DTC: Dossier to China 03/20/07

I thought this day would never get here. Got the e-mail from CCAI. Our dossier was sent to China yesterday afternoon. We have should find out our log-in date in the next month or so!!!!!!!

We are "Lost in Translation"!!!

What a whirlwind the last two weeks have been. First and foremost, ALL OUR PAPERWORK IS DONE!!! Our dossier is in Colorado at CCAI being translated into Chinese!! But, all in all "we are done" with paperwork!! As soon as CCAI translates everything, it will be sent to China. Then we will be in the "long list" of waiting families.

The DTC (date to China) is a date everyone sort of keeps track of in estimating wait times and referrals and so forth. So we are hoping our DTC is March 28th, since that's Jeff's birthday. It could be since it takes about 10 days to translate and that would put us right about his birthday.

We started our paper chase on November 4 and delivered the last document to CCAI on March 15th, so just over 4 months. I'm so glad this part is over, it was one of the most stressful things I have ever done.

So now we wait....................

CCAI has Our 171

The 171 came back from Washington and Jeff drove it down to the CCAI office in Atlanta!! After having UPs lose our home study/pictures and then the hang ups with the USCIS we didn't want to risk mailing it. Jeff was off today so The Sadie Lady got to go on another adoption adventure! She is going to be an expert at workshops, certifying and 171's!!

Jeff and Sadie Travel to Charleston to get the 171

Well, after many phone calls to find out why it is taking so long for the corrected 171 to reach us, Jeff found out that "the officer" put our completed 171 on the desk of a secretary who is out having major surgery. Unbelievable!! He's had enough of this and talked to a woman yesterday who told him he could come pick it up. He was up at 0530 this morning loading Sadie and Chase in the car and heading for Charleston! He dropped Chase off at his house and met Sarah for lunch, then headed back in time to stop off at the Secretary of State's office to get the 171 certified. Oddly enough he met another couple from Greenville who also had problems getting their 171. They drove to Charleston to get theirs also. So, now the 171 with the correct spelling is on its way to be authenticated in Washington. Chase is back with his "mommy" for awhile and Sadie says any day is a good day if she gets to go "bye bye".

I'm still in Maine and the weather is still bitter cold. Tonight we worked late at the office. The activation is going well, but we are still on 12 hour shifts covering "user help calls". Robin, one of the other consultants I work with, and I are staying at the same hotel across town, but have our own cars since we weren't sure what kind of schedule we would be on. So far we've both been posted at the office all week. We've been leaving at the same time and following each other back to the hotel. I can't imagine having a car breakdown in this weather. Tonight we left around 9pm. The parking garage was deserted and she was behind me when I pulled out of my parking space. I paid the parking attendant and drove slowly down the street waiting for her to catch up. A car pulled out of the garage and zoomed around me on the one way street. I thought that it was odd that she was driving so fast. So when I got to the next traffic light I looked over and realized it wasn't her! I looked in the rear view mirror and the street behind me was isolated. Where did she go? She had got turned around the night before and took a wrong turn going home, so I decided to drive around the block. Still, No Robin anywhere.

I had thrown my briefcase in the trunk, so I pulled into a gas station to get my cell phone out. The wind was whipping around and my fingers were getting numb just trying to get my gloves off so I could dig in my briefcase for the phone. I had a brief thought that I surely didn't want to drop my keys in the trunk. As soon as I did it I knew it was a mistake.... I did what I normally do at home, trying to carry too many groceries in from the car. I grabbed on to the keys with my teeth and they froze to my tongue!! All I can think of is the little boy with his tongue stuck to a pole in "The Christmas Story". After yanking off half the skin on my tongue I called Robin and found out some psycho driver nearly ran her over in the garage and passed her. We laughed so hard about the keys we were in tears.

Portland, Maine

Finally, got here around 11:30pm, it took quite awhile to get the bags. Portland is a small airport. It's like one concourse at KCI or very similar to the airport at Charleston and Greenville. I had forgotten how hot they keep it in the airport, even for me. I went outside to cool off (that didn't take long). Even with the airport lights you can see the stars in the sky. The air here smells different than anywhere I have ever been. It is so clean and crisp.

The girl at the Avis counter had just about given up on me. I was the last one to arrive for the night and I could tell she was in a hurry, but pleasant. She looked down at her list of cars and said, "Oh I don't want to give you a Taurus. Those are ugly." I didn't have the heart to tell her, we used to have a Taurus. The cars are in the basement of a garage and you have to drive up a curving hill to get out. The road was icy tonight and I could feel the tires grabbing as I had to give it enough gas to get up the hill and around the corners without sliding all over the place. If "getting out of the parking lot" is any indication of the driving conditions tonight I'm in trouble.

I made a wrong turn and as soon as I did it I remembered doing it once before and ending up on an interstate going out of Portland. I decided making a "U" in the middle of the road was a better option than the interstate.

Things are coming back to mind as I drive to the Hampton Inn. I remember eating at this restaurant or that one.....A chill passes over me as I drive by the motel where two of the 9/11 terrorists stayed. It still blows my mind to remember Jeff and I were here when that happened and were staying at the Hampton just down the road....The road crews here are still the best in the world, for just having a snowstorm the roads are completely clear. The familiar 15 foot+ snow piles are at the intersection corners.......The Portland mall and the number of times I've done my Christmas shopping there and either stuffed the things in my bag or shipped them off to wherever they needed to go. For some reason I always ended up in Maine during December until the last few years. Donna, one of the girls I work with used to say, "If Stacey is coming, it'll be freezing and snowing."..... and it is beautiful here in December, it is beautiful here in September, it is beautiful here in every season......oh Maine, Maine, Maine, if only your winter's were a little shorter....

Traveling to Maine

I'm in the airport in Charlotte. It's been a long day and my flight to Maine is delayed. It was supposed to leave at 7:20 pm and they just updated the board to 9:30 pm. The big storm that swept across the east coast delayed or canceled all the flights to Portland today. I've been watching the delays on the internet. (Boy things have changed a lot since I started working for myself over 10 years ago.) I figured my flight would be okay since the storm has passed Portland at this point. There is a problem with the flight from Newark and that's what I'm waiting for.

So I've walked around the airport as much as I can. I've looked in the shops and bought a few magazines I didn't really need. I went through my catalogs (I always grab several of the catalogs I have sitting on my bedside table and take them to the airport. Then I go through them, tear out the pages I'm interested in and then get to "lighten" my bag and throw them away.) I succumbed to a Whopper Jr./fries. I'm hungry and won't feel like driving around Portland at midnight trying to find something to eat. I wonder if it will be icy then?

I'm bittersweet about going to Maine. I don't like to travel much for work anymore. There was a time when I loved it. It still doesn't bother me to travel alone, or go out and eat alone, but I miss home. I imagine it is because previously I had a house, now I have a home to miss. (It's probably the same reason that flying drives me nuts anymore.) But on the other hand, I'm anxious to see some friends that I haven't seen since the last time I was there in 2003.

I met Eric the IS Director at Maine Medical Center at the TDS user's group meeting in Nashville, TN in the fall of 1996. We talked for a few minutes and he said he wanted me to come up sometime. Well it took almost two years before their schedule and mine synched up and I flew up there the first time in 1998. I've been working for them ever since.

Some of the people I've worked with at Maine will be friends for life. It is just like anyone else that goes to an office to work everyday; you become friends with some of your co-workers. But, it's different in some respects. Your friends become the familiar voices on the other end of the line during telephone and conference calls. They are thousand miles away, yet you e-mail back and forth the celebrations of life and the tragedies. And then when I come in town we get to go out for dinner, maybe some shopping or a show..... the same thing friends at the office do.

Our Dossier is in Critical Review

CCAI got the last package we sent. They let us know they are moving our dossier to critical review. They'll be looking at it for errors. We still have to forward the 171 when we get it, but we are one step closer.

Sadie thinks we should just be able to go to China today and get her friend!