paperwork

Dr. Daddy and I are hoping to have all of our dossier paperwork ready to mail in by the end of THIS month. Most of the documents have to have Dr. Daddy's signature on them so I couldn't do them while he was gone. So this month he is in high gear to get this finished.We may have to wait for the US govt.'s paperwork before we actually send it in, but we hope to have all the stuff we need to do, done.
That means that in our dossier will be:
birth certificate for Dr. Daddy
birth certificate for me
marriage certificate
employment verification for Dr. Daddy
non-employment verification for me
home study (including 4 letters of reference)
police report for Dr. Daddy
police report for me
medical report for Dr. Daddy
medical report for me
USCIS adoption clearance (I-171 H)
power of attorney x2
letter of reference from family
letter of reference from friend
letter of reference from local official (pastor)
post placement obligation letter
passport photos (x4) for Dr. Daddy
passport photos (x4) for me
application letter
cover letter
adoption agency license (we don't actually send that in, the adoption agency adds it to our folder)

All of these have to be notarized and some have to be certified on top of that. Also, we have to photocopy all of them just in case. Make that 2 photocopies of all of them!
So recently we have been contacting people for filling in the various forms. Printing them up, taking/mailing them to the right people. We get them signed. If we're lucky, they have notary on site. If not, we have another form to fill out saying that, yes, indeed this really is a true document. That then needs to be notarized. So we go to the notary and these all get notarized. And you think "hurray! we're done!". Actually, no. You're not done. Because now you have to color photocopy all of the documents. Then you have to get the documents that need to be certified (power of attorney x2 and the cover letter) and send them to the Secretary of State (along with the appropriate form).

The incredible thing is, Ethiopia is actually a fairly straightforward country to adopt from! Other countries have MUCH more paperwork and bureaucracy to go through. I will be so happy to send this in and just WAIT. Not have anything that I need to be doing, but just learning patience! (I'm sure I will regret saying that ;0) )