We had a major glitch with ONE document that kept it at the Embassy for 3 weeks, and if you don't care to hear the boring details just skip this paragraph (I promise I don't mind). Of all things, it was our marriage certificate! I "knew" that they required a newly certified copy, which I had obtained a few months ago in preparation, but I didn't realize it had already been 8 months since I got the new copy made... and they insist that your marriage certificate copy is no more than 6 months old. So, to prove that Curt & I ARE in fact still legally wed, I had to go to the courthouse in the county in which we we married to get a new copy (3 hour drive round trip). Then we had to take it back to the Sec of State for state certification- the gold seal- again, and send it back to our courier in Chicago. Unfortunately, the Sec of State had made a mistake on the certification page and it got sent back to us, again. At this point I was in tears, and had to call Lansing to figure out what was going on. It seemed like everyone was telling me something different... but we got it sorted out, went back to Sec of State for yet another gold seal, and sent it a third time. (Keep in mind, every time we overnight documents Express Mail, it costs us $20, and we have to include another $20 in postage for the return. Therefore, mistakes get expensive!) It still wasn't exactly right, because the Sec of State had put the gold seal on the back of the document this time, not the front where it is supposed to be, but they were able to work around it and get the thing sealed. I hope it passes all the future inspections now too!
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| Buried in paperwork!! |
After countless hours of preparation, the entire dossier (a.k.a. huge packet of adoption documents) is now complete and ready to be mailed!! While this is a HUGE milestone, and a tremendous relief, I know there is still a lot of work & a lot of waiting ahead. But I know I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength! He has been so good and so faithful, and we know everything is in His hands!!
Tomorrow I will mail this whole packet to our adoption agency in Colorado. It will go through a triple-review process then get translated, and if there are NO more glitches (please pray for that!) it will be sent to China in 2 weeks!!
Best case scenario: our file is sent to China in 2 weeks, we get "matched" with a child quickly, do a "short" round of paperwork, then can travel to bring her home about 4-7 months after that. So, the earliest possible time would probably be this fall.
Worst case scenario: ....never mind. Let's just stay positive. :-) But I'd be thrilled to have her home by Christmas!!
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