Authentications

Now that we have our Immigration approval we need to get our paperwork authenticated by the Chinese Consulate in Chicago.  This is the last step prior to being Dossier to China.  So last Thursday, like every other adoptive parent to be, I was quadruple checking my paperwork before sending it off to Chicago on Friday, you know, like checking that notary dates match the dates on the letter, there are no smudges on the notary stamps, notary names are spelled correctly, etc, etc, etc....  Yes, we really do have to triple check this stuff.  Don't ask me how I missed this the first 800 times I checked my paperwork, but I realized at 9 pm that night that some our of documents were close to expiring.  I mean like days away from expiring!  The Chinese Consulate in Chicago requires that certain forms, ex: medical forms, marriage certificates, etc..., be less than 6 months old.  HOW DID I MISS THIS!!!  Had all our paperwork gone as planned (or even remotely close to as planned) we would have been Dossier to China in August.  Most of our forms were done prior to our first home study visit the first two weeks of April, which means they will be expiring the first two weeks of October.  I just had the August dates stuck in my head and didn't factor in all the paperwork delays we have experienced.  AHHHHHH!!!!

So I raced to ask the question on a Facebook group, "will they still accept my documents or do I need to completely redo them?"  Just thinking about having to redo about half our paperwork had me more than a little upset.  I got some very good advice and promptly emailed the courier we use in Chicago. I detailed what each document was and the date it was issued.  She responded quickly on Friday morning and said if I could get her the documents by Saturday (don't even ask me how much that shipping fee was--Yikes), then she could submit them on Monday and she felt like we would be okay with the forms.  So Friday morning I raced to get the last two forms certified, then made copies, then Mr. UPS was so helpful when I said "this HAS to be in Chicago tomorrow."  Mind you it was about 1230 on Friday already.  Bless his sweet heart, he looked at the stack of paperwork, then at this harried Mama and said " adoption paperwork?"  YES!!!  Someone who gets it, Thank You Lord for this small miracle.  So he took care of stuffing my 1.3 lbs of paperwork (yes that is how much it weighed : ) into a small little envelope and getting everything ready so all I had to do, besides corral a 3 year old who was not amused that Mama wouldn't let him play on the conveyor belt, was sign on the dotted line.  Phew!  And you know what???  Our package was delivered to the courier at 810 am on Saturday.  Worth every stinkin penny!  She emailed me this evening and said she dropped everything off at the Consulate and will pick it up on October 13th.  So now we are just offering up some prayer that they will in fact accept all our almost expired documents.  Almost there, almost there, almost there.....