Excuse me as I sit on my pity-pot for a minute ....

I know that to get anything good in life you must work for it. I know that there are hurdles to jump over and mountains to climb ... but dang, I just want a break from the trials and tribulations for just a few months. I would like everything, for once, in our adoption process to go smoothly. I would like to feel worry free and just enjoy the adoption process for once. I have yet to feel that great big sigh of relief and think to myself, "Ahhhhhhhh ..... He IS Ours!!!" Instead, what is always running through my head are things like, "Since the CCAA went computerized, do we still have Noah? Has something messed up and he's accidentally back on the list? Why haven't we heard anything from the CCAA? Why wasn't our names and LID date on the CCAA website with everyone else’s?"

Now, to stoke the fires of my anguish even more I get an e-mail from our agency which states that Guangzhou has not even received our file yet .... WHAT??? It's been months and months and months since we switched from Vietnam to China, they should have it now. We were told to contact the INS and make sure they sent the file to the National Visa Center. So, now we can't go any further in our adoption until this little mystery has been solved.

I decide that there was nothing that would stop me from figuring out this mystery so we e-mail our social worker and she e-mails us a phone number and e-mail address for the INS we use. I call and leave urgent messages on answering machines and I e-mail frantically ..... I get no response. Not showing any discouragement yet, I looked up INS online and I called the national number. The first lady I spoke with was very friendly and wanted to help, so after taking down a lot of my information she patched me to someone she said would help. Instead of a friendly voice wanting to help I get a lady who sounds like she tired of her job and would rather die than answer this phone call and help me. She gets all hot with me about how I just need to e-mail the INS office again and just wait .... is she crazy or just smoking crack????

I then tried to call the National Visa Center to see if they received my I-824 from INS. I figured maybe if INS sent it to them I wouldn't have to worry about trying to get in touch with anyone at our crazy INS office! So, I look up the NVC online, get their number and call. I spend over an hour on the phone trying to get an operator. I'm never on hold, just a recorded message saying that all operators are busy and to hang up and try later. I keep trying, and trying, and trying ... no luck at getting a real person.

I finally get off the phone feeling defeated and I begin to weep. My wonderfully tender husband walks over to me and tries to console me, but my temper flares and I try and think of anyone who can help. Then I hear a little voice in my head. It's my social worker's voice from a long time ago and she's saying, "If you ever need help with INS call your congressmen." Not expecting any help at all I Google Chip Pickering and I pick up the phone and I call. I could swear that during our phone call I could her actual angels singing. I speak with this wonderful woman named Sally Wilkinson who tells me that she has her own contacts and that we would have answers on Monday (it would take longer because of the upcoming holiday).

Do I feel relieved? No, but I do feel like there is someone out there who is willing to help us, and that makes sitting on my little pity-pot that much easier.