good night, and good luck

So, now I'm grabbing a few hours' shuteye before I take off for St. Louis in the morning. The reason? Small but dangerous.

What is this trip in aid of, gentle reader? Well, after Friday's what-have-you, we got an email this afternoon from Caseworker #1. She conveniently sent it 12 minutes before her office closed to say that before she could send our homestudy addendum to St. Louis, would we be so kind as to refresh her memory. She could not find the information on the child we wish to adopt, the medical condition of that child (note ambiguous gender), nor the social welfare institute that child calls home. She even left blank the space for our last name, just so we felt helpful.

Now, I don't know if she wanted us to feel a sense of ownership, or if she's too meticulous to call St. Louis and ask them for that information, but I figured out why she can't access it onsite. When, way back in crisp November, Shane happily carried our Letter of Intent to the Brentwood office to let trusty Caseworker #2 send it to St. Louis (and from there to China!), he realized as he did one last careful triple check in her office that I missed a signature (stupid!stupid!), and I couldn't get there before closing. She helpfully suggested that he forge my signature, but because he spent days (which he will never get back) in assorted police and visa offices in Chengdu, China, last year, watching me jump through hoops to avoid the Chinese gulag and get a passport replaced, he said no, he'd just as soon I signed the form, as the Chinese happen to expect honesty in these matters. She pressed him a second time, and he decided that since we were taking students to St. Louis the following weekend anyway, we'd just take a detour to the home office and deliver it by hand, with my signature. Thus, that entire set of papers never was privileged to be copied in Brentwood, nor does it grace their files now-I assume.

But what am I complaining about? It was a mere $1800 for the Homestudy process, and this is an addendum, for which we paid no extra. You get what you pay for. Don't you?

At any rate, we're at an even dozen now for gigantic gaffes, so I figure a field trip to St. Louis is in order to clarify my position about wanting to start a family is in order.

We welcome prayers. Really. We do.