I am the proud owner of bright, shiny happy Apostilles! ! I feel relieved, proud, happy, exhausted, content!
For those who have followed my paperwork journey the past few stressful days and my declaration that the rest would go smoothly, in the end, all was fantastic because I have in my hands, all the efforts of labor these past few months. But just because it’s pretty darn unbelievable, I must share that today actually had challenges too — My dad picked me up at 7:30 am and we drove in rush hour traffic for 45 minutes just 6 miles to wait 40 minutes until the doors opened and then on line for 40 minutes to be told that, once again, 4 of my documents couldn’t be authenticated because the Notary (the new one I used yesterday to fix the other faux pas) was not registered in this county either. I almost cried but didn’t. I was a pro at this now and I had a determination that this WOULD get done today. I returned back home with my dad, found Gary at his office, renotarized at the local Notary and headed right back where I needed to go in Downtown Brooklyn and then over the bridge into Manhattan. In the early morning, on my first visit, I remember seeing an office worker at the Kings County Clerk’s office whose hair was still wet from a morning shower and her eyes were still small from sleep. I noticed that when I finally got back with the new notarizations at noon, her hair was dry and she looked bright-eyed. I just thought it was a unique observation of the passage of time. Like watching those photo montage videos that show a flower blooming or spring become summer and then fall. All of a sudden, there you are.
I want to focus on the positive, on my strength today. A cop yelled at my father in a completely arrogant way over a parking question my dad had, and I said — “Please speak more gently to people.” And he paused, apologized and did. I have never been so bold.
My father, exhausted, having to take constant bathroom breaks because of his medication, having nothing to read because he had finished the morning papers earlier, chauffeured me around and simply sat idly waiting for me today for 8 hours straight. He spent time waiting in illegal parking spots or circling crowded downtown Manhattan city streets with roads so narrow it made it difficult to see because my dad is blind in one eye all so that I could have company and manage this process with as little stress as possible.
Once my second set of Notaries were authenticated in the Kings County Clerk’s office in Brooklyn, I then headed to Manhattan’s Supreme Court building to authenticate my marriage certificates. Finally, I took all my authenticated papers to 123 William Street to complete my journey with the Apostille process. After the initial upset from the morning, the rest was smooth sailing in every step of the way. Things took time but there were no glitches.
I treated myself to a Starbuck’s Frappacino on the way to where my father was parked. I felt like crying earlier when my father said he’d drive me home and then back again so that I could complete this all today. His support was immense. There were no words. I felt like crying on the way home for the relief of it all, the sheer exhaustion from not having slept well last night and all the shlepping around today with my heart caught in my throat. It felt like such a journey and it has been.
I look forward to celebrating our completion with Gary in a few weeks, when his busy season has ended and he can relax and start to settle in to news that, by sometime next week, when all is approved, we will officially be paper ready prospective adoptive parents. Wow, I can’t believe it. From adoption decision making when I first began this blog to finally having something tangible to say “Yes, Steph, here it is — proof of all you have dreamed of.”
I will post again tomorrow when all is compiled to sent out to With Hope and Love Adoption agency.
Thank you to all who wrote with comments and support the past few days! Your words were always uplifting to me!
Until then …. goodnight!!
Steph
what an awesome dad you have Steph. Tell him – I sincerely thank him for keeping you company today and giving you strength! What a great support system you have. Give that package a big Kiss and get it in the mail, and we can have a virtual toast together tomorrow night! Now it's time to rest and breathe easier.
xoxo Julie
what an awesome dad you have Steph. Tell him – I sincerely thank him for keeping you company today and giving you strength! What a great support system you have. Give that package a big Kiss and get it in the mail, and we can have a virtual toast together tomorrow night! Now it's time to rest and breathe easier.
xoxo Julie
what an awesome dad you have Steph. Tell him – I sincerely thank him for keeping you company today and giving you strength! What a great support system you have. Give that package a big Kiss and get it in the mail, and we can have a virtual toast together tomorrow night! Now it's time to rest and breathe easier.
xoxo Julie
Wow! What a busy day!
And you know what? I can just FEEL the peace and contentment in you flowing out from my screen. Seriously. You took on the day and accomplished so much, and I bet you feel immense pride in all that got done. Thinking of all that driving around made me dizzy! 🙂 Your Dad is awesome. What a trooper!
Looking forward to the day (coming soon!) you sit back and just WAIT! 🙂
Wow! What a busy day!
And you know what? I can just FEEL the peace and contentment in you flowing out from my screen. Seriously. You took on the day and accomplished so much, and I bet you feel immense pride in all that got done. Thinking of all that driving around made me dizzy! 🙂 Your Dad is awesome. What a trooper!
Looking forward to the day (coming soon!) you sit back and just WAIT! 🙂
Wow! What a busy day!
And you know what? I can just FEEL the peace and contentment in you flowing out from my screen. Seriously. You took on the day and accomplished so much, and I bet you feel immense pride in all that got done. Thinking of all that driving around made me dizzy! 🙂 Your Dad is awesome. What a trooper!
Looking forward to the day (coming soon!) you sit back and just WAIT! 🙂
Hi Steph, we are also on the Kaz journey (# 2 for us — we adopted our son Max from Kaz one year ago). Oh, how we remember the Apostille dance, but we think that doing so in the NYC area has to be the absolute trickiest and craziest place to do so in person! (That makes Ohio look like a breeze!) We are honored to be following your story. We are awaiting our I-797 form and once we have that in our hands, we'll be off to Apostille land ourselves.
Hats off to your dad! How wonderful that he could be a part of the day — you'll always remember that.
On to the waiting game!
Karen, Glenn, and Max
http://ourkazakson.blogspot.com (there's nothing much on there about adoption #2, yet…)
Hi Steph, we are also on the Kaz journey (# 2 for us — we adopted our son Max from Kaz one year ago). Oh, how we remember the Apostille dance, but we think that doing so in the NYC area has to be the absolute trickiest and craziest place to do so in person! (That makes Ohio look like a breeze!) We are honored to be following your story. We are awaiting our I-797 form and once we have that in our hands, we'll be off to Apostille land ourselves.
Hats off to your dad! How wonderful that he could be a part of the day — you'll always remember that.
On to the waiting game!
Karen, Glenn, and Max
http://ourkazakson.blogspot.com (there's nothing much on there about adoption #2, yet…)
Hi Steph, we are also on the Kaz journey (# 2 for us — we adopted our son Max from Kaz one year ago). Oh, how we remember the Apostille dance, but we think that doing so in the NYC area has to be the absolute trickiest and craziest place to do so in person! (That makes Ohio look like a breeze!) We are honored to be following your story. We are awaiting our I-797 form and once we have that in our hands, we'll be off to Apostille land ourselves.
Hats off to your dad! How wonderful that he could be a part of the day — you'll always remember that.
On to the waiting game!
Karen, Glenn, and Max
http://ourkazakson.blogspot.com (there's nothing much on there about adoption #2, yet…)
So so so HAPPY for you Steph! Proud too!
Love ya,
Carolyn
So so so HAPPY for you Steph! Proud too!
Love ya,
Carolyn
So so so HAPPY for you Steph! Proud too!
Love ya,
Carolyn
Stephanie
I am so happy for you. It is a huge accomplishment and now you can really check some steps off this process. I am really happy you stayed determined today.
Congrats
Sandi
Stephanie
I am so happy for you. It is a huge accomplishment and now you can really check some steps off this process. I am really happy you stayed determined today.
Congrats
Sandi
Stephanie
I am so happy for you. It is a huge accomplishment and now you can really check some steps off this process. I am really happy you stayed determined today.
Congrats
Sandi