Okay. I'm calming down, now. This has been quite an afternoon. First, I had to go to Nikolai's IEP meeting, and those are always interesting. Then, I had to take Daisy to the vet as she is still not walking on that leg very well (he said that she is not using it enough and by holding it up so much it is getting tight - we need to make her USE the leg and get it going again; it has NOT come out of place, thank goodness).

Then! I get home from the vet and our all-important Immigration approval document has arrived!!! I have heard such horror stories lately about the USCIS and how they have given people a rough time, it has taken months and months, people have to get their Congressmen involved, etc. and ours took 10 painless days!!

What this MEANS, though, is that suddenly, we are very behind in our documents!! I thought we'd have several weeks to get everything all put together while we waited for this document, but it's HERE, and now we need to MOVE!! There are several loose ends that we can tie up if we move hard, and Monday at the earliest, we will be able to send away to Tallahassee for apostilles for everything, then when those are on, we will send the whole sh-bang to Ukraine!!

My head is spinning. There is so much to do. So many tiny details that mean so much. Ukraine is VERY picky about their documents and I am so worried that a "t" might not be crossed somewhere. Fortunately, our "coordinator", Meredith, is right here in Titusville, and instead of having to scan everything for her to check, we can just swing by her house and let her take a look.

Time to breathe deeply. Keep a clear head. This is not an emergency.

LET'S GO!!

We had our first official document get sent off for an apostille yesterday. A very simple form, stating that we wanted to "reserve" Simon, and hoping that they will hold him for us and give us a quick appointment when our documents are finally in order.

Simple!

The form itself was okay, but we forgot to put in this info, and I forgot to replace "Wife" and "Husband" with our names under the line on which we were to sign, etc. The notary messed up, drawing arrows all over the paper, indicating whose signature was whose, etc. Ugh! What a mess!! I don't ever remember having any troubles like this with any of my 3 Russian adoptions.

I sure hope this isn't a sign of things to come...

I admire those folks who can make nifty videos of their video clips and photos. I am trying to be as cool as those folks...! I joined Smilebox and thought I'd try and see if I could make a video, too. ;o}

Make a Smilebox slideshow

FRENCHY: Video

Please watch the video above. You will not forget it. I'm sorry I couldn't figure out how to put it directly on the blog, but at least you have the link.

It is NOT the "Send Me" one, but the SECOND one, the one titled, "Video" and that begins with a quote from Mother Theresa.

Please let me know what you think.

I received an interesting e-mail from Meredith from our facilitator. She said that we need to send over a document specifying that we want to "reserve" Simon and because he's special needs, he'll go to the front of the line! At least, that's how I understand it. So tomorrow, we'll get this paper notarized and zoom it to Tallahassee for an apostille and FedEx it to Ukraine! Then, I suppose we'll be back to finishing our dossier.

But it was fun to see something "official" happening, and know that we will get our first official piece of the puzzle on it's way this week!

We have been doing quite well, thank you, getting our documents in order for our dossier. In fact, everything was coming together so nicely I was getting a little bit arrogant! Ahem-- NEVER get arrogant when God is watching!! We've hit our first snag.

Nothing major, mind you, but still... We finally got our Medical forms filled out and everything looks okay (though we still need to scan them over to our coordinator to proof), but when we had the notary do her "thing", we noticed that her commission expires this October! What, you say? October? You'll be to Ukraine and back by then!! No. Yes, we will be, God willing, but all of the notary public's stamps have to say dates that don't expire for ONE YEAR after they receive the docs in the country!! UGH. Where in the world are we going to find a notary who will travel with us to the doctor's office and wait until he is able to sign another form for us? I guess we'll just have to start asking around... (I'll make that Mark's job! lol)

UGH. And things were going so weeeeeeell...!!

Well, sort of. Nikolai turned 15 today, and while he's WAAAY too cool for DisneyWorld, he did consent to going to Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM). Disney has a promotion this year that allows free admission to any of their parks on your birthday if you pre-register. Neat, huh? Mark and I already have passes, so we got in 100% free today! (Simon's birthday is Aug. 11, and we can't wait to take him!)

Anyway, we had a great day. As usual, the weather was gorgeous. We managed to pressure Mark into riding some of the wildest rides there, including Tower of Terror and the Rockin'Roller Coaster, but our favorite ride was Toy Story Midway Mania! (it's a 3-D ride full of midway/arcade style games - it's a BLAST!!!

I'm so blessed that my job allows me this kind of flexibility - all I have to do is schedule my patients for Saturday to replace today and I don't miss any work time. :o)

Anyway, here are some pictures:
Entering the park - each Disney park has a "centerpiece". At Magic Kingdom, it's Cinderella's castle, for example; at Epcot, it's the big "golf ball". Here, it is Mickey's Fantasia hat.











Here we are, about to enter the Tower Of Terror: I had to dig Mark out from his hiding place in the bushes after I took this.













At the entrance of Aerosmith's Rockin' Roller Coaster. It's like Space Mountain (in the dark) but this one goes upside down several times. In the dark, yes. It's FUN.

















We needed proof that Mark actually survived this ride! Here are Nikolai and Mark at the exit to the ride. (Cool scenery, huh?)
















"I had such a fun birthday!!"

On our way back home.