We're Still Here...

It was a frustrating day...

12:00pm (2:00pm MI time) I call our agency, here, to see if there's any word on when we can leave. I leave a message.

1:00pm (3:00pm MI time) Lo and behold, Michigan ICPC called them this morning and said there was some confusion with our finalization. Because we want to finalize in Michigan, they have to administer a certificate of approval...and to do that they needed confirmation of finalization from our Michigan agency...

Agency here was confused as to why they needed to do the certificate thing, because they've never dealt with that before...but Michigan ICPC said they had contacted our agency and it would only take a few more days...

For good measure, I call our Michigan agency to see if ICPC had, in fact, called them...and they hadn't. We left a message for their legal rep to call us back so we could figure out what the heck was going on...

In the mean time, we track down a phone number for Michigan ICPC and leave them a message ourselves...

An hour later (We were counting every minute), our phone call was returned and Michigan agency said they weren't supposed to be doing the finalization - the agency, here, was taking care of that and we shouldn't have to be doing all this back and forth work...it's the job of our current agency...

Ben gets involved. He calls our current agency back and tells them the above information....to which they reply, "We aren't responsible for doing the finalization - your Michigan agency is doing that."

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME????

We're beyond frustrated at this point, especially since the work day is all but over in Michigan...We know it's not Michigan's fault...all blame lies with our current delinquent agency. They are the largest, here...I can't imagine how they ever achieved that status!

Ben, very pointedly, but politely (we need friends at this point...not enemies) asked them to do their job and stop pawning their responsabilities off on us. He calmly explained that we just want to go home and want them to do whatever's necessary to make that happen.

HELLO. DIDN'T WE PAY THEM ENOUGH MONEY TO WORK THIS ALL OUT WEEKS AGO???

Current agency calls us back very quickly (Ben's pressure must have worked!) and explains that if we're willing to do our finalization, here (and it can be done over the phone) then Michigan ICPC can process the paperwork quickly. Possibly even "today" in the words of the secretary.

YES. FINE. ANYTHING. JUST GET US HOME!

3:00pm (5:00pm MI time) - no call from the agency.

Michigan ICPC never returned our phone call.

HUGE SIGH.

We wait until 4:30pm (here) to call back...hoping maybe it could still happen. No information is given, beyond hope, that maybe we'll get the call tomorrow morning...

We literally stood by the phone all day, packed up the cottage, and gave Rebekah a heads-up...how frustrating. What really gets me is that once I had time to digest the whole situation I distinctly remember talking to our caseworker in Michigan who gave me all of our options for finalization. I remember settling on finalizing here...and we were told then that it could all be done over the phone. How in the world did our agency, here, screw that up? Once we were matched with Rebekah we pulled out of our Michigan agency - they are only responsible for our post placements and the final court hearing ("finalization" refers only to the paperwork that needs to be filed). Our agency here has done EVERYTHING else. All the paperwork. Don't you think it falls under their responsability to make sure everything is worked out???

I can't tell you how many times they asked me to call our Michigan agency for information...shouldn't that have been their job?

Unbelievable.

I can only imagine how long we would have been stuck here if we didn't call today...

Sorry for the "vent" post. This whole process sucks.

Hopefully, we DO get the call tomorrow morning and can head home. In the mean time, I didn't let the mess ruin my day. I still am the mother of the cutest kid on the planet and we had lots of cuddle time, today, as we waited at the cottage.

He continues to change everyday and his little expressions crack me right up! As much as I long for home, I'd stay here forever if that's what needed to happen, for me to continue being his mom.

My heart is so full, it hurts with love for him.