The people that got us through

No my head has not officially "esploded" yet. Although I did think it was going to last night when I figured out that I gave the social worker the wrong dollar amount for my salary. Fortunately he was able to correct the page the error was on.

I think I can actually take a break to go work in my garden. I finally sent all of our paperwork off to our agency. When all is said and done we will have redone all but 2 pieces of paperwork. Let's all pray that the 2 we don't have to do never have to be redone. They are our 171-H (refingerprinting) and our Certificate of Residency (has to come from Chase Manhattan Bank.)

My day consisted of going to D's office to have the required paperwork notarized, drive to Olympia (30 minutes away) to pick up 3 certified copies of our marriage certificate. I then argued with the notary there that I had to certify that it was a true and correct copy. She refused to do it. She said the Sec. of State would apostille it the way it was. I didn't believe her. I then trusted this strange lady and drove downtown to the SoS office. I proceeded to wait 15 minutes for them to call my number. A rude lady took my paperwork and said have a seat... it will be about 15 minutes. She handed my paperwork to another lady (who was nice) and she went over everything. I paid her a handsome chunk of change and she told me the paperwork would be done in 10-15 minutes. I waited patiently. About 10 minutes later she handed me my stuff and I was outta there! I headed to my local ship it there quick store to send our stuff off. I again shelled out nearly $40 to mail my paperwork to the agency (money well spent if you ask me!)

I was so relieved to have that paperwork out of my hands! I drove from Olympia to my favorite supermarket in Tacoma (not TJ's) to buy me a reward sandwich and one of my favorite treats of all time... Orangina! I think now I am going to go play in the dirt and not worry about what I have to do for the rest of the afternoon.

The sun is shining, I bought our plane tickets yesterday, I sent my paperwork today, we are planning on going up to the travel agent on Friday to drop off our Visa apps and then we are ready to go. All is left is to pack!