One of the best days ever

OK, no, we didn't have any amazing news about our future family member today. But I will say, I just had one of the best days ever. I don't know if the stars were aligned or something (and I don't even believe in the stars being aligned), but everything went my way today.

I really don't know where to start. I guess I will just list the amazing things that happened today:

1. I prepared and filed an awesome brief at work today.
2. I had a great lunch with people at work.
3. We got news at work that raises are likely coming (and I got paid today).
4. WE GOT OUR HOMESTUDY!!! It is IN HAND, and we will mail it to immigration tomorrow.
5. I got 2 items for our dossier notarized.
6. I picked up another item for our dossier from our homestudy agency.
7. I brought my secretary a beverage at 4:30 p.m. and it made her happy.
8. I got news that I had an awesome victory in a case that I knew was a close one, and it had tough constitutional first amendment issues involved.
9. I got a new laptop bag that is the cutest and most lightweight bag ever. I put it on my shoulder at I just felt confident and happy - it is awesome.
10. I got a notice that I am getting $25 from a class action suit in the mail.
11. I used my new "Prada" purse that my Dad got me from China. It rocks.
12. I got 6 Express Jet bucks in the mail today, just for signing up for the frequent flier club, that is the equivalent to 2 glasses of wine, or 6 beers on our flights to California for Christmas.
13. My husband and I had a great date at the best steak place ever in Omaha (the Drover), it was incredible. I told the host that I had a great day. And when we left, he said he hoped my awesome day continued into tomorrow.
14. We saw my in-laws tonight after our date, and I had this wonderful white russian drink, and my father-in-law paid for the tab to make sure my perfect day stayed perfect (it did).
15. We got the forecast for a rainy, snowy, icy day tomorrow, and I have NO WORK that I have to do, so I can bundle up, put wood in the fire, watch The Office dvds, and do nothing for 2 whole days.

What more could one want in a day?

I will just say, that I am very blessed, lucky, happy, and fortunate to be where I am.

Roller Coaster...

It is inevitable that we will have ups and downs in this process. We just need to learn to accept that! There is no major "up" or "down" this week, although the relative inertia has been a general downer. Things are moving along a little better now, so here were are on an upswing again.

Earlier this week I was feeling very frustrated at this all. What is supposed to be a joyous period of excitement and anticipation was feeling very much like studying for the bar exam (ok, it isn't that bad.) But I vented a bit, and began to feel better. I think I just need designated venting time, and I need to admit that it is OK to be frustrated. It also helped that I found the right people to talk to. I really do need to make more friends that are adopting or have adopted.

I have gotten some wonderful suggestions this week. I should start learning a little Polish. I do have a great CD set my mom gave me. I also can start thinking about planning "the room." Of course we will need to know age/sex to determine some things, but I can certainly start to plot out the options. We can also work on the rest of the house, like where are we going to put all of that luggage and extra "stuff" that is just being stored in "the room?" We also need to take a few adoption classes, in addition to the one we completed a few months ago. This is a good time to do that.

Unstuck!

OK! Homestudy report complete! We are officially unstuck! (insert applause here).

As of today, our homestudy agency in Nebraska has officially completed, finalized and printed out our homestudy and sent it to our main agency. That agency will attach its certification (they've already reviewed the report) and send it to us so that we may send it to Citizenship and Immigration (CIS) for processing.

Right now it appears that CIS is taking about 3 months to process these petitions. Ours could take more or less time, who knows. With the holidays in there, I imagine it could take longer. Somewhere in this processing time, they will schedule us to come in for fingerprints. We have had fingerprints done for our background checks and homestudy report, but these will be for the federal government, and they have a special requirement and set an appointment for it.

After CIS is done, then we can finalize our paperwork (dossier) and have it sent to Poland.

At this point, it feels like we are moving again. We can get going with those last few loose ends for our dossier while immigration is processing. I also will have a new answer for people when they ask "how is the adoption going." My new answer will be, "immigration is processing our petition." I can deal with that one for a few months!

I'll be sure to check in more on the Blog though. I know how you rely on me as a source of information (and as a distraction from work, etc.).