I'm back...

I know.  It's been a long time since I have posted.  I have been busy.  No excuse, but, frankly, how exciting it is to hear about me arguing with our medical insurance company over out-of-pocket expenses for our adoption medicals?  So, please fast forward with me...

Thursday was to be "dossier day".  This was the day to get everything apostilled and off to our agency.  I met briefly with out sw to pick up some revised pages.  Then off to the bank for a cashiers check.  Finally, I was on my way to the Apostille office.  Here in metro Atlanta, the state Apostille office is about 30 minutes away from my house.  It's not quite downtown, but certainly on the way.
A very polite lady greeted (smug) me at the Apostille Office.  First hitch in my perfect plan:  she said she would not be able to finish the package until 3:00 that afternoon.  I had a parent/teacher conference at 2:45 around the corner from my house so there was no way I'd be able to get the dossier out on Thursday.  deep breath.

Ms. Polite then said for me to take a seat while she reviewed the package.  After a few minutes, she came back with a handful of documents.  groan.  The warranty deed that I had retrieved from downtown county courthouse did not have an embossed stamp.  WHAT????  I asked before I left the courthouse the first time if the signature lines on the bottom were all I needed and was told "yes".   Then our color copies of our passports have their own state affidavit that need to be completed, signed and notarized.  Finally, the letter from the city we live in that explains that our neighborhood was absorbed into our city five years ago also needed to be notarized.  The City Clerk assistant assured me when I originally got the letter that the foil seal on the letter was "as good as a notary". 
So, I left the AO, muttering to myself, and drove downtown to hit the property records office.  I was able to get the deeds stamped, but was also quizzed by "Mr. Information Giver" about why we were adopting from Russia.  I would have been put off, probably even offended, but I just wanted to get going so I put up with it.

Next stop was our friend, our notary.  I stopped by her job and she came downstairs to notarize our passport docs.  That's when I notice that her commission is going to expire early next year.  NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!  We'd been told that our notary must have a lot of time left on their commission in case the wait goes 12 months or longer.  I was nauseated, breaking out in a cold sweat, and trying not to lose it out loud.  By this time it's 2:15 and I have my conference at 2:45 and I have not had lunch.  Not a great combination.

After a fast-food lunch, quickly eaten in the parking lot of Ben's school, and the parent/teacher conference, which seemed to be positive, I headed home to contact our agency about the notary issue.  Dread washed over me.  I am okay with myself over mistakes made out of genuine error, but stupid mistakes push my control-freak-over-achiever self to the brink.

I e-mailed our agency contact and started facing the reality that anything our notary, our friend had touched would need to be redone and resubmitted to apostille.  I also tried to work through the futility of $3/page for apostilled documents that are now trash.  Self-flagellation ensued.

Around 5:00 I received an e-mail from agency that has a solution.  I felt like crying in relief.  I don't know if they took special pity on me since I am usually so good at following directions or if they actually have this happen a lot. 

My initial "dossier day" became a two-day 150 mile adventure.  After work yesterday I went by City Hall (in our town it's an office in a business park), and had the letter notarized.  No problem.  So, why was it an issue the first time??????

Then back down to the AO.  Ms. Polite was there with all of my originally submitted docs, still in stacking order and neatly binder-clipped, waiting for me.  She took my handful of papers and was done in about 10 minutes.

I dropped off my two apostilled packages, one copy package, and three checks all in a giant overnight pouch at 4:30 yesterday.  Relief does not even begin to describe it.

I keep thinking that because I have been through this before that I would be more competent with the paperwork.  It is less intimidating this time around.  But the notary issue is a rookie mistake.  And how did I forget about the passport affidavits from the AO? 

Lessons learned.  Check everything twice and three times.  Call the AO before you drive down to ensure that your docs are going to be accepted for apostille.   Keep a bottle of the adult beverage of your choice nearby to take the edge off your despair/assist you in celebrating a great solution.

Anyway, dossier will be in our agency's hands on Monday.  I am going to take a few days off and then start thinking about doing the stuff around our house I've been avoiding for months.