Rita has a passport!

This morning at 9:00 am we supposedly had a US Consulate appointment. Because we are working through an agency, we do a bunch of paperwork that allows the agency representative to attend the appointment for us. Then all the parents go to the Consulate the following day to show their faces, take an oath and get the baby's passports/visas.
Turns out, we didn’t actually have an appointment. According to Amy, our guide, AWAA sent a request to the consulate for 9 appointments and they approved 8 of them. Ours was not approved because of some missing paperwork. I am guessing that the missing paperwork was Chris’s fingerprints since there were some complications with those. I did receive an email from our agency that our appointment was approved. I double checked. I’m not sure why they told us that we had approval. Obviously someone wasn’t paying attention. It all worked out okay though. According to Amy, in all the years she has worked for AWAA, this has never happened. However, the US Consulate still allowed her to submit our request for the passport/visa. Amy must have told me 4 times how lucky we were. (Once again, covered in grace.)
There were two other families that had some issues with their paperwork. It was pretty scary because if the paperwork isn’t exactly right you can be turned down for a passport/visa. You are still the legal parent of that child (that happened on Tuesday) you just can’t take them into the US. Amy definitely earned her money today! I am happy to say that the entire group finally got approved. This is NOT something that you take for granted!
Normally we would go the consulate the following day to do the oath, but they had us come this afternoon. It was nice to have the security of getting the passport a day early.
I was freakishly emotional at the Consulate. I cannot remember if I was like that with Lucy or not. I’ll have to go back and read my Lucy blog! I’m guessing that I was. I kept looking around and seeing all these families who have been through so much to bring these children home. Some of these families have been in the process over 5 years. Each has their own story about what they went through and how they came to the decision to adopt. There were old families, young families, families with multiple kids, rich families, poor families, single parent families. And the children were just as varied. Some were older and had been waiting for a family for a long time. Some were tiny little babies (whose parents had been waiting a long time!) There were cleft babies, heart babies, boys, girls and one young lady (about 9 or so) who was in a wheel chair. I wondered what her story was and how she came to her family. I can tell you that her family looked awfully happy to have her! Anyway, I just found the whole thing very emotional. And I couldn’t help but think about the thousands of children who will never have families. Even knowing that, this process is so grueling and so long that I know in my heart we will not do it again. It’s not that we wouldn’t be happy to parent 3 children (Although we’ve got our hands full with the two we’ve got!) we just don’t have what it takes to go through it again. And, we’re old.
Miss Rita is doing very well. She has finally figured out how to give kisses without incorporating a head butt. However, you never know which is coming so you have to be prepared. She also likes to grab my nose to see what noise I will make. Considering the state of my nose these days it can be pretty painful, but I make noises anyway because I love to see her laugh!
She laughs a lot. She is a funny girl! She and Lucy crack each other up. Rita is doing great with me. She easily lets me change her diaper and dress her. She plays with me in the room without any concern as to where Chris is. She lets me pick her up and put her down, sometimes with the occasional hug. She gives me TONS of kisses! But she still won’t let me carry her, or push her stroller or sit on my lap on the bus or during meals. Chris is clearly her main man. I’m not hurt by this (the kisses make up for it) but I am a tiny big concerned. The hardest part is that she won’t let me comfort her when she is upset. It is really tough to see your baby cry and not be able to help her. Even though Lucy was letting me carry her at this point, we didn’t totally bond until we spent 4 weeks at home together while Chris went to work. This time I will go right back to work while Chris gets to spend two days a week with the girls. This certainly isn’t going to advance my case much further! However, there is nothing I can do about this except trust and be patient. Poor Chris is worn out.
Lucy and I did a quick mommy/daughter shopping trip this afternoon so she could pick out souvenirs for Miss Rita and Mr. Cha Cha (her teachers). She needs alone time because she is constantly competing with Rita for our attention. I let her get a pair or squeaky shoes. I had a weak moment. But she was SO EXCITED to get them! She was so proud as she squeak, squeak, squeaked her way around that store. I am pretty sure that everyone else in that store wanted to choke me for letting her wear them, but I’ll never see them again. They live in China! We’ll let her get in a couple good days of squeak, then we’ll remove the squeakers.
Last thing. I have to tell the cutest moment of the day. Rita was napping but it was time to wake her up. Lucy crawled into the crib and gave her a kiss on her cheek. Rita opened her eyes, and then gave a big smile. Then she sat up and immediately lunged at Lucy with a big head-butt kissy. Both girls started giggling.