See That Ticker??

We are finally counting down days and not weeks until court. Woohoo! In the military world when your loved one is away you have to focus on the mini-milestones and one of those milestones is when you reach the "under 100 days mark". When you hit that mark you are affectionately referred to as a Double Digit Midget but what you CANNOT wait to be called is a Single Digit Midget. Now I'm sure many of you in the civilian world are probably thinking, "why in the sam hill would you use such a phrase?" but trust me, when your husband has been gone for a year in Korea and then 14 months in Iraq, you look forward to being a Double Digit Midget. Nineteen more days to go until we are Single Digit Midgets!

Between now and then I have a few minor details to get finished. The first one being the blasted 171H!! I finally got USCIS to respond to me and they did give on two items that they were requesting but they are holding firm on two other items. The first is the CANRIS (child abuse clearance) report. They acknowledge that our clearance is indeed in our packet, but they want the date of the CANRIS typed inside the home study. No comment. The second issue they have is in the wording of one question. The question says, "Have you been a perpetrator of abuse..." They say that makes it sound like "have we been the victim of..." and they want the word changed to ask if we have ever committed abuse on anyone. Again, no comment. Our home study social worker was out of town last week and another social worker at the agency stepped up to handle the changes for us but unfortunately became very sick with the flu and ended up in the hospital. I'm hopeful we'll be able to get the changes made this week and sent to San Antonio. Kathy, thank you for the fax number but they said they will not accept a fax, all changes must be mailed in. Of course.

The second issue I need to get finished is the FBI fingerprint clearance. I sent them an email last week and asked for an update and they said our fingerprints are still with the examiners. Allow me to vent for a moment...since November we have been fingerprinted four times, twice the old fashioned ink way and twice the electronic way. Randy has a government security clearance due to his job and as a teacher I've been fingerprinted and background checked in the three states that I have taught in. I am CONFIDENT the feds are not going to find us on the "Axe Murderer" list. Do our fingerprints really need to spend three weeks with the examiners? Sometimes the red tape in international adoption can really take its toll on a person.

I have managed to stay busy to pass the time and that time has been spent mostly in the children's department of the local children's stores. Call it my civic duty to help this country during the current economic slump we are experiencing. I assure you the local Baby Gap, Kohl's, and Target baby departments are posting some record sales! I'll leave you with some pictures of my recent finds. The pink tights Artem wears in the baby home will be distant memory come this summer.