Happy New Year! Well, so much for posting every day. :-) I sort of missed yesterday. Yesterday ended well but I ran into some snags early. The good news though - I got my money from the bank!!!! Yes, we were cutting it very close, but I have it now and this was one of the biggest reliefs. For those of you not familiar, I must have brand new bills to take to Kazakhstan with me. It is a cash based society and credit cards don't cut it. They also are afraid that old money is counterfeit, so the bills must be brand new (or look brand new). Anyway, I had to wait for the bank to receive new money but the teller manager was wonderful and came through for me. While I was in the little room counting my money, I showed her pictures of Abby. She proceeded to show the pictures to all the tellers. I have a feeling they will recognize Abby when we get home. :-) The funny thing is how small the stack of money actually is. I have totally been picturing a need to be handcuffed to a briefcase full of my money. Sadly, I won't get the opportunity to try out my spy capabilities as I will be able to fit the money in my money belt.
The snag I ran into was in the form of an email from the Embassy in Almaty. I had sent them an email making sure they had received my Cable Visa 37 (fancy words for "Gayla has been approved by BCIS for adoption"). They wrote me back that they did have my visa but that my fingerprints were not valid. A little more background for you.... I had my fingerprints taken (and approved) back in February 2003. The fingerprints are good for 15 months so I knew they were okay. Well after many phone calls, I came to find out that BCIS (new acronym for INS) has changed their policy and now puts the fingerprint dates on the approval form. When mine were approved however, this was not the policy and thus what the Embassy is looking at does not inform them about my fingerprints. Long story a bit shorter, a very nice lady at BCIS left me a message that she sent the fingerprint info to the Embassy. Hopefully they received it (I won't find out until tomorrow because of the holiday).
I can tell you that International Adoption requires much patience and diligence. Things have to be done just so and the rules are CONSTANTLY changing. Fortunately, I am with the best agency (World Partners Adoption) in the world and they are always on top of things.
Today I will attempt to work some and then continue with my checklists. I swear my checklists seem to grow daily. Much like a Chia Pet. :-) But all I have to do is look at Abby's picture and/or video and I know anything I am going through is SOOOOOO worth it. Four days and counting until I can get on that plane.
Happy New Year everyone!