DTC!!

I just came back from an appointment with a physical therapist. Actually, it was my last. Six weeks ago, I started going because of back pain that had been reoccurring. I was told it was a combination of my poor posture (which I knew) and stress (which I was in denial of). So, after several weeks of remembering to sit up straight and do my prescribed exercises, I'm feeling a lot better. Then, today when I was leaving, I also realized something else: I'm not as stressed. Six weeks ago, I was struggling through this new job and our adoption paperwork seemed at a stand still. But some of that has changed. For instance, I'm accepting my new job a little more. I'm getting used to it. Sometimes, people at work will talk to me now. I think it helped because I gave flu shots to the staff. You would think that using a needle on 40 people that I work with would make them like me less. But it actually gave me a chance to meet some new people and for them to meet me. "Hi. I'm the new nurse here. My name is Meg. And here is a poke in your arm." Or something like that. Overall, I have cut back on several hours of work per week. I always thought I would work full time until I had kids and then work less. But I'm finding that it's actually OK to work less anyway. It's that whole stress thing, I guess.
Another cause for excitement is that we finally sent our paperwork to China! It is on it's way as we speak! This is the point where we would say we are "DTC" which stands for "Dossier to China". There were quite a few days where we didn't think it would happen. On Monday morning, Russ called our agency to verify that everything was ready to go, because we knew they would be sending the next batch of dossiers this week. We knew our paperwork had been certified, authenticated, and was sitting at the agency being reviewed. Our fees were paid. Our homestudy was done and we had completed the educational aspect. Instead of finding out that everything was ready to be sent, we were told that, no, we were still missing some documents. How could this be?! I thought we had sent them every last copy of anything we could possibly have. I was beginning to wonder if they wouldn't also want a copy of my 5th grade science award certificate and a urine sample. No, they actually were missing "supportive documentation from our homestudy". In other words, the agency who did our homestudy sent them a copy of the write up and nothing else. We had two days to gather everything. Russ took Tuesday off work, and by that evening, everything was being Fedex'd overnight to our Texas agency. Finally, we received word from the agency that our paperwork was on it's way to China with everyone else's. Thank you, God.
I know everyone has a different opinion about this whole thing. For some, they complain about how long it is taking, and I know it is long. For others, they are wowed by how fast it is all going, and I can see that as well. The truth is, some days, it feels like forever. And others, I'm very grateful that it is so much shorter that our original thought. And every day, I'm thankful that we keep going and there is a little guy on the other side of the world waiting for us and we'll be meeting him soon.