Three days before Christmas I was shopping at Walmart. I thought maybe just maybe we might have Emme in our home before Christmas. I knew I needed a few last minute gifts and food. I saw the most adorable purple dresses and bought three of them. I also bought three headbands and tights.
I thought it was strange that the phone hadn't rang. It ALWAYS rings when the kids aren't with me. I had John's phone because mine has been MIA for weeks now. I figured out that it was turned off and turned it on. Instantly it started ringing. The ICPC paper that we needed to sign had been Fed Exed Overnighted to the ICPC office in San Diego, and we had until 2:30 to pick it up. I don't even remember what time it was but we were cutting it close.
Steve sped from work which wasn't real close to the ICPC office and got the paper. BUT we needed an Adoption Service Provider to witness us signing the paper. What the heck is an Adoption Service Provider and where are we going to find one three days before Christmas?
Steve called our homestudy agency but for reasons they couldn't witness us signing the paper. The ICPC had a few numbers of ASP's so he called one of them and she was able to meet with us. I had just been whizzing down the freeway pondering all that was going on and totally missed the exit I was supposed to take to go home. A minute later Steve calls to tell me to head to Scripps Ranch because we needed to sign this paper. I told him that was weird because I had just missed the exit that I had taken umpteen times and was headed in that direction, like the next exit. Weird. We showed up to the ladies house and went in and signed the paper. I thought it was odd that we needed to sign this paper in front of this lady and she had no idea who we were. It would have made more sense to sign the paper in front of a notary, but whatever. Adoption laws make no sense half the time.
After signing the paper Steve had to go back to Mission Valley to the ICPC office before they closed for the day, and possibly the weekend. I sped home to start making travel plans to fly out the next day. When I got home we had confirmation that we had California ICPC approval which is what we needed to cross Emme across state lines.
My computer was not working for me on the travel plans. I finally gave up and called Southwest to make the arrangements. I was able to fly out the next morning at 7ish but needed to be up and going at 4:30am. I made hotel reservations thinking I wasn't able to fly out until Christmas Eve. Communication between moms was happening and between our lawyer and each mom. So much going on just three days before Christmas. Usually Christmas in and of itself is enough, add instant travel plans and a new family member on top of that. Can I just say that stress would have been an understatement?
