Spring Yard Cleaning- a metaphor and reality of a blessed life.

This was a beautiful weekend and absolutely perfect weather for doing yard work.  I know, mid-February, right?  Well, it was in the upper 70's, clear and sunny and we just had to get outside.  It seems like an apt metaphor also as we clean and prepare for the new addition to our family, hopefully sometimes this year.  After a little playtime with our son Case (he is working on soccer moves and came up with a pretty sweet one actually), we tackled power washing the house and cutting back some shrubs.   For some reason, as I watched the clean house shine through, I somehow felt rejuvenated and hopeful.  Maybe its springtime, maybe its finishing a task that needed to be done; but I couldn't help feeling it was connected to our adoption journey.  

Now, Case was a great help and really reveled in stacking up the pruned branches and driving the wheelbarrow (with Daddy's assistance).  I'm often amazed at how big he has gotten and how mature he seems at times.  As I helped him stack the small branches, he also seemed to exude a hopeful enthusiasm and I thought he probably was sensing or feeling something similar.  It made me smile to think we were so connected in our tasks, in their completion, and our rejuvenation....until.   As we were finishing up, he turned to me and said, "You know, there will be more of us in the family next year".  I smiled and said, "I know.  Won't that be great?" and he said "Yea.  Then you guys can keep working and my brother and me can play soccer".  Well, so much for that!  lol   So maybe we aren't feeling the exact same thing, but he still makes me smile and I know he is looking forward to this journey as much as we are- even if it is for different reasons. 

Never underestimate the value of a good courier service!

As you can tell by the headline, we successfully received our apostilled FBI background forms today in the mail!  I must admit having never used a courier service from out of state, I was a little nervous.  Even though we spoke with Ted (their expert that handles these types of documents) and he seemed totally professional and on top of it- he even knew what the problem was before we told him, lol- sending them the only physical forms we had was cause for nerves.  Now that they are back in my hot little hands, I will sing their praises and if I need something done again in DC, I won't hesitate.  For those that wonder, we used Washington Express.  They were courteous, responsive, available 24/7, and the documents arrived quickly and in pristine condition.  In other words- THEY ROCK!   Even though it cost a bit more, we probably saved soooo much in time that it was worth every penny.  Plus, they sent back our documents Fed Ex via their corporate rate- bonus!  Anyway, if anyone ever needs to use a service like this, don't hesitate to use Washington Express.  I know we will!

So, on last week's episode...

We were in the midst of figuring out what we would do about getting that FBI background clearance apostilled in a timely matter.  Well, as I posted before, we figured out where it had to go (USDOS, not South Carolina); but we didn't know how we would get it there and back in a timely manner.  Well, enter a Washington DC courier service.  Yep, we decided to send the documents through a service and they will go to the actual Authentications Office, walk-up, and wait for it to be done.  We talked to Ted, who was super knowledgeable and he knew exactly what we were talking about because basically this is all he does for their office- that's how many documents like this they handle in DC!  It does cost a bit more, but we decided it was well worth it to get it back in 2 days rather 15+ business days (maybe, and not counting mail time).  So we giving Ted a go and hopefully, problem solved.

As for today- we went and had our federal biometric fingerprints done in Atlanta and finished yet another step of the journey to dossier completion.  The people there were totally nice and professional, we were in and out in under 30 min, and the biometric process itself was UBER-COOL!!  I don't know why but I just thought it was awesome.  Of course, that's probably because no red flags came up for me- lol lol!  I was so fascinated watching that the guy told me I was one of the most relaxed people he did all week, lol.  My husband, on the other hand, was getting constantly scolded (in a nice way) about trying to help the lady with it and not holding his hand right etc.  She and I just laughed because since he is over 6'3" and she was kinda short, he couldn't get low enough to make it easy.  Still, we got it done and overall, the whole process was pain-free.  The other cool thing was talking to a few of the different foreign people there getting their prints done while we were in line.   Countries represented in our small time frame were Germany, Thailand, Pakistan, another Middle Eastern nation (a very elderly couple who didn't speak English, but were sooo cute!), Mexico, and Korea.  Pretty cool, right?  Anyway, kudos to the Dept of Homeland Security for their efficiency, professionalism, and friendliness.

Lastly, today was also great because we received our homestudy (2 copies) apostilled from the State of NC!   I was happily surprised that NC did it so quickly- we had it in about a 4 day turnaround, which includes sending and receiving.  Not too shabby, eh?  Outside of the I-171H (and the aforementioned FBI clearance), we're pretty well done with the paper chase- can I get a "Woohoo!"? 

Until next time........