I am so excited.  A few weeks ago my social worker mentioned that there was a lady pursuing adoption that lived in Oswego, which is one town away from me.  I got her email address and wrote her.  I figured she might just be at the considering stage or pursuing domestic adoption.  But no, she wrote back and told me that she is also single, also pursuing an adoption from Kazakhstan, and almost done with her paperwork.  I am so glad to have found someone nearby that is going through the same process, is single like myself, and is adopting from the same country.

 And the best part is she is further along than I am and can give me pointers regarding the paperwork and can really relate to my venting.  My friends and family have been incredibly supportive and sympathetic about the hoops I have to jump through but it will be great to talk to someone who understands the stress of particular situations…like when you are wigging out because a document you need (and done by someone else) is signed in blue ink.  I mean you tell that to someone who is not pursuing adoption and they sympathize but a person who is adopting realizes that you could be on the other side of the world and have some unhappy clerk in a foreign government office reject your form because of it….and potentially jeapordize the process.  I just think it is a good omen that I found out about her. 

 Now if only my birth certificate would show up.  Oh please let it arrive tomorrow.  That would be a great way to start the weekend.

Thought that this would be a good title to my current soap opera of a life.  Since my last post I have spent a glorious hour at the DMV renewing my license (a valid form of ID is always helpful when dealing with any official request of which I have many lately), I found out that my FBI clearance for the agency (the US requirements) came back in and I have been cleared!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It is so funny about these things.  I know that I have never been arrested but still I am stressed out because I am imagining some crazy paperwork snafu or some data entry clerk that accidentally types in the wrong social security number or other incorrect info ….and as a result I am mislabeled a felon of the worst kind.  Oh the many things that can go wrong and oh the vast ocean of stress one can experience from the mere thought of the many things that can go wrong.  So, I am overjoyed that my status as a law abiding prude with no reality TV lifestyle to speak of has been upheld.  Long live the boring!!! 

Tomorrow I go for my third set of fingerprints.  I went last week but the sheriff never showed so I have to try again.  So in a sense, I was stood up by the sheriff.  Let me tell you if the same thing happens tomorrow I am going to be livid.  How dare they not show up and fingerprint me gosh darn it!!!!  I am a taxpayer and I have rights!!!!  If this early in the process I am getting slap happy and silly I hate to see me after about ten months of this.  Can you say straight jacket for one?

 I forwarded the vaccination documents to the homestudy agency (US requirements) for my two puppy dogs.  Still have not heard from anyone at my doctor’s office about getting an earlier appointment.  The rats.  And am anxiously awaiting the original birth certificates that really should have come by now.  They cashed my darn check back on the 8th of the month.  Where is my package?  I have been giving the UPS guy the evil eye for a solid week now.  Since my office is fifty feet from the front door I am pretty sure he has not noticed me and my evil eye….but I am nearly positive he has sensed it.

 I spent part of today doing things for other people that they really could have done for themselves.  I am always amazed by other people’s willingness to commandeer your time and energy and think absolutely nothing of it.  For all you people out there that think that a single woman has tons of free time and can just do whatever they want whenever they want let me disabuse you of that notion.  Everyone (practically) builds a life for themselves by the time they are 30.  By the time they are over 35 they have a life going in full swing…I in particular have many committments that I have made in regards to my job and life.  I neither want to nor can just drop them at a moments notice.  Please don’t assume that my time is not valuable and already accounted for.  I do have a life.  It may be a boring life but it is my life.  Please have respect for it.  Since this post has devolved into an indignant rant I will log off for the day.  Everyone keep your fingers crossed that me and the sheriff and some ink meet up tomorrow.

Well this morning I started out the day like many of you probably did.  I visited my local police station, paid my $10.00, and waited to be fingerprinted.  But alas, the sheriff never showed up.  After waiting for about 45 minutes I gave up and headed off to work.  Never thought I would be bummed out about not getting fingerprinted.  Two weeks ago I was fingerprinted twice, once for the Illinois State Police and once for the FBI.  Both of these were requirements for adoption from the state of Illinois and the US government.  The fingerprints for today were also for the FBI but are requested by the Kazakhstan government and had to be done on special fingerprint cards I had mailed to me from the agency in California.  After I get this set done then I should only have one more set to go for Homeland Security…and that shouldn’t be for a while yet.  However, I do believe fingerprint clearances do expire after six months so if I am not at a certain point by then I will most likely have to do some if not all the fingerprinting over by then.  Oh joy! 

 I am currently anxiously awaiting the arrival of my birth certificate from Washington.  Since I was not born in this country I cannot just go to the county or hospital to get a duplicate.  I have to mail away to the Vital Statistics office in Washington DC for a duplicate copy.  They said it could take as long as eight weeks to receive it.  But so far it has only been a little over three weeks.  I checked my bank account activity online and hooray they cashed my check.  So it should be here any day now. 

For anyone else out there having to do this step first keep in mind that I overnighted my request to save a few days, I listed the fact that this request was for an adoption on the coverletter, I sent a picture of the little girl to pull on any heartstrings that may exist in the Vital Statistics office, and I also enclosed a prepaid airbill and package so that they could overnight the final certificate back to me and save a few more days that way.  For those starting their own paper chase my birth certificate is needed by many in this process.  They are as follows:  An original certified birth certificate must be sent along with my passport request.  Five to six originals must be a part of my dossier package.  A photocopy needs to go with my I600-A (petition to bring an orphan into the country), and a photocopy needs to be sent to the homestudy agency. 

Welcome to the first entry of my new blog about my international adoption journey.  Today is a perfect day to start since it is, in fact, the sixth birthday of the little girl I hope to adopt from Kazakhstan.  I want to thank my friend Lundie for pointing me in the direction of this website and encouraging me to set one up.  I hope that it will beneficial for those who read it that are at the beginning of their own adoption process or are considering adoption.  I know that it will be beneficial for me as a form of release when I am in country and am at the mercy of the whims of fate. 

 A little bit of information about me.  My name is Amy.  I am a 37 year old single woman that lives in Illinois.  At the end of last month I made the decision to pursue international adoption.  I did the research, decided on an agency, filled out the contract, and sent in the first check….ouch!  Since that time I have been buried under a mountain of paperwork that must be filled out to meet the requirements for not only the US government but also the government of the foreign country where I will be adopting ,which in this case is Kazakhstan.  I will be periodically posting my progress with the paperwork and the funny things that will most certainly happen along the way.  I say funny because I am determined to keep my sense of humor through this whole process and just laugh at every stressful thing that comes my way.  So, I imagine I will be laughing a lot in the next coming year.  Now a little bit about the ray of sunshine waiting for me on the other side of world. 

 Like I said earlier, today she turned six years old.  I have tried to not think too much about it since if I allowed myself I would most certainly get very upset that A) I could not be there with her and B) she might not be having any kind of birthday celebration at all.  I hope when she is older she will get to read this blog and see that before I ever met her I cared about her very much.  Happy Birthday Sweetheart!