I AM NOT A GEEK!

I just play one on TV . . . and from time to time, I have to rehearse in public. This is the last 36 hours of my life. . . . give or take a few minutes.

October 15, 9:15 am~Arrive at the Secretary of State's office after having "jogged" down the block with my DDD's swinging vulgarly to and fro. It was not a pretty sight. Tried to look calm as I was huffing for breath through the big double doors. Gladys, the state worker didn't buy it. She took my documents with a smug smirk on her face as if to say "She thinks she hustled to get here this morning, wait til she finds out she has to come back after I find a mistake in her paperwork." I stare back at her with an equally smug look while thinking "Don't even think about it bitch . . . .I work at a law firm and I'm detail oriented to a science aside from that. My documents pass muster . . . . just please don't find the one thing that no normal human being would take issue with that I KNEW I should have fixed when I had the chance but didn't b/c I knew that I was going to be dealing with a rational human being at the government office."

9:18am~Another pleasant lady walks in with a tot and a package looking a lot like mine. We chat and discover that we are both adopting from VN. She tells me that she is from Charlotte and is staying at a hotel so she can pick these documents up rather than have them mailed. Those of us who have hunted these documents with the voracity of a Jack Russell Terrier understand why she made the 3 hour trip and got a hotel room. She also met a cyber friend the night before who was adopting from VN and lived in a city only 25 minutes from me. Hmmm . . . . . I wondered aloud what her friend's name was as one of the first people I "met" in Blogworld adopting from VN was from this same city. Her friend . . . . LuLu's Mom!!!!!! OMG we both gasped! We are almost related now! How loverly!

9:20am~Gladys is a blood hound. She found the only mistake. Get this. My employment verification was notarized by a coworker. I, being the Uber efficient GEEK that I am, ran the form document on our letter head and took the liberty of typing in all the notary information. Most notaries use an initial for the first or middle name, their full first or middle name and their last name. My coworker spelled out her entire 3 names. I typed in "Mary S. Smith" instead of Mary Susan Smith. No biggie. She signed Mary Susan Smith. It matched her notary seal. I didn't even HAVE to type in Mary S. Smith. I was just being efficient. But b/c I did type it in and it didn't EXACTLY match, GLADYS cast her shit-eating grin upon me and returned my form as unacceptable. I would have to completely redo the form.

9:21am~Catherine, Lulu's mom's friend, said "OMG, I cannot believe you are so calm. If that happened to me, I'd lose it." I knew I had to be strong for her (hahahahahaahahaha!). And I knew I couldn't let Gladys see me sweat.

9:22am~I cast my bigger shit-eating grin at Gladys. "Well, you look like you are reasonable. If I can have this form redone and back here within an hour or so, can I pick up my entire dossier AUTHENTICATED by 4:30 this afternoon?" Gladys looked at me and with a "Name that tune!" kinda tone in her voice said "Sure . . . . . . "

9:22:30am~I bolt out the door yelling "Good luck" to Catherine, DDD's back in action!

11:00am~I redid the form. It is perfect. I sway casually through the double doors again. Gladys is surprised to see me, but tries to hide it. My new form passes muster. On the way out I get ballsy. "Do you think I could pick those up by 4pm instead of 4:30pm?" I must have impressed Gladys . . . . she said "Sure, honey . . . they should be ready."

I WON!

4:01pm~I'M BAAAAAAACK! Dossier in hand, docs that do not require authentication in a separate labelled folder and the Fed Ex pack all ready to go. I grab my authenticated documents, review them, and get a little misty. I've worked so hard to get to this point. I drive back to work, drop the package off and feel like life as I know it is about to change.

October 16, 1:30am~Can't sleep .. . . . . .

10:23am~Placing agency receives dossier. Play phone tag with M. @ agency.

1:45pm~Speak to M. at agency. Here are the numbers: we are number 19 on the list, but that doesn't mean anything because . . . . . . .

We are number 8 in line for a girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone else wants boys!!!!!

The average wait time based on historical data is 4 months. The longest wait for a referral is 6 months. We might possibly have a referral by Valentine's Day or a little after. Although with the holidays, it could get pushed back. I'm just grateful to be out of the paperchase and officially waiting!!!!!! Remind me I said that January 31 ok?

One thing of note. Detail oriented people will notice that I still don't have the 171H. So I'll go ahead and address that now. Because NC residents are being made to wait so long for approval, they are not requiring that be done in order to be on the wait list. Based on the info from USCIS, in the event we get a referral before we get our 171H, we can request expedited processing and the approval is automatically sent to the Embassy in VN. I am sure we'll get our 171H long before a referral, but these procedures are in place if we need them.

That's all folks!!!!