More Paper, Please (beware: horribly boring post)

Respect the dossier.

It demands respect.

I underestimated. Well, not totally, but maybe a little, or a lot more than I thought I was. Our dining room table has been Grand Adoption Station for the last six months, and I thought we were somewhat prepared to send off our dossier.

We weren't.

Call me naive. Over confident. I can take it.

My defense: I was putting off fully completing the dossier because I knew it would be at least a month until we would be allowed to send it off (we were still waiting on 1-800A approval), and Mr. Fly has been in the middle of changing jobs (which means we are required to redo a lot of our paperwork). Our home study was in the middle of being updated as well... Lots of things going on, and things were changing all the time.

On Tuesday afternoon, May 1st, I was helping a friend paint her garage (with taller than normal ceilings I might add), and my phone rang in my pocket. I ignored the call because at the time I was in a balancing act while trying to get to the highest corner above the steps---one foot near the top of the ladder and one foot on the railing going up the steps. Safety first, right? 

I checked my voice mail when I was finished, and I had a message from our adoption agency asking to call back right away regarding our adoption documents.

I called back quickly, and our coordinator told us there had been some changes in I*n*d**a, and that she needed our paperwork by the end of the week. This was totally unexpected for our agency as well, so over 20 families in our program got this call, and I am sure it was really overwhelming for our agency too.

The rest is somewhat blurry... I am going to record what I CAN recall, minus about a thousand details (you will most likely be bored reading this unless you are adopting, or feel the call to adopt,  and want to know what NOT to do--I wanted to record this so we could read it when we needed a laugh). I write about our adoption process/glitches with a light heart... Yes, the adoption process can be very stressful. Yes, it takes a lot of time, patience, etc. BUT. We KNOW it is SO worth it. If it means one more child can have a family, know JESUS, and feel loved and wanted....then there is not a price you can put on these little lives. These children are worth every little bit of it, and more.

So, here goes:

1st Day of Extreme Paper Chasing:
Tuesday Night: Shock mode. What should we do first? Panic, of course.

Wednesday: Woke up early and went to pick up a signed letter to confirm that Grant works at RGI. Finished up some paperwork while I was there. That took a couple of hours. During this time, I sadly realized that our main notary who signed a couple dozen documents, filled them out incorrectly. Sigh, but realize this can be fixed. Reprinted all of the incorrectly notarized cover sheets to take back to the notary to have them corrected. This particular notary was out of town, there was a long wait for another notary at the same bank, and then another notary was available but she was commissioned in Clark County. I did not have the time to go to Clark County Courthouse to get her signature authenticated prior to having the documents apostilled that night. Fail. Mr. Fly was in training at his new job south of town, so we decided to find and meet at another bank towards that direction. However, before I went any further south, I stopped at home to check the mail as we were expecting some notarized license documents from our home study agency that were sent overnight, and we needed them immediately. No mail in our mailbox, so I went on a hunt, and intercepted our mail lady (stalked her) and asked if she had something for us...she did, and handed it over to me. Whoot!

I went to a bank downtown to find a notary, but I got leery after seeing armed guards and hoards of people inside the bank, so I turned around and left carrying my tote full of paperwork (my gut told me that this was not the place to entrust our precious paperwork with). By this time, I thought Mr. Fly would be wrapping up training, so I decided to find a bank south of town we could meet at instead in hopes of saving time. I called this bank, and asked if they had a notary on staff, and what county he/she was commissioned in, and when their commission expires (has to have at least a year left on it).  Drove to bank south of town, but Mr. Fly got out of training 40 minutes later than anticipated. He needed to be at the bank in order to get all of our documents notarized since some required both of our signatures. Anyway, he was on his way as fast as he could... Meanwhile, I get to the bank around 12:30, and the notary told me she can't start signing documents until Mr. Fly was present as well. I told her he would be there shortly, but she was a good employee, and was not about to bend the rules....at least not at first. When she saw the stack of papers I had, saw the look of anxiety on my face, heard that we still needed to go to Montgomery County Courthouse, still needed to pick up our home study from our caseworker on the east side of Columbus, had to go to Franklin County Courthouse to get the home study's notary signature authenticated, and then finally go to the Secretary of State to get some of our documents apostilled before 4:30, she gave in sweetly. She really was super sweet, and efficient. Mr. Fly finally rolls in, and we were able to get everything notarized quickly. After that, we jump into our vehicles, and rush to Montgomery County Courthouse (was loads of excitement trying to find a parking place). We park next to each other, feed the parking meters, and begin a half jog/run to the courthouse. Mr. Fly got a little embarrassed at one point by our pounding of the pavement (or maybe it was my awkward run), but then he remembered why we were doing it (she is way worth it), and kept up his pace. We went through security at the courthouse, wind our way around to the Clerk of Courts. We found the Clerk of Courts office, rifled through my tote, and pulled out all of our notarized documents to get the notary signatures authenticated. Counted documents thrice, told the clerk how many authentications we need, and w.a.i.t. for her to process the authentications. While she was doing this, I organized paperwork again.

The clerk finished up, we paid up, and headed out. We walked quickly out of the courthouse, and then we broke into a run again upon exiting the building. Found our cars, drove separately to an exit on I-70. Park Mr. Fly's car at a Shell station, and ran in and bought two sweet teas, a bag of chips, and a bag of chocolate covered raisins to share for lunch. We were parched. That was the best tea I have ever had. We jump into the Honda, and head east to Columbus. I think this was around 2:00. We drove to our home study assessor's house and picked up corrected home study, and then Mr. Fly dropped me off at Franklin County Courthouse. After traipsing around the building for awhile, and getting bad directions, I finally found out that the Clerk of Courts was in a NEW building down the street. Alright, on my way!  Found a new courthouse, found Clerk of Courts, and was greeted by a halfway grumpy clerk. I started small talking with her as she was working on our authentications, and she realized that we were adopting, and asked about our little girl. She warmed up as I told her a little about our daughter, and her heart softened. She then ministered to me. She talked about how she took care of her ill sister and mother a few years back, and it was very demanding of her time, energy, etc. At the time, it was very hard on her, but now she is so glad she was able to help them, and realized that life.was.not.about.her. (This is what God has had heavy on our hearts). Anyway, she spoke truth and encouragement to me, and it was such a blessing after a huge day and when fears about the future started creeping up. We finished up at Franklin County Courthouse, and headed a few blocks down the street to the Secretary of State building. We found a parking spot in the parking garage, and then proceed to locate the Secretary of State's office. With some help, we found it, got our entry passes, and made our entrance. They knew we were trouble when they saw my tote with papers rising out of it. I tried to make some jokes, and didn't get much response from the man at the desk besides him handing me a stapler to finish up stapling the documents properly (we weren't sure how they wanted them stapled so we waited until we got there to wrap things up). I gave some more attempts to make the guy smile, but it didn't work. When we left the desk, Mr. Fly nicely told me that maybe I should realize when people don't want to joke around. Advice duly noted, thank you, dear. As they were finishing up, they told us the balance, and said they only took check or cash. Oh, wonderful. I had left my checkbook in the car. By this time, it was like ten til five, and I could tell they weren't probably willing to wait around for us. Mr. Fly headed to the parking garage to get a check, and then a lady behind the counter told me there was a Huntington Bank ATM down the street. Yay! I was able to access the ATM, and ran back in with the money. They were happy to have their money, and I was happy to have our documents. I called Mr. Fly, and said, "I don't need the checkbook now, you can just pick me up outside the building!". Mr. Fly was happy. Everyone was happy. The security guard even let Mr. Fly take his laminated security pass home (souvenir?) because by this time it was 5 o'clock, and we assumed it was because Mr. Guard didn't want to be stuck there after 5:00 waiting for us to bring the pass back in. So yes, even the security guard was happy, because he got to go home on time.

Happy ending to a productive, chaotic day.

Thank you, Lord! So much.

To be continued (Day 2).