The Dark Side
Most of the updates so far have had a running theme of me talking about all we have accomplished and just how excited and happy we are that we are getting one step closer to bringing our son home. We are still extremely excited and happy about getting our son in our arms, but lately all I want to do is bitch about it. So, here I go.
Why does this have to be so hard? A baby is born. That baby has no parents. We want to be its parents. We are good, loving people. Baby and us get united and we live happily ever after. Right? Right? Please tell me I am right!
We are still stuck in the middle of this paperchase. There are a few more things that we need such as our FBI fingerprints, some pictures, and a couple of forms notarized. There are three other things that are the focus of all my grief at this point.
First, Greg's employment verification letter. This should be simple enough, you would think. Our agency gave us a template of exactly what Guatemala needs to see in the letter. Greg filled in all the information with his own name, salary, etc. All his employee needed to do was verify, copy it onto company letterhead and sign it. Easy enough. Yeah, I thought so too. Instead, they decided to not use the letter he provided them. They decided to write their own and include what they wanted to. This probably wouldnt have been a big deal except that Guatemala needs to see the phrase "in good standing" in this letter. Greg's company decided they didnt want to include that statement. So, off to get them to do it again.
Number two is our marriage certificate. We need to have a new official marriage certificate that was issued within the last 6 months. I called Beaver County Register of Wills and it turned out to be quite simple to obtain. All I had to do was send in a letter saying I needed this official marriage certificate with a self-addressed stamped envelope and $5, and they would fulfill my request. I was even more excited that a mere three days later I got something in the mail from them. It was a receipt for the $5 and what appeared to me to be a letter stating that Greg and I are indeed married according to their records. I dont know much about this kind of thing but I am thinking that if this looks like a letter to me, it will certainly look like a letter to the Guatemalan government. Nowhere on this letter was anything saying that it was issued on any particular date during the last 6 months, only a statement saying it was certified last week. I emailed our case worker and she confirmed that this document would not work.
Finally, our medical letters. I am not even sure that this is a problem yet but I am anticipating that it will be. Greg and I have to get physicals done. We have to have a letter from our doctor stating that we are in good health, he did this physical, he doesnt see any reason why we would die soon, and that he would recommend us to adopt. Easy enough. Oh, that is because I forgot to mention that these letters have to be notarized. They dont have a notary in their office so somehow I have to arrange to take my trusty notary with us (keep in mind, she has a real job and just cant take off work to go everywhere with me). I am still keeping my fingers crossed for option #2 which I dont want to be posting on a public webpage since it may not be the absolute "right" way to do things. It doesnt help that all I have read are horror stories about getting doctors to do these letters correctly.
I had a minor breakdown last night, wondering how anyone can survive this whole process. I am feeling much better now after repeating the words of Roger Clyne over and over in my head, "This aint't not joke, You gotta know how to bend if you dont wanna get broke... You gotta go a little loco to stay sane."
I am also feeling a little better since it seems that the marriage certificate extravaganza is coming to a close. I spoke again to Beaver County Courthouse personnel. Actually, I spoke to two different people since the first woman decided to transfer me after my irrate behavior. Maybe it wasnt the best tactic, but after I (not so calmly) explained (ie. stretched the truth) that the only thing standing in the way of me and my son was a piece of paper they had control of. Someone from the courthouse contacted our agency to make sure they had the right thing and today my new marriage certificate should be placed in the mail. Although it is a lesson that I never intend to teach my son, sometimes screaming and crying does get you what you want.
Why does this have to be so hard? A baby is born. That baby has no parents. We want to be its parents. We are good, loving people. Baby and us get united and we live happily ever after. Right? Right? Please tell me I am right!
We are still stuck in the middle of this paperchase. There are a few more things that we need such as our FBI fingerprints, some pictures, and a couple of forms notarized. There are three other things that are the focus of all my grief at this point.
First, Greg's employment verification letter. This should be simple enough, you would think. Our agency gave us a template of exactly what Guatemala needs to see in the letter. Greg filled in all the information with his own name, salary, etc. All his employee needed to do was verify, copy it onto company letterhead and sign it. Easy enough. Yeah, I thought so too. Instead, they decided to not use the letter he provided them. They decided to write their own and include what they wanted to. This probably wouldnt have been a big deal except that Guatemala needs to see the phrase "in good standing" in this letter. Greg's company decided they didnt want to include that statement. So, off to get them to do it again.
Number two is our marriage certificate. We need to have a new official marriage certificate that was issued within the last 6 months. I called Beaver County Register of Wills and it turned out to be quite simple to obtain. All I had to do was send in a letter saying I needed this official marriage certificate with a self-addressed stamped envelope and $5, and they would fulfill my request. I was even more excited that a mere three days later I got something in the mail from them. It was a receipt for the $5 and what appeared to me to be a letter stating that Greg and I are indeed married according to their records. I dont know much about this kind of thing but I am thinking that if this looks like a letter to me, it will certainly look like a letter to the Guatemalan government. Nowhere on this letter was anything saying that it was issued on any particular date during the last 6 months, only a statement saying it was certified last week. I emailed our case worker and she confirmed that this document would not work.
Finally, our medical letters. I am not even sure that this is a problem yet but I am anticipating that it will be. Greg and I have to get physicals done. We have to have a letter from our doctor stating that we are in good health, he did this physical, he doesnt see any reason why we would die soon, and that he would recommend us to adopt. Easy enough. Oh, that is because I forgot to mention that these letters have to be notarized. They dont have a notary in their office so somehow I have to arrange to take my trusty notary with us (keep in mind, she has a real job and just cant take off work to go everywhere with me). I am still keeping my fingers crossed for option #2 which I dont want to be posting on a public webpage since it may not be the absolute "right" way to do things. It doesnt help that all I have read are horror stories about getting doctors to do these letters correctly.
I had a minor breakdown last night, wondering how anyone can survive this whole process. I am feeling much better now after repeating the words of Roger Clyne over and over in my head, "This aint't not joke, You gotta know how to bend if you dont wanna get broke... You gotta go a little loco to stay sane."
I am also feeling a little better since it seems that the marriage certificate extravaganza is coming to a close. I spoke again to Beaver County Courthouse personnel. Actually, I spoke to two different people since the first woman decided to transfer me after my irrate behavior. Maybe it wasnt the best tactic, but after I (not so calmly) explained (ie. stretched the truth) that the only thing standing in the way of me and my son was a piece of paper they had control of. Someone from the courthouse contacted our agency to make sure they had the right thing and today my new marriage certificate should be placed in the mail. Although it is a lesson that I never intend to teach my son, sometimes screaming and crying does get you what you want.
posted by Annie and Greg @ 11:14 AM
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