Frustrated....

Frustrated. That is the word of the week around here. Remember how I said that last Wednesday was the day to head to Columbus to get everything apostilled? Well. It didn't happen. It still hasn't happened. Not for lack of trying, though.

Last Tuesday I found out that the notary at the doctor's office that all three doctors were planning to use won't work after all. Her commission expires in November and Russia requires that notary commissions expire at least a year from the date of the document. I thought a notary was a notary, but apparently not. So, anyway, one of the doctors caught that before calling to say that his paperwork was done, the second doctor hadn't gotten that far yet, and the third had gone ahead and used that notary anyway...'forgetting' to notice my specific instructions listed on the paper that I had given her. One of the other doctors took his paperwork to a bank to have it notarized. The second doctor tried...but got there a few minutes after the notary had already left for the day. The third doctor (rather her receptionist) informed me that the doctor would not be willing to take the document anywhere else to be notarized and that the only thing I could do was wait until after November 3rd when the notary renewed her notary license (is that what it is called?!). No way. November 3rd?! That's months away. We need it last week already. Soooooo..... I called a notary who we know to see if she could meet me at the doctor's office some morning. She said sure. Here's the kicker. This particular doctor is only in on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings. Except for last week. She had taken Thursday off, so I made an appointment for 8:30 Friday morning. I showed up at 8:20 with my notary in tow, only to be informed that the doctor had called in sick around 8:00. They were terribly sorry that they hadn't taken the time to call me to tell me that she wouldn't be there. I was sorry too. Sooooo..... We re-scheduled for this morning(I think the receptionist is more than a little tired of her 8:00 call..."Hello, this is Jody Garber.). Unfortunately, my notary forgot that she had to be at work at 8:00 this morning, and therefore, I had to call in to re-schedule for tomorrow morning. Hmmmm. Wonder if it will ever be accomplished?! To say that I have been frustrated is very much an understatement. I keep telling myself that there has to be a reason that we are being delayed, but the only reason that I can come up with is that Satan is hard at work. He most definitely wouldn't care if all the orphans in the world stayed orphans for the rest of their lives. He wants me to get upset over something minor like matching a notary's schedule to a doctor's schedule. He wants me to act like a whiny customer when the receptionists aren't doing what I think they should be doing. He would be delighted if I would stalk in there and really give them a piece of my mind rather than allowing Christ to shine through me. I'm sure I have more than made his day on a couple occasions during the past week. Shame on me.

Then I tell myself "what's another day"? That question gets squelched quickly. Another day with unfinished paperwork means one more day that lil Jack Nickolay sits in an orphanage without his daddy and mommy to love all over him. It means another day of him not knowing about Jesus. It means another day of having Addie ask when we can go back to pick up Nickolay. It means another day of looking at pictures of him and feeling the very tangible ache in my arms. It means having a couple of tears fall because I so badly want him here with us. It means another day of Will believing that all his toys are truly all his....I fear reality will hit rather hard when little bro comes to live with us!!! It means another day of re-learning patience all over again. Why is it so hard to learn to have patience? One would think that after waiting three years for Addie and Will to enter our home, patience would be well learned. Not so. It means another day of learning to trust God fully.....and that alone could very well be the reason that the paperwork still isn't done. It will all happen in HIS time and in His time alone.

So tomorrow. Tomorrow might be the day that the paperwork is completed. For now, anyway!! The plans at this point are to pick up my mom around 8:00 and drop her off at the court house with a stack of documents all needing to be certified. (Remember that certification verifies that the notary really is a notary.....apostilles verify that the clerk of courts who did the certifications really is the clerk of courts.) I will head to the doctors office with my notary in tow to get the elusive document notarized and then will go back to the court house to rescue my mom from the world of paperwork. We then will zip off to Dayton to have a couple more documents certified and then on to Columbus to have apostilles done for the whole stack. Of course, while in Columbus we'll have to do a little shopping and eating....then we'll copy all the documents at Staples and overnight the whole stack to our agency. They in turn will send them to Russia, where all the documents will be translated and finally will be submitted to the judge. That's what will happen if there are no hitches. It's always possible that our agency will catch some mistake that I missed and that I'll once again be on the paperwork trail, but we'll pray for the best. If I could just convince Jason that all this paperwork is fun, maybe he would volunteer for the day tomorrow. I fear he will choose the farming....

Several have asked how Addie and Will are doing now that we're home from Russia. Pretty well, all things considered. I think they are finally back on track with the sleeping schedule, though I still hear Will trotting around his room about 2:00 every morning. They don't mention Jack Nickolay very much, but never fail to pray for him right before they go to bed every night. Addie really hasn't been too affected by it all, but Will? Oh my. He has morphed into a little monster-child. I'd like to blame it solely on his age, but really think that this whole little brother thing has him a little worked up. I think subconsciously he has figured out that a little brother means not as much mommy-time for him. A little brother means that he will suddenly lose his baby-of-the-family status. Slowly but surely his monster-like attitude is becoming more like the sweet little boy we've had in the past. Lets hope that continues. Could be fun when the little brother comes to live with us full time. Uh-huh. Remind me of that 'fun' word when that time comes!!

Now....I must go. We are doing (or attempting to do) two days of school with Addie today (since we MIGHT be doing paperwork all day tomorrow and therefore will have no time for school). This morning went very well, but this afternoon? She had to take a nap break with the hopes of the nap reviving her memory. I'm sure we were all the same way, but it amazes me how one minute she can totally know something and five minutes later she has never even heard of it. I'm not convinced that God intended for me to be a kindergarten teacher.

Blessings to each of you~