Who says 3rd time's a charm?

While we are anxiously awaiting our final copy of our homestudy, we went ahead and began working on our first part of our dossier. Each page has to be notarized and then sent off to Raleigh to be apostilled (@ $10 per page!). Sounds easy, right? Go to the bank and have the papers notarized...no big deal. Well, seeing as how my husband and I work opposite shifts and the notary has to witness both of us sign the papers, it is much easier said than done.

First attempt: Tuesday-snow day and the perfect chance to get our documents notarized before Brian leaves for work except that the snow turned to ice and everywhere is closed :(

Second attempt: Wednesday-Brian's day off. I leave after work (teacher workday) to meet Brian and go get the papers notarized. I get home only to realize that I have left the folder at work!

Third Attempt: Thursday-Brian's last day off until the next Wednesday. I bring the folder of papers home and we go to a bank in Stanly county where we already know and like the competent notary. She sits down to notarize and realizes that our official papers say Cabarrus county on them and she is a Stanly county notary! By this time it is 4:30 so we hightail it to a bank in Concord. There are very specific guidelines to notarizing international documents and this man clearly could not get it right. It is probably a good thing we ran into problems with there not being enough room for his notary stamp without overlapping any writing (a big no-no which will get your documents rejected!). Feeling very defeated and out of time, we went home. Brian fixed the margins on the documents to allow plenty of space for the stamp so we would be ready to go NEXT WEDNESDAY! I was so bummed since we are racing against this vote. (More on that later-if I remember LOL. For now, just know the vote could lengthen the adoption and has been postponed...again). Note: third time NOT a charm!

Fourth Attempt: Friday-We had a snowday. School was closed and Brian does not have to go in to work until 2:45. So this time we know that we need to go to Cabarrus county and we know not to go back to the bank with the kind notary who could not get it right-bless him for trying, though. We go to another bank and successfully get our documents notarized...finally! The lady was so sweet and genuinely interested in our story. Whoever said 3rd time's a charm was wrong. For us the 4th time was a charm and despite the fact that I have to work the next 2 Saturdays to make up for all the snow days, I am so blessed that God gifted us those days so that we could get things done. Now we are yet another step closer to bringing Quinton home :)

My Heart is a Little Sad Today

Tonight I was working on completing some last minute training in preparation for the final phase of our homestudy tomorrow. The training was on Eastern European Adoption and focused a lot on cultures and subcultures that the children become accustomed to. The subculture they were referring to was life in the orphanage. This is the only life these kids know. They are fed together, go to the bathroom together, and wear each others clothes (which are all labeled with group numbers). It almost reminds me of the holocaust where people were only known by their numbers. Nothing belongs to them. They don't have toys to call their own, not even a blankie to sleep with at night. Nobody even acknowledges their birthdays. This is what broke my heart tonight. Tomorrow is my birthday. We will celebrate by finishing our homestudy (yay!) and this weekend we will probably go out to eat with my family. My Mom will call me and I will probably get lots of Happy Birthday wishes on facebook, but one month from today, my baby boy will turn one year old and nobody will even acknowledge it. I cannot be there to shower him with hugs and kisses and happy birthday wishes and it kills me inside. I can't get to him soon enough. I knew from the get  go that we would not have him home by his first birthday, but I have fallen in love with him a little more every day and I had no idea how heartbreaking it would be to be away from him. So tomorrow whenever someone wishes me a happy birthday, I will stop and whisper a prayer for my baby boy. I love you Quinton!

In the news...

Here is the link to the Salisbury Post. If you have a minute, read this article. It features one of my students and her family who introduced us to Reeces Rainbow and ultimately inspired us to adopt Quinton. Brian and I get a little publicity at the bottom too :)
http://www.salisburypost.com/Lifestyle/122610-Rescuing-Anastasia-qcd