Day 17: A Visit to the Embassy

This morning Aria and I headed to the Child Protection Agency to pick up Shane's Power of Attorney which I was hoping would be the answer to all the issues we are having in his absence. Quincy dropped us off at the CPA and as I walked through the gate, the woman manning the gate waved me over. Even though English is the spoken language in Guyana, it can still be very hard to understand what people are saying due to their thick Caribbean accents. The woman was going on about my "short pants" and how I couldn't go inside. Uh-oh. I had briefly considered changing clothes but since we were just stopping in to pick up a document, I didn't. It was wearing dressy shorts that I'd even wear to church, but I guess "short pants" are not allowed at the CPA even though very tight, short skirts are.

I was prepared to head back to the hotel to make a wardrobe change when a woman working there overheard the conversation. She asked me to take a seat outside the building and went up to talk to Ms. Pluck. I only needed to grab a document from Ms. Pluck and didn't actually need to go inside if she'd be willing to bring it out. Shortly after, the woman helping me reappeared and brought me upstairs to Ms. Pluck. She had the document waiting and we were in and out in only a couple minutes. But now I know - do not wear short pants to the CPA!

Quincy dropped us off at the Marriott and when I checked my email, I had a message waiting from Hopscotch. They had finally submitted our DS260 and sent our i600 documents!! I quickly printed the documents with little time to spare before having to load up in the car once again. This time we were heading to the US Embassy. I wasn't exactly sure what I'd need for this meeting. I thought we were just discussing the process, but I brought along everything I could think of just in case.

Once we arrived, we made our way to security. They are extremely through here and require you to leave your cell phone in a lock box when you enter.  It was a real struggle understanding the language (not sure why it's so difficult - we are both speaking English!) and knowing what exactly they wanted me to do. I brought the stroller with so they needed to squish my double stroller through their x-ray machine like at the airport. I was surprised it fit! Then the guard took Aria so that I could walk through the metal detector alone. Aria was so upset that a stranger was holding her that she started screaming at the top of her lungs. Poor little bubs didn't even stop to breath until I quickly took her back and on our way we went.

We took a seat in the waiting area and waited for our name to be called. No one here can pronounce "Slominski" but I knew what she meant. The woman took all my original adoption documents and I600 forms (thank goodness I was able to print them!) It seemed as though our only hold up would be getting the passport, until they found out that Shane had not yet signed the I-600 and the Power of Attorney that our Adoption Agency had assured me would work actually wouldn't. It was clearly stated in the I-600 instructions that a Power of Attorney could not sign on the petitioner's behalf. UGH! Our agency was so certain that it would work that I didn't have Shane mail me the documents when I first realized I needed his signature. And of course, now he's out of town for work. Tomorrow when his plane lands at home, he has strict instructions to get me my documents ASAP! Our I-600 can't be approved until we have his signed pages. A very frustrating situation that could have easily been avoided had our Adoption Agency done their homework.

Tomorrow Aria and I are heading to the Post Office to get another original Adoption Certificate issued so that I have a spare just in case. Pray that Shane's documents arrive by Tuesday so that we are not delayed. We just may have everything wrapped up by next Friday (fingers crossed!)