Waiting for Authentication

Well, it's not Waiting for Godot (who never came), but it's feeling similar. The days and weeks stretch.

We've sent off a larger packet to the US State Department to further authenticate the stack of docs that are from this state before sending them to the embassy. The two birth certifs have been dispatched to their respective embassies based on state zones. One to Chicago, one to New York. They have all been received, but no word yet on when they will reemerge.

The authentications are a special aggravation because of all the little details we need to follow. We need to send things like an additional set of photocopies and a copy of of our passport, PLUS the official request form. Oh yeah, plus a money order, and the embassies are no wimps. 20 bucks per doc and a $5 per-package fee. So that will add up even more dramatically*.

Then packages have to be sent by something trackable, but the return mailer has to be by prepaid US Express mail. Oh yeah, and that return mailer has to be *stamped* not metered, which necessitates a special trip to the post office. The larger package of docs will be more problematic because they probably won't all fit into the flat rate mailer (especially if they add an additional page onto each document during authentication). ... Wait. No, we won't be able to use the flat rate mailer for that because we *also* have to make a complete set of photocopies to send with, and that will double the page count. So we will have to weigh the whole thing. I can't wait to see what the total is for THAT. :) Although I have an idea of mailing them in batches if that is cheaper. I have to see whether the extra cost of an extra package fee outweighs the weight of approximately... um... 84+ pages??!! Eeek! (see this is why I don't add things up; I don't want to know.)

* While we are listing our expenses as we pay them, we are NOT keeping a running tally of the costs associated with adoption. Too depressing. Time enough to add up all the receipts when/if we manage to apply for a deduction from the IR$.

Anyhoo. The state agencies have generally done pretty well--a day or two before sending the docs back out. However, neither the Chinese Emb@ssies nor the State Dep@rtment are exactly whipping our docs back to us. I suspect that the national/international offices are pretty well swamped with both everyday business, AND with the crush of hopeful adoptive parents trying to get in their dossiers before May 1st (when the new restrictions take effect). We are fine... but we'll still suffer some slow down.

Now to nag our homestudy agency again about our country study... It just occured to me last week that maybe THAT document has to go through the whole certification process too.... and yup, it's true: Notarization > State Certified > Nationally Authenticated > Embassy Authenticated. aaaiigh!! Yes, I know I am working on a whole collection of exclamations of frustration and anguish. But ** Onward **