Authentication

Have you ever needed anything authenticated? Most people know of the notary public, and that being good enough for most things. This is not true for adoption paperwork. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, but WOW! to level you have to go to make sure a document is true. Our documents going in our dossier to China have to be authenticated thru the different levels from where the document originated. We went in just thinking all of our papers would go thru the Ohio levels of authentication. For instance, in Ohio, this is path they take - 1. Notary signs. 2. Verified in the county of which the notary is registered. 3. Ohio Secretary of State. 4. Chinese consulate in New York. The delivery to these different location have to be either be hand delivered,Fedex'ed (so it is trackable), or couriered.

Well, this is what we thought ALL of our documents would take this route. We were wrong. Three of our documents originated from MS and SC, and they take a totally different routes. Mississippi documents go thru MS Secretary of State then to the Consulate in Houston. South Carolina documents go thru SC Secretary of State, US State Department in DC (our friend Matt totally helped us out on this one), and then to Consulate in DC. My head spins just trying not to confuse who gets what and did a put in the cover letter or more importantly the check or money order. When our documents are ready to go to New York, I feel I may need to hand deliver them myself.

If you are thinking of adopting, don't let this discourage you. The end result will totally be worth it!!! My hubby preached and awesome sermon this past week on Sanctity of Life with a little of adoption advocacy thrown in - stop by the church and pick one up. I am not sure if they have been posted online yet.

In the "Home" Study Stretch

This week we finished up our paperwork for our home study and turned it into our social worker. Now we wait for one more training session, and for her to finish the home study on her end. That will make one mountain of paper work over, and then on to the China dossier. Once the home study is finished, I can also start applying for adoption grants.

Last month a new set of referrals came in, and we were hoping to get a match. No call came, but it was probably for the best since we were on the road visiting family. We are anxiously awaiting a phone call from the home office.

Thank you to all our friends for encouragement and prayers through this process. We know you will celebrate with us on "Gotcha Day". Please also remember another family in our church adopting - the Pletchers. They are adopting 3 siblings from the Ukraine, and are in the country now trying finish the process.