The Paper Pregnancy

Aahh, yes, like labor pains, I had forgotten the agony of the paperchase. But, again, like labor pains, once you start, the memories come flooding back.

We are preparing for our social worker's visit, along with collecting documents for our dossier. For those of you not sure what a "dossier" is, well, it's pretty much a collection of your entire life...on paper. We need to have completed autobiographies, physical exams (including blood tests), be fingerprinted, track down birth certificates, marriage certificates, divorce decrees, financial statements, references, legal agreements, background checks, child abuse checks, employment letters, letter to the China Center of Adoption Affairs requesting to adopt and lots more. Once all of this is compiled, it is a called a dossier. These pages need to be notarized, then certified by the Secretary of State, and then authenticated by the Chinese consulate.

I first looked at the long list of "to do's" and felt like crying, but I knew that staring at it wouldn't get it done and we want Anna Grace to come home NOW! So, we've jumped in with both feet. I'm handling most of the paperwork and Scott is making sure he takes care of the stuff that I can't do for him, such as HIS blood test. :)

Today we are sending out our I-600A form to Immigration, minus the homestudy report. The State of Florida is pretty good about getting out fingerprint appointments rather quickly after receiving the I-600A. The only inconvenience is that we have to drive 2 hours to Tampa to get them done. But, again, you do what you gotta do. We know that with each piece of paper added to the "completed" stack, we are one step closer to bringing our baby girl home.