Fingerprints
We finally got our notice in the mail from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services telling us we could get our fingerprints done. Jeff went right away the next day (4/21/06) because his hours are definitely flexible-Ha! I, on the other hand will try to do them on Tuesday (4/25/06) since they are closed on Mondays.
We got our Birth Certificates authenticated from Oregon and California. They look very official with Chinese characters and stamps on the front. Our Homestudy report has been done for some time. I think we just need to put together our family picture page and a couple other minor things and then WAIT! I’m not sure what we are waiting on, I think it is the I 171-H. I don’t have the time or mental energy to really know the details of this paperwork process. Teaching takes all my energy, so I’m relying on Jeff, our agency and caseworker to help me through.
Speaking of teaching-I think I must press on and teach one more school year until we go to China. My Elementary school is changing the boundaries for the next school year and the 6th graders are not going to be in Elementary schools next year, so our school is downsizing big time. Since I was hired recently with no seniority, I get to move also. I had to go to the DISD “deployed” teacher job fair yesterday. Basically I had to interview again to find a job in my own district or else I would be “assigned” something later in the summer (which would mean teaching 7th grade Science in a totally scary school!) Believe me- there are plenty of those in DISD. There had to be a hundred DISD schools represented at the fair and as I walked down the aisles looking at their posted openings, all I saw were the words BILINGUAL TEACHERS NEEDED. There were literally two Elementary schools that had a need for English speaking teachers in the primary grades. One of those was a school I would not feel safe parking my car at. The other one was a brand new school way up north, not even finished being built. I had one chance!!! The other 1st grade teacher I teach with right now also had to go to this job fair and we convinced the principal of this new school to hire both of us. Whew! I can relax a bit now.
We saw an Asian family walking down the street in West End. They had two little girls wearing white summer hats, and one girl’s hat blew off. Jeff noticed them and said something about how she would look like like the daughter we would have. I can’t speak for him, but for me, that just feels totally right, like how it was meant to be for me. I feel totally natural being a mother to my little Chinese daughter- but she will just be “our daughter” - and I will be totally in love with her- and we will live happily ever after!
The other night I was thinking, and I realized that our future daughter has already been conceived and is living in her birth mother’s body. That is pretty cool to think she is on this earth somewhere half way around the world right this very minute. I can’t even begin to understand the struggles that this woman may be going through or will go through make the choice she’s going to make and leave her daughter to be found. It is an entirely different culture and way of life that is foreign to me, but our lives will forever be intertwined. That is amazing!
Sunday, April 23, 2006