kisses and whizzed away to Strong Hospital.  GI consult went very well and very long....and oh yeah, please go down stairs for blood work and abdominal xrays!  Ohhh he fell asleep....guess I'll carry my hefty man 6 floors and the length of the hospital....Good God I'm getting weaker and he's getting heavier!  I give in and try to be kind to my prego body and plop him in a wheelchair cause there is NOOOO waking this guy up.

Until the needle stick, yikes he's awake now and ticked!  Then onto xray....but ohhh wait, I just realized I can't help stabilize him, bc of my bun in the oven.  At that moment we run into our friend Rose who says "I'll help"!  What a blessing:)

3 1/2 hours later we leave Strong and head home!  I pull in and Danielle's face is pressed to the front window waiting for mama (for the last hour according to reports) Dan is out the door to his all weekend youth retreat that he's leading and good ol grandma kathy comes to the rescue and has a warm dinner of comfort food on the table complete with desert, washes up my dishes and helps this exhausted mommy get the kids ready for bed. 

Phew....what a day, what a 24 hours.  I feel like rambo mom today.  Just need a few more hours in the week....just a few.

Dear Lord, please keep our Shea safe and sound.  Help there to be NO MORE paperwork kinks....each adoption has had them...so now we are done with kinks for Shea OK???  Pretty Please!  Please bless the Burman's (adopting Regan from the institution Shea will go to)  We hear they've hit a rough spot, but don't know any details.  Orchestrate your plan for them and all the families coming behind them.  Amen...