We are DTC

There has been an amazing turn of events in the last few days regarding our paperwork.  Let me pose a question here: does anyone believe that acting faithfully toward something ends up producing positive results?  For instance, I was debating my post about our new son, Li.  Specifically, I was wondering whether I should post at all or wait longer, say, closer to the time that our paperwork got to China.  At least I could say that we were that much closer to this little boy.  But, I didn't wait.  Even as I wrote it, our paperwork sat in Washington DC (or so I believed), but I assumed it would move.  I told our news anyway, hoping that said paperwork would be moving soon.  I published the post, went to a birthday party, and didn't think about it for several hours.  At 10pm, I decided to check Fedex (not obsessively at all) to see if it was all still sitting at the Chinese embassy in Washington DC.  Before my eyes....I saw, no it was not! It was being sent back to Oregon where our agency is located.  The next day, Oregon notified us that our paperwork would be on it's way to China on Friday, August 14th.  Yesterday.  We are DTC.

DTC stands for "Dossier to China", the "dossier" being another fancy word for paperwork.  Stuff we have gathered for 6 months.  Stuff that was signed, notarized, copied, certified, authenticated, etc, etc, etc.  Replaceable, yes, but not without another significant amount of work.  Not without making our new son wait even further while we fixed things.  So, thankfully, thankfully, we can say we are DTC!  Now what?  Oh yeah, we continue to wait.  More news will be added when it comes, I guess.

On another note, I found myself in a situation a couple of days ago where I had to stop and consider my own behavior.  I don't mind doing this, except sometimes it makes me feel bad because I realize that I was probably not acting the best.  Anyway, Caleb and I went to the bank to deposit some money and it was a different branch than I had been to before, as we were on the other side of town.  While the woman behind the counter was processing the transaction, she said to me, "do you mind if I ask you something?  Is he yours?"  (Referring to Caleb).  For anyone who has read past posts-- I  have mentioned situations about people putting their feet in their mouths, or maybe just being plain rude about this.  There have been multiple interactions that I have never mentioned at all.  So, politely or not, when someone asks me such a question, it gets my hackles raised.  I can't help it.  So, I answered "uh, yeah," in a semi-snotty/not that friendly of a way.  Already defensive.  And she answered, "oh!  I was just wondering because I have 4 adopted children from Korea!"  And then she proceeded to ask me about our agency, gave me information about a local group specifically for adopted kids and their families, etc, etc, while I halfway hung my head in shame.  The truth is, sometimes, I am simply a big, fat jerk. Sometimes, people just ask because they care or they have something in common.  Sometimes, people are just being NICE.  Quite a concept, I know.  

So, from now on, I'm going to be trying a little harder to give the benefit of the doubt.  Get over my extra sensitivity to a subject that isn't always a big deal.  Remember that many people are very nice.  (But still keep my handy comebacks, just in case).

And, speaking of nice, we are so appreciative of all the kind words and good wishes received from everyone about this process and our boys.  Thank you!  It means a lot to us that so many people care and are there to show their support in this.  And I will be happy to respond in a very positive way back by showing pictures and continuing to write about it all.  All in a very nice way.

 But, of course, you already knew that.