Monthly Archives: September 2012

Character Building

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Amid everything else going on in our lives, I’ve added a new hobby. I briefly mentioned it in my Portland post, but now I’m officially fascinated with the Chinese language.  Brian and I would both really like to become more familiar with the Chinese language, both written and spoken– this is an incredibly overwhelming task considering neither of us knows a lick of Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese). Because we don’t know what provinces we’ll be traveling to until we accept a referral, I’m hedging my bets and starting with Mandarin. Continue reading →

Two steps forward, one step back

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For those of you playing along at home, the last few days have felt like a game of Chutes and Ladders.  I spent a good chunk of this week trying to get in touch with a special courier in New York that services adoptive families. As mentioned in previous posts about our dossier prep, our Pennsylvania documents have to be authenticated in New York City at the Chinese Consulate– who also happens to not take mail-in forms. This means that we needed to find a person who’d be willing to stand in line forever at the NY Consulate and hand-deliver our forms to be reviewed– then pick them up a week later and ship them back to us. Continue reading →

An update for fans of The Office

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Monday morning, I woke up to Our Government’s version of a wuphf.

If you don’t get the reference, check out this great video clip below from The Office:

Yes sir, I was greeted at 12:01 AM by both an email and an SMS  from “Do Not Reply” indicating that our big packet-o-immigration papers for Uncle Sam was received and is now comfortably sitting in the National Benefits Center Lockbox. I have no idea what “the lockbox” is, but I do know that it is a magical place that assesses us as appropriate parents and our future child as a good future citizen– and all of this in 90 days or less! (Let’s hope for less!) And just in case I didn’t get my text or email, we’ll get a paper copy of the exactly same thing in 7-10 business days. Hopefully, along with the receipt or a few days after, we’ll get an “invitation” for a biometrics appointment at our local USCIS Office to be fingerprinted a second time for the FBI. You can’t say they aren’t thorough.

In the meantime, I’ll let you all know if I get a Facebook friend request from “Do Not Reply.”

 

Poetry in Portland

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Our lack in posting means only one thing– yes, we were on location at another wedding. This time, our travels took us to Portland, Oregon to witness the beautiful wedding of Brian’s sister Rachel to our new brother-in-law Jon.  Aside from getting to visit with family, the trip out west was a great break from all the paperwork drama. There’s something about mountains and trees that seem to make even the greatest stresses disappear.

While we were in the City of Roses, we took the opportunity to visit the Lan Su Garden with Brian’s parents and some friends of the family. We were all in awe of the striking architecture, decorative silk paintings, and the careful thought that went into even the way water was diverted from the eaves of structures. Even though my own gardening style is English cottage (where more is more!), I loved the careful editing of every aspect of these gardens.

A beautiful lotus in bloom at the Lan Su gardens

We took advantage of a guided tour by a very knowledgeable guide who explained to us the philosophy of Chinese gardens– rock, water, plant, architecture, and poetry. Though I was surprised at the last element, I had my *aha* moment by the end of the tour.  The classical texts combined with the lush atmosphere did really complete the experience.

The single highlight of the visit to the garden for me was meeting a Chinese calligrapher in one of the buildings. Although it’s been a few years since I’ve dusted off my calligraphy pens, I felt at home with the Chinese brush and ink stick. We talked a little about the stylization of characters, and he let me give it a go. Now, at home several days later, I’ve found that practicing the calligraphy is really helping me learn the characters! I’m focusing primarily on the simple pictograms (like water, sun, moon, person, etc), but I think it’s a good start. I’m on my way!

A great view at the Lan Su garden

 

The worst job in the world

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Well, I promised stories and I have stories! Today amid a flurry of packing for Brian’s sister’s upcoming wedding, we ran a ton of adoption-related errands. Perhaps the biggest accomplishment for us, however, was getting a packet of reference letters sealed by the Secretary of State’s office downtown. We agreed to be guinea pigs in a new process for our agency which helps streamline the process of sealing and authenticating and cuts down on cost for adoptive families. If it worked, we’ll have helped set a new precedent. If it didn’t, well… we’ll be back to square one on a few forms. I went into the city this morning with a stack of dossier documents, not really knowing how many of them, if any, the State would deem valid. Continue reading →

“Things are going to start happening to me now.”

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Aside from celebrating seven wonderful years of marriage today, we also prepared a ton of paperwork to be (hopefully) sealed by the Secretary of State’s office tomorrow morning. Brian’s running a ton of other dossier documents around in addition to his CCAA physical, and I’m headed downtown to get stuff sealed. Either I’ll have really good news or I’ll be ready for a break. Cross your fingers, say a prayer, and let’s hope that all goes well tomorrow for both of us! In any case, I’m sure I’ll have an interesting story to share with you all.