The Night Before — Opal and Lola

We are all set, I believe.

Annabel chose the palette and good friends added bedding.

Paperwork is in order, bags are packed, I even found my glasses that have been missing for a week, a lucky thing. We are going to miss Luke and Annabel but even though we won't see each other for two weeks, they are excited. We're making plans for call, facetime, texts, updates like that.

Everyone has been asking how I'm feeling. Am I excited? Am I ready? Yes to all but I must confess that I don't think it's really going to hit me until I'm on the plane and there's nothing else to do to prepare. We have spent almost two years in this adoption process and we are near the finish line but leaving Preparation Mode and entering this new phase is taking some time. But -THIS IS IT. Graduation is at hand.

Originally we were quoted by our agency and by friends who adopted before us, that 15-18 months was about the time frame wherein we could expect the beginning and the end of the adoption process. I put our application in the mail on June 29, 2013, my mom's birthday. I quit my job in anticipation of being matched sometime in October 2014 if my math was correct and the planets aligned. I felt like it was the right thing to do, I had students with special needs and most rely pretty heavily on schedules and continuity so I thought it only fair to have another teacher step in at the beginning of the 2014/15 school year. That way they could adapt to a new schedule at the beginning of the school year without the anxiety of a mid year interruption.

Good thing I did too, because it turns out we really benefited from full-on attention to this project. The paperwork and hoop-jumping are just astounding. I don't know if it's that way only for Chinese adoptions or all adoptions, having never done any prior but there were times I'd be standing at the FedEx office in an almost catatonic state, checking and double checking and triple checking what paperwork I was sending out. The wrong check mark, the wrong copy could result in weeks-worth of delay. But again - there are no such things as delays. I'll put little quotes around that word starting now.

Our 'delays' came though, and in ways so funny that it was difficult for me to get stressed about it because I knew it was going to work out. Fortunately my husband is the same way and I we could do was shrug our shoulders. There was our government shutdown that froze some of our paperwork. Then the Chinese government slowed adoptions out of their country. I don't know why but it's been known to happen. Then my personal favorite: my husband and I were married in the Virgin Islands, St John. China requires an apostile stamp from the Governor of the island. After weeks worth of back & forth it turns out that St John does not have a Governor. It has a Lieutenant Governor, will that work? Well, it works but that stamp won't. So lets go get the other stamp then. The nice people working the desk in the license office in St John didn't know what stamp I was asking for and neither did I, frankly. After lots of back and forth and working with St John's Island Time approach we were able to orchestrate the proper signature with the proper stamp. So if you want to adopt and you've been married on an island, you've been warned.

The adopton also required a Home Study, which is when a social worker comes and interviews you and your family and checks out the living conditions and writes a report. Then we had it updated because we moved, and we were fingerprinted and those needed updating too since they timed out (you read that right) and lots of other notices, emails and calls that required more, more. We needed physicals with accompanying reports, and then updated physicals. Luke and Annabel too. Again, there's so much more, required by the adoption agency, the State of Illinois/DCFS, and the girls' native country. Each layer has it's own system, checklist and requirements. A lot to keep you busy, there.

No matter now. And I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from taking this on, if adoption is on your mind or in your heart like it was for us. It's like when you're in a class and a research paper is assigned. You don't need to turn it in tomorrow. You chip away at it with some guidance if you've never done it before, and evenutally you get the finished product. A step at at time. It's all been worth it and I'd do it all over again for Opal and Lola.