Two Steps Forward, Etc.

We got our I-171H today!  I know, it sounds like we brought home a new droid (he makes toast and speaks Bocce!), but in fact we have been approved by the United States Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, to bring a foreign-born orphan into the country.  That phrase -- it's so plodding.  They should call it the WOO! BABY! form, and have it say something like, "Dude!  You're so going to be a mommy!" (Fine print:  in a year or so, after a long damn wait.)  (Wait a second.  AAAH!  I'm going to be a mommy!)

Naturally, there has to be a problem.  Our agency notified me today that our home study report has not yet been county certified and state authenticated, so they're having to mail it (MAIL it, AUGH) to upstate New York to the County Clerk (of the county in which it was notarized, which is not our county, or I would take it myself to be done) and the Dept of State.  Basically, our home study report will go and stand in a bunch of lines just like I did last week.  And then it will be stamped and signed a jillion times.  But it will be standing in line, as it were, by mail, which leads me to believe that it will waste away at the bottom of some dusty bin for months, and it will simply never get done.  We were so close to having our dossier complete and consulate-ready.  Why must there always be a problem??

I guess I should mention at this point that, ah, my attempt at being coy about some possible maybe-news?  Yeah.  Well, NEVERMIND.  There's no news.  It's a long story, but to be exasperatingly vague about it, we thought maybe something was going to happen, and quickly, but it's not.  In the end it's the right thing and we're happy with our choice, and there was some choice involved even though there was an element of chance to it as well, where things would have had to happen within a certain timeframe for it to fall into place, and they didn't so it didn't, but it doesn't matter.  All is well.

In the meantime, it seems that I'm going to try to make the most of the slowly dwindling pre-baby days.  Mostly by hopping on planes to random destinations.  I'm going to a bachelorette weekend in New Orleans in a couple of weeks (the last time I was there, for another girls' getaway, a guy we met in a bar took off his underwear and gave it to us and we paraded around with it held aloft on a stick), then a wedding in LA in April (can you believe I've NEVER been to LA before?), then a family thing in May in, uh, Iowa (Des Moines ROCKS, y'all -- you have no idea).  And then!  A friend of mine is getting married in Spain (Granada in particular) in June, so I am trying to figure out a way to parlay that into a little mini-vacay. 

Which brings me to...options!  We could (1) tour around Spain a bit (Madrid, Barcelona, maybe Seville or Salamanca) and then Spain-train it down to Granada; (2) go to Paris (and oooh! maybe a side trip to Reims/Epernay to taste Champagne!) for a few days and then fly to the wedding; or (3) spend a few days in London and then fly down.  I've been to Barcelona, London and Paris before, but my husband and I haven't been together.  I find our having never been to Paris together to be highly disturbing.  It just doesn't seem right somehow.  We are in love!  Why have we not strolled along the Seine hand-in-hand?  And how, HOW, can we live another year without lighting a candle in the cool hush of Notre Dame together? 

And yet, maybe it makes more sense to stick to Spain since we'll be, uh, in the country and all?  And my Hemingway-loving husband would enjoy seeing some bullfighting (which we will ONLY see if it DOES NOT involve any harm to the bull -- am I naive in thinking this is an option?).  We haven't been to London, either, and I'd love to have tea and go to the Tate Modern and pop up to Oxford for a day and so on.  But while I adore London, it doesn't have that hot romantic flava that Paris or Spain has. 

Thoughts?  Anyone? 

Comments

[terriwc]

WHOO! I was elated when I read about the 171H and then deflated when I read about the home study having to be MAILED back. What in the world. Do they not know about fedexing things. Come on now, this is my grandbaby we're talking about and my daughter will be a mom, if they could just get their act together. I will let you figure out the trip angle, I am obsessing here, obviously!

[Lisa Guzik]

LA?!?
We have to see each other (if you have time, of course...)

:)

[sognatrice]

Well, I could be biased...but I'm thinking Italy might be nice ;) Congrats on making progress on the adoption!

[Lacey]

Yay! And ... ugggh. And then UGGGGHHH! Were you going to get a puppy? Was that the exciting news that is now no news? Puppies and babies, two of my favorite things :P

[-R-]

Am I the only one with the Paula Abdul song stuck in my head now?

Congrats on the one form, but dang it on the other one.

I prefer London to Paris, but I have never been to Spain. I am not sure about those harmless bullfights; I am pretty sure that's not how it works.

Underwear on a stick? That is hilarious.

[CraigNY]

Non-lethal bullfighting in Spain? Negative.

[Nancy]

Wow, congratulations on the serious adoption progress! (albeit, with inevitable snail-mail set-backs). Very exciting, very whooo-HOOO inspiring.

As for travel . . . I'd skip London this trip and do either Paris or Spain, particularly if you want zee romance, ha cha cha. We rented a car and toodled around southern Spain for three weeks a couple years ago (honeymoon) -- one of our all-time favorite trips, despite the paucity of non-mortal bull fights.

[jonniker]

I swore I commented on this earlier, but whoo hoo! to the I-17H, but boo to the MAIL queue, honestly. WAITING IN LINE IN THE MAIL? Seriously? My God.

[jes]

BABIES!!!! I'm excited for you.

VACAY! I'm also excited for you! In all my travels, or seemingly lack thereof, I've actually NEVER made it to Europe. So I have no advice to offer. Other than: when I go, I WANT TO SPEND SEVERAL MONTHS THERE, traveling around all nomad-like.

[fats]

From what I know, they kill the bull in Spain. In the south of France however...they just tease him for a while and then they let him live. Need you any more reason to come par-tay with us in Provence this summer?

[Heather B.]

You could spend an an entire week doing Southern Spain. Which would include Sevilla, Granada, Cordoba...and then Malaga, Gibraltar. It's fairly easy to get from Madrid to Granada.

My suggestion is start North in Barcelona, unless you want further North to Bilbao and Cantabria then drive down (so easy to rent a car) to Salamanca, Madrid, etc.

If you do just southern Spain, you can easily get to both Portugal and Morocco. If you do Portugal in the summer, it will be lovely with the beaches if you go to Cascais and Lisbon.

Then of course there are the islands...Seriously that place is full of great places to go. So you'll have no problem choosing. But I do suggest Portugal and or Morocco if you're going to be south.

/end spain pimpage

[Robin]

Hi from Brussels! (This is me, de-lurking.)

I thought I'd send you my two cents worth about the travel: SPAIN! My husband is from Barcelona and our second home is there (that makes us sound older and more hoity-toity than we are), and a summer trip involving Barcelona/Madrid etc. would be awesome, especially if your husband is a Hemingway fan. (I am too. Cried over For Whom the Bell Tolls.) But I would recommend not actually watching a bullfight. Just soak up some Spain vibe and some Spain sun.

I know what you mean about Paris, but I am more and more in favor of not trying to "do" more than one European country at a time. But it IS Paris... Oh, and don't go to London. It's likely to be rainy.