Oh my word. Wednesday of this week. I just have to share and I have to laugh because seriously, what else are you going to do... Once you hear about my day you'll understand...

It's funny because the night before this happened, I was reading my bloggy friend Allison's post and thinking about how funny it was... which you may want to check out after you hear this story.

Anyways...
Wednesday was our pre-assigned fingerprinting appointment at the USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) office in Atlanta. I got up bright and early to pray and spend some time in my Bible, got my big girl off to school, fired off a few emails, did some homeschool with my middle child and even took a shower. Trust me, this is a VERY productive morning in my home. Especially the showering part.

I load the baby and my 4 year old up in the car with plenty of time to spare and we're off! I head to drop off Davis with a friend and then pick up Dan at his office for our appointment. Before we even get out of the neighborhood, I start not feeling so good. My mouth is dry, my stomach hurts, weird... I was fine 5 minutes ago. I call Dan at the office and ask him to bring down a bottled water from his office fridge when I come to pick him up.

I drop Davis off with my sweet friend Valerie and head to Dan's office, only about 5 minutes away. And my condition has taken a turn for the worse. By the time Dan gets downstairs to meet me, I am slumped over in the passenger seat of the car, half gagging, half dry heaving and I announce to Dan (as if he can't tell) that I think I'm sick.

Anyways, the two of us and the baby head to the appointment. We pull into the parking lot, I get out of the car before it's even stopped, walk about 3 feet and promptly throw up on the front lawn of this lovely government facility. Hello USCIS, Shelly Owens has arrived!

Dan and I look at each other, not sure what to do... I mean should we clean it up or something? We decide no... it's raining. That should take care of it. (Wow, nothing says classy like some Dan & Shelly Owens.) But should we go in if I'm this sick? Neither of us knows what to do... can we reschedule this appointment or will it delay our entire adoption process? We decide to risk it and go on in. I mean, what's a little puke between friends anyways?

By clenching my teeth shut and offering up lots of prayers, I manage to hold it all together while we check in with the receptionist and fill out our paperwork. Then we're ushered over for a nice, long wait in the fingerprinting area. The long wait really worked in my favor as it provided me with ample opportunities to visit and throw up in the USCIS public restrooms. Good times! I also think I really disturbed everyone around me. While I focused on not throwing up in the waiting room, I don't think I spoke one word to poor Dan or gave him one second of help with the baby -- who eventually grew tired of hanging around the USCIS office and started to fuss.

Finally, my number is called, I make it through the fingerprinting process without incident (although God bless the poor man who did my prints... I'm sure I smelled like a used airplane barf bag at this point) and we are dismissed.

Dan drops me off at home and takes the baby into the office with him. I'm sure you're surprised to hear that that lasted about 30 minutes and then they were back home for the day. Later in the afternoon, my big kids are dropped off by my dear friend Joy who also fed them lunch. I was a little confused on the whole transfer process... I left Davis with Valerie and left Madeline at the school and they ended up with Joy... oh well. I have awesome friends. And an awesome husband. And he has an awesome boss who lets him come home and manage the house while I'm sick in bed.

So we're all better and no one else seems to have come down with my mysterious illness. I almost wonder if it was a spiritual attack on our family and against our adoption... We came very close to walking away from that fingerprinting appointment. And for reasons I hope to share very, very soon (like, maybe on our next post) I am so glad we stuck it out. Puking or not.

Stay tuned! More details to come...