Today should have been easy. Just take in the physical forms and get them signed. I've already had my physical, gotten the bloodwork done, and just needed a notarized doctor's signature. Yeah. Well, easier said than done. First of all, the bloodwork came back showing that my Hep B immunizations from 1996 had been ineffective, and I have no immunity to Hep B. So right off the bat I added one more thing to my "to do" list for the day. With three children in tow, I went to the clinic to find that my nurses assistant was present, but no medical doctor was in the building. The paperwork said "Must be signed by a M.D.". Well, that didn't happen. The FNA insisted on signing it anyway, but we had no notary. Someone called the legal office and they said they'd send a notary over after lunch. So I picked up my stuff and told the clinic staff to call me once the paperwork was signed. I just planned to stay on base for a couple hours to eat lunch and stop by the commissary.
The kids packed up their schoolwork and we headed out. But before we got to the door the notary walked in! What joy! She and the nurse's assistant got the paperwork notarized and then she left. I was heading to the immunizations clinic to see about getting another Hep B series when I noticed the notary had written her commission expiry date as July 2010. That was no good! So I had to add a trip to the legal office on base to my growing "to do" list. The immunizations nurse was just leaving for lunch, so I left my shot record with her and told her we'd be back. Then we headed straight to the legal office, if I could find it. After carrying tired, sore-legged Katie Mei through the maze of the headquarters building, I finally managed to find the right office. However, unsurprisingly, the notary was now at lunch, too. I told the other staff person my problem and he said to come back in about 30 minutes. So I added that to the list.
I got the kids back in the car and we went to Subway for lunch. We managed to refresh ourselves with some lunch, and then returned to the clinic. Mrs. Thomas was ready for me and I got my first in the new series of Hep B shots, as well as a booster for pertussis. Now I have to remember to go back for my next Hep B at the end of November.
Then we drove back to the legal office and found the notary at her desk. She was very apologetic and fixed the problem right away. Finally, we were able to get to the commissary for the milk, orange juice, and chicken for dinner. We got two out of three, and I guess we'll have to come up with something else for dinner because I don't want to go looking for a chicken anywhere else.
Now we're headed out to soccer practice. I'm pooped. I'll be happy to lay my head on my pillow tonight.
As the kids and I were tiredly trudging along the sidewalk back to the parking lot after one of our many "visits" today, I reminded them that if there's ever a time in their lives where they think I don't really love them, I want them to remember all the trouble we were going through today. Their adoptions required just as much trudging and paperwork as this one, and I hoped they saw that just as I was willing to go to great lengths even to the point of frustration to bring our next child home, I did the same for each of them. They are that valuable to me, and there wasn't anything Daddy and I wouldn't put up with to bring them home. I hope they remember that. And I hope this next child will also know how much he or she is loved, even though we don't even know him or her yet. God knows, and that's all that matters to us.
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