Baby Dream

A few nights ago I had my first baby dream. It was brief, but she was beautiful. Annika and were going to see a movie and we had to walk down a long flight of steps. Annika asked me to carry her and I did, holding her and snuggling her onto my shoulder. When we reached the bottom I gently put her down, but realized she was no longer big Annika, but very tiny, like a toddler and did not look at all like Annika. She was an adorable Asian little one with long, straight hair dressed in a pink jacket and white skirt. When I woke up later, I realized I might have been dreaming about my baby.

A GOOD Agency

Today I asked my agency a simple, unimportant question. A question actually reflective of my extreme impatience. As part of an email with other information, I asked if my dossier was sent overnight or 3 day. I was wondering when it would actually arrive at the NY Consulate ~ today, tomorrow, Thursday? So when we had reason to correspond I decided to just ask. I literally got an answer in 30 seconds!! How awesome is that? I thanked her being patient with my impatience and am now waiting for my dossier to be processed!

Hooray its going out today!

Today I got the following email from my agency, red font and all!

Kristen - Your dossier is in our outgoing fedex box – headed out to NY today!!!
Cheers!
Kathy

My dossier is finally starting the journey on which it was meant to travel! I can only wonder where it will take us and to whom it it will take us! Today is 4/20, and it is my dad's mom birthday. I started this journey on my dad's birthday 7/8 and now my dossier starts its journey on my grandmother's birthday. It's so exciting to see where we are going, one step at a time. One step closer to my second baby. One step closer to Annika being a big sister! I am so excited! I finally feel peaceful, now that its on it way!

Mid Month Impatience

My agency told me that my dossier was likely to go the Consulate in mid April, so I patiently waited through April 15th, forbid myself to call, then on April 16th, curiosity, impatience, the need for information overtook me and I called. I am so pleased with my agency and thier patience and responsiveness. I was able to talk to my coordinator for about 15 minutes and get a good overall perspective of where we are. My dossier should go to the Consulate next week. It has not gone yet because we were waiting for the agency license renewal which has just come in and has now been translated. it will go to the Consulate next week, where it will stay for approximately 1 to 3 weks, then hopefully on to Kazkahstan!

Nine months

I know I should not compare my first adoption process to my second. It was a different place and time, but I cannot help myself! It is my nature to analyze...to compare and contrast...to deal with data. I have now been working on my second adoption for nine months and one week. My dossier is not even at the Consulate yet. My first adoption, start time to travel, was nine months to the day! I had already met Annika by now and we well into the bonding period!

The good news is my dossier is next in line to go the Consulate and should be going very soon! I am not worried about the slow process. It will happen when it happens. There are a few important events we have to work around and I hope we can do that. Annika starts Kindergarten in the fall. I hope she can have a decent start to school before we leave. I also hope the wait is not so long that we miss her graduation! Work is being very understanding, but would prefer that I not be away in March. I hope I can accommodate and do not have to make a choice! I am worrying about many things prematurely and just need to let it happen when the baby is ready. It's just hard.

Dear Baby,

April has finally arrived and with it, many hopes for you. With the end of March, came an end to my busy season at work, culminating with our week long convention at The Hotel Hershey. All week long, as we worked our long days comments were made that "next year we'll have a baby working with us!" I am so hopeful that that may be true! With convention over, I can truly turn my thoughts to you. Of ourse, i have next year's convention to plan, but there's plenty of time to do that whil we wait for you. April is the month that my dossier should go to the Consulate in NY. My agency says travel before the end of this year is possible. it is hard to imagine after all this waiting just to complete my dossier, it could happen that quickly!

We started April with a week of rain and your sister has been home from school all week with a fever and an ear infection. She calls it an "ear confection." (I think she had too much fun at convention last week! Lots of chocolate, lots of swimming, and lots of reasons to miss bedtime! I think you will like convention too!) Finally yesterday, the rain stopped, the fever broke, and we were able to go outside and enjoy the spring weather. Our daffodils and tulips are blooming, and Annika is so excited. She has been watching them grow from the window all week, but has been too sick to go outside.

April is the month we celebrate when I traveled to meet Annika, the day I met her and the day I went to court. I hope I can celebrate that your dossier went to the consulate in April too!