Why so nervous???

I am normally a girl with a lot of moxie. My mom would call me fearless.
I just go and do things and don't really worry about messing it up (from my end.) However, I am really nervous about taking the homestudy to USCIS tomorrow. Why? I don't know. I guess I'm afraid of messing it up. How could I mess up delivering a shaff of papers to a government agency? I don't know. But I'm nervous.

Maybe I'm not nervous about us tomorrow but our friends the Browns. they have court and I know Sandi is almost numb at this point. The Hoskens have court the next day. Same thing with Amanda. I have been telling each of them every day for the past month that everything will go through smoothly and they'll be in ETH in December and home well before the holidays with their families finally complete. What if I'm wrong? What if there is no electricity in the courthouse that day? What if a child's name is misspelled? What if the parent's name is misspelled. What if only 1 birthparent signed a form that 2 should have?

Or could it be that I'm afraid that we'll be caught in the rainy season next year. That our DTE date will be in January and we'll get a referral in August and then have to sit and wait, looking at our child's picture 100 times a day, for court in October. Could I handle that? Why am I worrying about that at this point?

Maybe I didn't get enough sleep last night. Maybe a nap right now would do me good. I think I'll take one and see if I feel more "fearless" in about 1 hour.

Why Jim Rogal ROCKS it like a Rock-Star

So -- after my last post, several asked me what the wait time is in IL for the Golden Ticket. I honestly don't know. I didn't know any IL BTDT families but the Grisgby-Rogals and knew they have been home w/ Mamush for about 1 year. But I went ahead and called Jenni. She wasn't home, but with Mamush in the background, her lovely husband Jim offered to help the crazy-lady on the other end of the line. It went like this:

Me: Umm, hi, I'm Meg and a friend of Jenni's. Well not exactly, she's never met me. We're a CHI family, and umm, well you don't know me, but I just got my homestudy and wanted to know how long the 171-H takes in IL and you are the only IL family I know and I realize I sound like a wacko right now.
Jim: (laughing) that's okay, I get calls like this a lot.
Me: (nervous laugh) umm, okay. Do you remember how long it took you guys? I know it was over a year ago.
Jim: Well, it took 1 week.
Me: WHAT??!!!!
Jim: It took 1 week after we gave them the homestudy...We called our Senator.
Me: Dick Durbin?
Jim: Yes.
Me: I LOVE that guy!
Jim: So do we.
Me: But he's really busy. I don't want to bother him.
Jim: Call his staff in Chicago, they will help.
Me: Really?
Jim: Yes. Or call the USCIS person in Springfield, her name is Sarah Frejlich. You can find her number online.
Me: Really?
Jim: Yes.
Me: Ummm, thanks so much. Really really thank you. And um, tell Jenni to call me sometime. Okay. Thanks. Really thanks so much.
Jim: okay, goodbye.

(Note: the above conversation has been slightly altered so as to make the caller sound LESS in need of psychotropic medication than she actually sounded during the actual call. This is called "literary license.")

JIM ROGAL ROCKS. HE IS SO AWESOME. He didn't call the cops or have the phone call traced or otherwise act like he KNEW I was a crazy-lady. He was really sweet and nice and gave me the "inside" line to quick USCIS paperwork.

I have always "hearted" Mamush -- now I "heart" his dad too!
I am going to call Dick Durbin's Chicago office and send a letter on Monday, after I hand deliver the homestudy to the USCIS field office.
Woo-Hoo!

HOMESTUDY HOMESTUDY HOMESTUDY!!!

It finally happened folks! We have the DCFS certification letter and the original signed, dated, & notarized Homestudy. Yes, you heard it right, we have the homestudy. WE ARE APPROVED TO PARENT A CHILD AGE 0-18 MONTHS.

I will be hand-delivering this baby to the USCIS field office in Chicago on Monday morning myself. Then, we await our Golden Ticket (171-H.) I am hoping it will take 30-45 days, but am prepared if it takes longer. It shouldn't though, because they have EVERYTHING they need to process it.

We have the homestudy, We have the homestudy, We have the homestudy, We have the homestudy!!!!! Air Hi-Five for the 3 DeZuttis!!!!

The EAGLE HAS LANDED!!!!!

Basecamp to Houston, the Eagle has landed, the egg is in mama's nest. I repeat, the Eagle has landed and the egg is safe in the nest!!

I just received confirmation that our HS is at DCFS in Springfield right now! It is being reviewed and will shortly receive the confirmation letter and stamp. Seriously! This is not a test of the Emergency Broadcast System, this is real. DCFS has our HS. Our finalized HS. It is going to certify it. Really and truly. Can you freakin' believe it???!!!!!

That means that within a few short days we will receive the HS & certification and I will hand-deliver these documents to our USCIS field office (4 blocks from my law firm). That means that in a few weeks (or months) our dossier will be ready and we will have a DTE and will be a waiting family! That means that I may be a mommy this summer or in the very least this fall!!!!!!!!

I'm so happy my heart is about to explode. And my wonderful fantastic husband turned his stupid phone off because AT&T is changing out his stupid smart card, which was never that bright in my opinion and his phone has to charge for the next x amount of hours so I cannot talk to him and that sucks. But I'm so happy now I could sing a show-tune, and likely will. Co-workers beware!