January 25, 2010

Today the boys and I drove to Oklahoma City to the state capitol building, for the last time, to get the apostilles for our post placement reports. Everything went great, up until the time we arrived at the capitol building, after an hour and a half of driving, and I was just getting ready to get out of the car. That is when I realized I had forgotten my purse. Apostilles cost money so this was definitely a problem. Also, it was now around 11:30 and we still had another hour and half to get home. I had brought snacks but I had planned that we would eat out for lunch while we waited for our documentation to be completed. We were all disappointed that we would not get to eat lunch:(. Fortunately I had packed a lot of snacks, of which the boys had already had quite a bit on our way to OKC. There was still a bit left for the trip home.

I called the husband and told him about my situation. I wondered out loud to him if maybe they would take a credit card number without the actual card, but I didn't really think they would. It is a long walk from the parking lot to the building. It would have taken another 30 minutes to walk with the boys into the building and back so I was almost ready to just head home, when I realized that we would need to take a bathroom break anyway.

It was incredibly windy in Oklahoma today. I struggled against the wind for the entire hour and half drive to OKC. Nick really hates wind and he started to cry when we got out of the car. Fortunately I had brought their warm hats so I bundled them up really well and then we did OK. Ben is a slow walker and I basically have to pull him along whenever we walk anywhere. Between him and the wind, it was a very long walk.

We made it into the building and through the metal detectors. We stopped by the bathroom and then headed to the Secretary of State's office. As it turns out, they had no problem taking our credit card number without the actual card, much to my surprise. The lady behind the desk started looking through our paperwork, as I called the husband to get the credit card number. After I got off the phone, she told me that some of the papers (agency and social worker licenses) were copies, rather than originals and they must be originals in order to be apostilled.

So, we headed home with no apostilles, no lunch, no money, etc. As we were driving out of OKC, I called the agency and told them about the situation. We had driven about 30 minutes when they called back and told me that we did not have to have the licenses apostilled, only the post placement reports. We had to drive a while to find the next exit so we could turn around and head back to OKC.

Now the good news was that we could definitely get the apostilles that we needed and not have to make another trip. The bad news was that it was another 30 minute drive back to the state capitol building. By the time we got back, it was around 1:30pm. We were all getting very hungry, we needed another bathroom break and I was not sure we would have enough gas to make it back home. Once again I called the husband to give him an update. I also asked him to call a pizza hut we had passed near the capitol building to see if he could order some food and pay for it over the phone. Unfortunately they would not do that. The boys and I were all disappointed.

We wrapped back up in our warm coats and hats and made the long walk in the blustery wind again. Through the metal dectector, to the bathroom and back to the Secretary of State's office. The lady behind the desk had no issues with doing the apostilles without the licenses. We walked around the capitol buiding for 15 minutes while she completed our paperwork. We picked up our paperwork and headed back out to the car. By this time, the boys and I were all getting tired, hungry and cranky.

We got back into the car and headed out. I passed out all of the snacks we still had. Fortunately I had brought the little DVD player we have for the car so the boys had entertainment. This turned out to be a very good thing, since we ended up spending about 4 hours in the car today. It also helped them take their mind off of not having lunch.

We made it home safely and, thankfully, we had gas to spare (barely). The light was on when we got home but we still had about 10 or 20 miles of gas left in the tank. We arrived home around 4:00ish. We had a quick bite to eat and then headed back out to Fed Ex the reports to the agency and fill the car up with gas.

It was a stressful day that did not go as well as I had hoped. But it could have gone so much worse:). I am so thankful that we were able to get the apostilles without having to make another trip, that I packed a lot of extra snacks so the boys were not starving, that we had enough gas to make it there and back and that we did not have any car trouble or other trouble where the lack of money and/or ID would have been a huge issue.

The great news is that we never have to do that again. Our adoption process is finally 100% complete. No more home visits. No more post placement reports. No more trips to OKC. Yay!! We still have the court date on Friday for our Oklahoma readoption but that is just a formality to get OK birth certificates.

So that was our day. We were all very tired when we got home.
Hope you had a good Monday. Goodnight.