*

By now, you've probably figured out that Nathan's ended up on letterhead, and mine did not. Who knows HOW that happened...human error, I'm sure. But the Russian government is not tolerant of human error like that! So I went on a wild-goose-phone-chase last week, trying to contact someone in the state police office, and left 2 messages that were never returned (maybe even never received by the people for whom they were intended? who knows)

As I was walking out the door this afternoon, I decided to turn around, run back to my office & try calling the-lady-whose-voicemail-I-finally-ended-up-with-last-time. Why not? I could call the main switchboard & ask for her by name (fortunately I thought to write it down last week). And guess what, I got lucky! She picked up her phone! I explained the situation, and she *sighed* like this wasn't the first time it had ever happened and said that she would see what she could do and would get it taken care of in the near future.

Then I explained to her that I live 2 hours away and -- in fact -- I was making a trip to Montgomery today, and we needed this letter ASAP. Could I please (pretttty please) come by today? I would only be 2 blocks away, and I needed to take it to be apostilled.

She thought for a moment and then said that would be fine.

Yippee!!

I'm sure all state capitals are the same as ours -- busy, somewhat confusing, and full of **EMPTY**, yet reserved-for-important-people parking places! I'm not really good with the downtown area of Montgomery...except for until now, that is! I navigated my way to THREE different buildings - by MYSELF - today. I found parking places (someone write it down in the record book - I parallel parked - not once, but TWICE - a new skill I've developed!), figured out how to use a meter (no laughing - I've never lived in a city with parking meters), and only got semi-lost trying to get to the nice lady in the state police office (who had my background check -- 2 copies of it! -- signed, notorized and ready to go when I got there).

I got my exercise, too. There are tons of doors on any given building, but I guess because they are government buildings, there usually is only one public access door. As luck would have it, my parking place was typically about 2 blocks from this door, but as I walked in the sticky heat, I decided to be thankful that I was getting exercise!

At the State House (where the Sec. of State is located), there are metal detectors/scanners at this particular public access door. I've been through these detectors before, and my purse has gone through the scanner...several times, even! But this time, the guy looking at the Xray image of my purse really studied the image of my purse to the point that I started to get a little worried. Then he said, "ma'am, would you happen to have a pocketknife in your purse?" Hmmmm...pocketknife? Then I remembered that at our office Christmas party last year, I scored a cool little keychain Swiss Army multitool. So yes, I guess you could say I had a sort of pocketknife...but I doubt it could've done much to anyone. Nonetheless, I had to check it in and leave it at the desk...and pick it back up when I left. The guy was really nice about it - and I understood, I didn't give him a hard time for doing his job. If nothing else, it was funny to me that that tiny thing was considered a weapon.

So anyway - I got my new police clearance letter, psychologist letter, and Little I's medical info affidavit apostilled. I plan on FedExing all of this documentation tomorrow. And the last thing, our medicals, should be finished up next week. And then, we'll be caught up on our paperwork, for now.

I guess that's about all the excitement for the day.

But now that I am finished with this grant, life is going to get a little bit quieter, and time a little slower. That's not to say that I won't have stuff to do - at work or home - but because this stressor is gone (and don't get me wrong, I'm glad it is finished!) I have this feeling that time is going to slow down a little bit. Fortunately, we've got a conference planned for the end of June - and some of my time will be spent putting the finishing touches on pulling that off. So maybe it won't be AS quiet and slow as I feel like it will be.

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Shifting thoughts for a minute, I will say that this wait continues to drag out. But...

One thing that has really helped in this wait is trying to view each day as a blessing - another day that we get to experience together before our life changes forever!

Nathan and I have had almost 10 wonderful years together...and while we are way more than ready for Little I to get home - we try to treasure the fact that this last bit of time before Little I actually gets home is the last part of this chapter in our life together. It is amazing to me how time flies...and how we change and grow. We have experienced so much in our time together - and while it has been filled with lots of happy times and some sad, we both have grown, both individually and in our relationship. We are the same people we were when we married, but at the same time, we have changed and grown SO much. Little I will be adding a whole new dimension to our family - and so knowing that, we try to treasure each day as one of the last days "just the two of us".

Sometimes it's easier just to be ornery and depressed...but then what are we accomplishing? We are losing the joy of each other. And I know that through it all - through everything we've been through and everything we will go through, we cannot afford to lose that joy. So - from now until the day Little I is ours...we will be joyful in the blessing of each day we have together. We will finish this chapter of our lifes with an even stronger marriage... and more than ready to open a new chapter, the one that includes a little boy.