The Week Between the First and Second Visit

Kat and I were absolutely in a state of euphoria tempered with a healthy dose of complete nervousness. We were both full of energy and exhausted at the same time. It was an amazing time.

First, let me just say that there was, for some strange reason, a lot of cleaning assigned to me around the house. I was, this one time, glad to do it.

Second, Kat had a very important client in town. I should put in perspective an important aspect to this adventure: I work at the Georgia General Assembly. They were in Session during this time. Kat works for a government affairs firm. Both Kat and I were at the busiest time of the year in our professions. It is never easy!

Third, I had to balance work at the Session with dealing with the lawyers, adoption people (in three states), doctors and several other folks with various aspects of this opportunity.

Fourth, We both realized it was Valentines Day. Our gift to each other was to decide to visit Jack again the next weekend. We had been told the process might take a month or longer before we got custody but that we should visit Jack in Michigan as often as we could. A visit was planned for the next weekend. As the President's Day holiday fell on the following Monday (and the Georgia General Assembly would not be Session)there was an opportunity for a longer visit. I got permission to take the Friday off. So we were going up for what we thought was a four day visit. Little did we know...how fast life can change...

As legendary voice of the Georgia Bulldogs, Larry Munson, would say... Get the Picture:

It is Thursday afternoon 16.February.2006 at 4:30pm. The Georgia General assembly is in Session. Kat and I are as busy, in a professional sense, as we are at any time during the year. We get a call at 4:30pm from the adoption lady in Michigan - the great news: the Judge had an emergency hearing regarding Jack and based on the evidence decided to grant us immediate custody of Jack. The hearing was the next day. We would need to be prepared to stay in Michigan up to two weeks to clear all the necessary legal requirements to travel out of the state of Michigan with Jack. The bad news: Did I mention the Georgia General Assembly was in Session?

Our flight was early Friday morning. It is now after 4:30pm on Thursday. I had to rush and ask, inform, beg and, in general, plead with my immediate boss and the staff of the Senator in charge of the Senate to allow me this time. Or, so I thought. I mean, I was nervous and scared. Time off is not heard of during Session. I felt pretty bad asking. Let me say, that both my immediate boss and the Senator and his senior staff could not possibly have been more supportive. They were beyond fantastic. Kat and I will forever appreciate them for their kindness to us in giving us all the time we would need and their complete support. Kat also had to tell her boss. It was a real burden on that person and they were likewise supportive and we also thank her.

OK, after several more hours changing all the reservations from a four day visit to a, "we have no idea how long we will need the hotel room, rental car, etc" round of phone calls and having repack for a longer visit and imposing on our family to watch the house and dog for a longer time - I think we were set for a our second visit.

See - piece o' cake..nothing difficult here. Oh, did I mention the weather forecast for Michigan during our visit called for intense snow...can someone explain why Jack was not from say Miami or Los Angeles...