Okay, I am just going to go on a rant for a moment.
I knew that this process was going to drain me. I was told it would be almost a one year thing... you know, the usual.
But the last few days have been so frustrating !! I had imagined that when the kids went back to school, I'd have a few hours in a row (this is key, as parents mainly live life in snips of time) to get moving on this paperwork. But it seems like i am always finding myself back where i began. Yesterday morning I was so excited that i was finally able to mail off my background check (had to be notarized, of course) to one of the 10 states we have to contact...but i was soon deflated. I started to work on getting my birth & marriage certificates, and my divorce decree from my first marriage. David was doing the same thing.
Initially we were told to get 4, then we were told to get an extra "just in case". then i looked though the dossier and checklists and could only find that i needed one for each of us. And i thought maybe i need one for my passport...so that's two. I emailed around, and was told by a friend doing the same process that she had ordered the 4, but agreed it was costly to do that - especially when you factor in that we have 3 types of documents and 2 people obtaining them. Ugh. I contacted more folks and found that I needed to contact a specific person, and that she's pretty busy...(a.k.a. she won't reply same day) so maybe i should just order 3 for good measure?
I got the forms all printed out...i began to fill them out. guess what? If i mail it in or walk in (out of state by the way) it's free process - at least insofar as the "processing fees & delivery costs". If i fax or call, it will cost me $15 or $20 PER COPY and then another $30 per copy to guarantee delivery & be quick! I'll just opt for the certified mail which is around $5 per copy. It would actually cost LESS for me to FLY TO TACOMA and walk-in to get this paper! I mean, really. Doesn't that seem a bit excessive??
Then there's David, attempting to apply for his birth certificate from NY online - as a security measure, he's asked several questions - one is to remember the sale price on a house he sold 20 years ago. He was on the computer going through their website for a good 40 minutes (seriously) trying to order this thing. He even got to the part where you need your cc...and THEN they told him sorry, you got the question about sale price wrong. He printed out the form to fill out tomorrow, but he has a busy day, and we'll probably have to wait until evening. I am guessing it will be next week until we mail that out.
I did get the idea to see what i could do online, and saw i could order some forms, and i thought the small extra fees might be worth it - so i started to get the divorce decree. I had to know the date of my divorce - which i can't remember. I guessed...I got to a page that tells me that this expensive form is not actually a divorce decree, it's a divorce certificate, which to me is worthless...
So here i am, an entire day later, no further on the path to bringing my kiddo home, just tired. I am frustrated that i just ran in circles. This is the part that takes F O R E V E R!
Ultimately, I have to keep focused. If i feel too pitiful and frustrated, I am not able to make progress. And although i would never ever ever for a minute consider quitting, I don't want to give any sense that it's not worth it. It is totally worth it. I would run circles every day (in fact, i bet i will run circles) to get Rey here.
It just seems that this part doesn't have to be this complicated!
you know??
