Second time is the charm? NOT

I have probably posted a million things about expectations and control. Admittedly, I have issues with both. I like to know what to expect. Unfortunately, I am not a good listener so even if someone explains to me what to expect, I am still a little over the top. Okay, sometimes a lot over the top. But I have learned from experience that just because someone had one experience, doesn't mean it is going to go that way for me. I think most of us would admit that, should we be honest with ourselves. For example, take childbirth. You can line 50 women up and you would have 50 different stories. Even within my four, each has a different story - yet, after the first I knew what to expect. Adoption follows the same line. We know lots of people that have adopted, probably more than the average because I just sort of gravitate to it. Yet, every adoption story is different. Due to circumstances beyond our control, most of our original paperwork are reaching their expiration dates. Some, like physicals, we just have to keep redoing, redoing, redoing. But others, like fingerprints, homestudy, etc, are a little more involved in updating. In addition to all the updates, our oldest child is technically no longer a child and we have to refile our information with another adult in our household. We started out by (re)going to the courthouse for background checks. The first time we got all our stuff together - took the whole family - afterwards we went out to lunch, made a day of it. This time, we squeezed it in "on the way" to someplace else. 1st - Lady at court "Do you want me to file/send that for you?" Me (thinking to myself - you might not do something correctly and then there will be a delay) "no, thank you" 2nd time - lady asked the same question - I still said no but I had to think about it long and hard! The next place was to Homeland Security - 1st time we were so nervous and excited - all the way there we talked about names, room possibilities, etc. 2nd - again, on our way to someplace else. We literally had to take 4 cars! No romanticising for us! The last thing we had to do/update before Emily goes back to school was our homestudy update. The first time I nearly gave myself an ulcer. I am sure I repainted something. We made her lunch, the kids were lined up "Sound of Music" style, not even going to talk about how clean my house was - I am pretty sure even my attic was straight and well labeled. 2nd time - in my defense, it was the week after Christmas. Let's just say, I wasn't nearly as prepared. I don't even think we offered the poor woman anything to drink. The social worker asked me what we thought about the wait. I told her honestly that I try not to think about it. Some people give the number a special ring, some make it come only to a certain phone, I would probably think it was a telemarketer when they finally call us. All of this brings me back to my second issue of control. I cannot control any of it. I cannot control the how, the where, the when. I just hope and pray I don't have to let you know how I respond the 3rd time around! First time was passionate, second time was indifference, any wagers on the emotion of the third? :)