Up, up, up and more up.

View from the start

Although I might complain alot about my job I do get some perks, like hiking and getting paid for it.  I have done two hikes in the past month and then a huge hike today to the top of Mount Arrowsmith.  It is a difficult hike, lots of scrambling and straight, straight up.  The down part, in my opinion, is worse.  You spend two plus hours trying to stop yourself from tumbling down the steep slope. 

Great day all round though.  The view from the top is worth all the work.  There are spectacular views of the island mountains, the towns below and across the straight to the mainland.  And we were visited by a helicopter who buzzed over our heads. 

At the top!

We were planning another hike on Aug 7th to a smaller side mountain but the logging roads are being locked tomorrow due to fire risk.  It is a 30k ride in on logging roads before you start the hike.  I guess we will have to wait til Sept. This should give me some time to rest up my legs!

A Little Update

I emailed my agency today, just to see where things are at. I must admit that I am quite proud of myself as I managed to wait almost two weeks without emailing. There wasn't alot of news. My dossier is in Ottawa at the Consulate (of the country I am adopting from)and the Consulate will take my dossier to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for legalization. Apparently the Min of EA will only take 10 pages at a time unless you send it in my mail. However, if you send it in my mail it takes 6 to 8 weeks. If the Consulate takes the papers in a few at a time they can get it done in a couple of weeks. Then the Consulate will authenticate the dossier. Does this make your head spin? And this is only the begining of an almost endless journey for this document. I am going to be even more patient over the next few weeks and wait until mid month before I check back with my agency.

Freedom

Well, Ali is away at my parent's for two weeks so I am free!!! Unfortunately, I have so much to do around here that I haven't had much time to sit around and enjoy the quiet. I have been busy painting the deck and catching up with the gardening. I am enjoying getting out for a run before work and plan to go to some yoga classes and shopping on the weekend. Ali is enjoying her time with my parents and is going to swimming camp.

We did gain some new pets over the weekend. Two new fish named Smarty and Goldie. I didn't really want fish but saw this great hanging fish bowl and had to have it. Ali thinks it is just great and has been calling each day to check that I have fed the fish. Once summer is over I will have to find a place for them inside.





Wendy

One Tiny Step

I got word from my agency today that my dossier has been notarized and it will be sent onto the next step tomorrow. This is one small step in the many that this package has to go through before it gets registered with the Ministry in the Child's Country. The steps and time estimates are as follows.

Notarization - 1 week - COMPLETED
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa - 1-2 weeks
Consulate of Child's Country - 1 week
Courier to Child's Country - 1 week
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Child's Country - 2 weeks
Translation of Dossier - 1-2 weeks
Other courier time - 1 week
Total- 8 to 10 weeks

So with one week done, I am down to 9 weeks of waiting. I am going with the longest time estimate and in fact I won't be surprized if they take longer then 2 weeks at Foreign Affairs in Ottawa as last time I did this it took 3 weeks and I know of others who were 6 weeks. I will keep my fingers crossed that FA is quick with my dossier.

Dossier is on its way

So I have finished my dossier and it is on its way. It will take a few months for it to be notarized, authenicated, translated etc. I don't expect it to be registered in the country until October. I find this a bit hard as I can't even start to count down the months until a referral until it is registerd and gets a number. At least it is on its way and I don't have the work of gathering documents anymore. This dossier was much harder then the one for Nepal. Once it is registered, I will feel that one giant step is completed. Oh, the wait time for a referral, I am told, is 18 - 24 months. I am going with the 24 and if I add the three months until October this means a 27 month wait.

I have promised myself that I will not stress out about this adoption like I did for the Nepal one. For two years I followed the Yahoo groups like crazy. In the last year, I was on them several times a day as we went through changes of Ministers, delays, festivals, yet another delay, changes in staff, another long delay for no reason and finally the Hague report and the outfall from that. This time, I am not thinking about it. Fortunately, the yahoo group for this country is hardly active and there are no other ways of following what is happening. And this is a relief. No daily ups and downs. I am just going to patiently wait until my referral. This may be easier said then done.

Wendy