The Dossier (Again)
Dossier work has a habit of landing on us right at the time we've hoped for some respite. Let me explain . . .For Lutheran church musicians, "festival season" starts with Reformation in late October and ends with Epiphany in early January. In between, life is a whirl of rehearsals, programs, and services, punctuated by relentless deadlines for bulletins. Jonathan can't take over at home for me, because he's busy grading tests and papers in the end-of-semester blitz. And never mind that personal holiday preparations must find a place somewhere in the schedule--the children in the house don't let you forget! Luckily for all involved, the kinds of music featured in the major festivals are wonderful and fulfilling, both for the musician and the congregation.
My pastor signed a Christmas card for me with the words "Merry Christmas and Happy January!" It's so true! January is the "breather month" between festival season and Lent/Holy Week/Easter. What a gift--slowing down at work IS possible for several weeks.
A similar time of year is August. Every parent I know breathes a sigh of relief when their kids go back to school. As a child, I remember being slightly hurt that going back to school was such a jubilant time for my parents. Now I totally understand!
In August 2006, Jonathan started his duties at Concordia about a week before the kids went back to school. I was hanging on as best I could, waiting and waiting for that first week of school and six hours a day of quiet. The day before school started, we heard from Masha that Kola would be available for adoption soon, and that our dossier needed to be assembled ASAP. So on the first day of school, we were busy, busy with documents. My feelings were a curious mix of depression over the work and excitement about Kola.
Well, in the meantime Kola's adoption has been delayed for a year (see my post on August 7, 2007 for more details). He should now be available for international adoption in July 2008, which is when Ukraine can start arranging travel times for us. Because most of the documents from Fall 2006 are expiring this spring and summer, Masha told us a week ago that we need to get a new dossier to her by the end of next month. I'm not so depressed about the paperwork this time. It helps that we know the ropes, having done it twice before.
Over breakfast this morning, Jonathan and I were able to prioritize the most pressing paperwork (i.e., the ones that take the most processing time). Our goal this week is to assess whether we need a new I-600A or can extend the old one, and submit the appropriate paperwork to the U.S. government to do so. I'll explain this document in more detail in a future post, once I know whether we're extending it or starting over.
Happy January!
posted by Stahlkes @ 10:27 AM
1 Comments:
Hi! We used Masha too this past summer. Where is your Kolya at? You typed Kilovohrad, but I was wondering if it was a typo? We adopted from Kirovohrad, from the childrens home which is down the street from the baby home....so I'm wondering if this is the same city. If you adopted sibs from the childrens home, it would be great to see if my DD is friends with your kids.
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