This week was supposed to be a wonderful week – the week I mailed my first set of dossier documents to my agency! Sure, it started that way but it didn’t end that way.
Since mailing the first Priority Mail envelope on Tuesday, I’ve taken 3 trips to the doctor’s office to get my medical form done correctly. First attempt the doctor wrote the form herself but abbreviated words all over the place! Abbreviations = not acceptable. Second attempt the doctor didn’t sign and date the forms! Third attempt it was painfully clear that a nurse filled out the form and had the doctor sign. I don’t pretend to understand the rule, but only the doctor can fill out the form using the same pen, the same ink, the same handwriting, etc. Hopefully a fourth visit next week will yield the perfect results I need.
Yesterday, I get a long email from our agency asking for changes to the documents I just sent. What? I followed the directions to the T. First, they needed specific information on my part-time employment papers detailing how many weddings I’ve coordinated and how much I’ve earned from those. And they also needed to know how many hours per week I work in the Childcare room for Women’s Bible Study. Second on their list was a need for the financial statements for our 403B (retirement investments like a 401K but for non-profits). A third thing that I actually caught was our financial worksheet because it needed an attestation clause for the notary at the bottom but their form didn’t have one. So, I basically had to copy and paste their form into a new Word document and add the attestation at the bottom. Lastly, and this one really gets me, they asked me for an additional picture of my kitchen that shows my refrigerator! Really? A refrigerator? I’m spending tens of thousands of dollars on an international adoption and you’re worried that I don’t have a refrigerator? I know this isn’t the agency’s requirement, so I’m in no way blaming the wonderful staff serving us for years now. They're awesome and great to deal with. But this is a China thing apparently. Maybe a Hague Convention thing. Regardless, I took the picture today and 2 copies are waiting for me at Walmart. Need proof that I have a refrigerator? That’s it up above.
It’s funny how one thing can go wrong (the medical report) and can frustrate me all day long but one tiny little thing (a picture of my fridge) will send me into tears! No, friends, it’s not even PMS. It’s the paperwork woes! Please excuse me from the whining and complaining but I honestly wanted to document this part of the journey simply because I thought it so utterly rediculous. Yes, I can laugh at it only hours later, thankfully!
I’m hopeful the rest of the paperwork goes much smoother!
