All righty folks...here's your update!

Wednesday, July 6th was indeed our road trip day. Our appointment with the attorney to have the documents notarized was at 10. We were late. You try rushing a two year old who tells you she has to "go potty"! I sat in the reception area and chatted with Doris (the wife of Fred, the attorney, and also his secretary) while Garry and Hope worked with Fred in the back conference room. The day before I had checked and double checked everything and even printed the "official notarization" words on the backs of the papers before we got there to save time. It must have worked because we were on the road for our two hour journey to Columbus shortly after 11:00. We stopped around noon for some lunch and then piled back into the car. Hope did REALLY well until we got to the actual exit we needed in Columbus where she proclaimed loudly and with great emotion, "ALL DONE RIDING IN CAR!!!"

She was, understandably, an imp during the whole certification process. She'd been quiet and sitting in her carseat for a looooong time. No one really seemed to care save for her parents. While I walked the short hallway with her Garry met another prospective adoptive parent waiting to have his stack of papers certified...also for China. Small world folks...small world. We were there for maybe all of 20 minutes and then back in the car towards home. ATTENTION LINDA!!! I saw a Tim Horton's in Columbus!

Hope got VERY cranky on the way home and finally conked out for the final 50 minutes or so of the return trip. Her mother conked out shortly after she did.

Garry tried calling Chris at the agency a couple of times from the road to see if she was going to be there so we could drop off our papers. He either got her voice mail or someone telling him she was on a break. I had a baaaaad feeling...

Once home I sat down at the copier and copied my brains out. I made one copy of each of our close to 30 documents. Remember, we needed two originals of everything so technically I was only making around 15 copies. However, that included the front of the document, the back that now contained the notary stamp, AND the certification sheet of paper stapled to each one by the Secretary Of State's office. All of those copies need to travel to China with us in case they are needed.

I checked to make sure all of our originals were still there and then we were off to the agency in Strongsville to drop it all off. Hope wasn't happy. I still had a bad feeling.

Once we got there I told Garry he could go in by himself...I knew I couldn't deal with the not so kind individual (NSKI) if she was there. He said that if Chris was there he would wave us in. ") Off he went with our folder full of papers which I had labeled with Chris' full name in huge, black letters. He was gone for a verrrrry long time. My bad feeling remained and Hope wasn't getting any happier. When he returned to the car, he wasn't very happy either. Since it was after 5 Chris had left for the day and the NSKI appeared to take the folder. Everything was complete, had been checked first by her, then by Chris, then by Chris again, then notarized and certified. Want to know what she did? She took the folder clearly labeled with Chris' name, sat down, and WENT THROUGH EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF PAPERWORK AGAIN. Garry told her that it had already been checked and OK'd by Chris. She just smiled blankly at him and continued going through everything. Garry had left several spaces blank on the financial statement where the answer was zero. Chris said this was perfectly acceptable. Chris is the one who has final say on all the China paperwork. The NSKI made him put zeros in the blanks before she would let him leave. She then dumped out the envelope of a dozen pictures that are needed to complete the dossier and went through each and every one of them. Once she was satisfied she gave her usual, "Well as always, the final decision is up to Chris." We were ALL mad. Once again, if she KNOWS this, why is she putting us, and I'm sure other clients through her ridiculous scrutiny? ::grrrr::

On the drive home we all did some deep breathing and thanked God that we were done and would never have to deal with her again. Oh...sometimes we can be so naive!

I would like to remind you that this person has called here incessantly since we started the process in late December. Garry told her gently at that time that we do not need to be called. When we have a question, we call Chris. We do not need reminders...we have our own time table...we've been through this before...you get the idea. He also told her that we weren't officially starting the process until March 2005. She said she wouldn't call until March. She lied. Seriously, and without exaggeration, she has called here more times than the GRAND TOTAL number of calls that we made to the agency AND that the agency made to us during Hope's adoption. We spoke to Chris about it. She talked to this person...she still calls. Chris then put a note in our folder that she was not to call us. She still calls. Garry told her point blank after the whole "your guardians are too old" call that she is NOT to call us again. Any contact with the agency will be made through Chris. She still calls.

Her last call came after we received our contract. Chris sent our dossier off to the consulate to be translated into Chinese the day after we dropped it off. On Friday, June 22nd, we received our contract. It basically says that nothing is the agency's fault if something goes wrong etc. Pretty standard stuff. It also includes a page showing what you have already paid and what is owed. Besides initialing each and every page and signing and dating the last page, there were five more pieces of paperwork for us to complete.

1. Release And Authorization---Again, standard release saying they can use our pictures, names, whatever and not pay us or be sued by us.

2. Personal Contact Form---This is in case of emergency while we are in China. They want the name, address and phone number of someone in the U.S.

3. Post Placement Affidavit---This states our intent to use our agency for our post placement and that we will fully comply with the requirements for post placement as outlined by the country of adoption. This one also needs to be notarized.

4. Information Summary---Yes my friends, the exact same form I've filled out for both the home study and the dossier...once again with feeling for the contract.

5. CIS Fingerprint Reminder---The CIS now requires prospective parents to be re-fingerprinted after 15 months. If we don't receive our referral up to three months before they expire we need to call the CIS and make an appointment to be re-fingerprinted. This is a BIG deal. Why? If we are in China and ready to bring Claire home and they find out our fingerprints have expired, we go home without her. This paper basically says we are aware of the policy and we will take care of it should the need arise. Last time...it did. We had to be re-fingerprinted and guess when we got our approval notice? Yep, it was about two weeks AFTER we returned home with Hope. Classic...simply classic.

As I said, we received all of this on Friday the 22nd. On Monday the 25th, guess who called again? Yep. She wanted to know where our contract was because they need it back along with a check. How do you deal with someone like that? Neither one of us wanted to so we didn't. I let the contract sit until Friday the 29th. I filled out everything...the next day we got the one form notarized at the title bureau here in town...Garry sat down on Sunday night and signed and initialed everything...he turned it all into the agency along with the check on Monday, August 1st.

It has taken me this long to be able to type this because I get so angry just thinking about the whole situation! I just didn't feel there was any way I would be able to communicate our frustration using polite language! ")

Garry's mantra is "Keep your eyes on the prize." He is such a smart man. One of my favorite speakers is Joyce Meyer. Recently her message was, you are going to encounter a lot of people who drive you crazy. God has put them into your life for a reason. You had better learn to deal with them now because if you don't, if you run away from them, He's just going to put two more of them right in front of you! I don't want ANY more of her anywhere near me so I'm going to start dealing! ")

Now, with that out and done with, here's some wonderful news! Chris (I love you Chris!) called me on Monday afternoon this week to tell me that our dossier was being picked up at 7:30 that evening and was being sent to Beijing! YAY!!!! So, we are August 2005 DTC (documents to China). In the past, this was when the OFFICIAL wait began. However, now it is your LID (log in date). When our dossier arrives at the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) someone will log all of our information into their computers. THAT is when the official wait begins. Chris said that is usually 10-14 days after the dossier is sent to China. Again, the official wait is being broadcasted as six months so we shall see!

Until next time!

Technically, it's not time for fun stuff yet. During Hope's adoption we delayed the right to have fun until our dossier was in China. This time? NOT!!!! We are still so ridiculously happy about receiving that silly I-171H form so quickly that we've thrown caution to the wind! ")

Last Saturday I picked up the Morigeau catalog that we got at Baby Tyme during our last visit. Baby Tyme is a fabulous store specializing in, you guessed it, baby furniture. We looked at all the big chains when we were furnishing Hope's nursery and were highly disappointed. Baby Tyme was the only place we found that sold "real" furniture...not stuff that looked like it was going to deconstruct before you had a chance to use it. As Garry said, "What? You think I'm going to go all the way to China to get my baby and then bring her home and put her in something that's going to fall apart?" The staff there is so friendly...we wouldn't think of going anywhere else. Remember folks...that's Baby Tyme Furniture in beautiful downtown Hartville, Ohio! ")

All right, back to last Saturday and the Morigeau catalog. Morigeau is the name of the Canadian company who manufactured Hope's furniture. I finally came to the point last weekend where I'd had enough of looking at the catalog and I was going to make a decision then and there. I chose the same collection that we have in Hope's room, only in a different color combination. When Hope got up from her nap we all piled in the car and headed for Hartville. When we got there we went straight to the back of the store where the color samples are and Garry and I tried out all the combos until we settled on one we liked. Hope's colors are "Latte & Wheat". Claire's colors are "Latte & Mahogany". Hope has the crib, mirror, changing table (minus the shelves), free standing bookcase and wall shelf. We ordered a mirror and a changing table for Claire, and she will be using the crib we already have...it won't match exactly but who cares?! We ordered Hope the twin bed and night stand. Melissa, from Baby Tyme, called on Monday to say that the bed, night stand, and changing table would be on the next truck. Things are definitely moving faster than last time!

And...drum roll please...Wednesday, July 6 is our adoption roadtrip day! Our day will start at 10:00 a.m. at our lawyer's office getting the dossier notarized. Once that is finished, two hours in the car to Columbus to get the dossier certified. Two more hours in the car to drive home so I can make copies of everything in the dossier. Back in the car for the 30-45 minute drive to the agency to turn everything in. Then...you know what we are going to do? BOOK OUR TRIP TO WALT DISNEY WORLD!!!

OK! I made copies of everything needed for the dossier. Garry dropped them off at the agency on June 9th for Chris to take a look at. Chris wasn't there and for whatever reason, the aforementioned not so kind individual went through them. She called here during the evening the following Monday while Garry was in Dallas and by the time she was finished I was in tears. Her first two points were HIGHLY valid and I'm certainly glad she pointed them out. The first was that the amount of Garry's salary on our financial form didn't match the amount on our 1040 form. That's pretty important, and very easy to correct. The second point was that I needed to add 3-4 little words to our letter asking to adopt which meant "as healthy as possible". (China now has a special needs program which wasn't in place when we adopted Hope.)

The next item she came up with was REALLY reaching in my opinion. Instead of copying one passport per page, just turn it the other way. Two will fit on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper. I assured her I knew this and had done so on the copies for our home study. I also told her that we had been told to put ONE passport on each copy. She wasn't dissuaded.

Her final concern was the one that sent me over the edge. She implied, without ever implicitly stating such, that the people we had chosen to be our girls' guardians, were too old. She gave me an age range that the Chinese officials "like to see". I told her that these were the same people we had appointed as Hope's guardians and that they didn't meet that age requirement last time and nothing was ever said. Again, she wasn't dissuaded. She said, "Hopefully we can just let it slide. Your home study has already been forwarded to CIS and the Secretary of State. I'd hate for you to have to make any changes now...maybe no one will notice...but it's best to get these things corrected before the papers get to China. We don't like getting calls from China!" She then went on to tell me that I should expect our I-171H in mid-July. ( I guess this should've been a clue that I shouldn't have put too much stock in what she was telling me.)

As soon as I hung up with her I called Garry. He wasn't very happy with the news I shared with him. He called this individual back and by the time they had finished the conversation she admitted that she had no business even MENTIONING the age thing before she checked on it with Chris. She suggested that we just put "anybody's" name on our guardianship letter as it isn't a legal and binding document. Garry told her we weren't going to lie to the Chinese officials. She didn't seem to think that what she was suggesting was lying OR that what she had told either one of us was cause for concern. Here's *my* big concern with that. What if the Chinese officials pull the documents from Hope's adoption and see that Claire's guardians are different from Hope's? Somehow I don't think they would look upon that as favorable.

Garry spoke with Chris the next day who said, and I quote, "There is NO problem with the ages of the appointed guardians." She had just finished going through our papers and mentioned the salaries not matching, and also placing the additional statement into, what is affectionately referred to as, "the suck-up letter". She had one other thing concerning the financial statement that she wanted Garry to add...nothing was mentioned about the passport copies. She also said that the next time I see their number on my caller I.D. to let the machine pick up. If it is anyone other than herself we are to listen to the message, jot down a few notes, call HER and she will tell us what is really going on. That woman is an angel I tell you, an ANGEL! Not everyone likes her...and she doesn't like everyone either! ") But Chris is one of those incredible souls who "what you see if what you get"...she is very REAL and I love her to pieces.

Our corrections/additions were made and Garry faxed them, along with our long awaited health insurance form and our I-171H on the 24th. Chris called him yesterday. The Holy Grail is on it's way to the Secretary of State for certification and everything else is ALL GOOD! YAY! Next step is to make an appointment with our attorney to have every single piece of paper in the dossier notarized. Next comes the trip to Columbus to get every single piece of paper certified...then back in the car and off to Strongsville to drop it off. Yes, it makes for a long day...and yes, we could mail it to Columbus and wait an extra day or two. But folks...after all of that work and running around, we don't really want to trust anyone else with getting those papers to and from Columbus! Garry is in Dallas again this week so hopefully, we can finish up next week. In addition to the Dossier, we will be turning in two passport sized photos of each of us for agency use, 12 pictures of the inside and outside of our home, and the dossier fee.

More as it develops! ")

The China Dossier Proper!

(I originally started typing this on June 19th...before we received our I-171H!)

The following will be a listing of the paperwork that is included in the dossier to China. We need TWO ORIGINALS of each and every document. Once completed, copies of these documents are to be forwarded to the agency where they will be checked to see if we need to make any changes or corrections. Once those are made the documents must be notarized, certified by the county, and state certified by the Secretary Of State. It is possible to skip a step by going to an attorney whose notary seal is current and valid for the entire state of Ohio...which we plan on doing again! This takes care of the first two steps. Once that is finished, we will drive our dossier to Columbus, write them a check, and wait the 10-15 minutes it will take for them to staple a piece of paper to each one that says it's certified. We are blessed to have an attorney who is also a family friend. He graciously did ALL of our paperwork for Hope as a gift. I believe there is a fee, per document, to have them county certified...and if I remember correctly, there is a $5 per document fee to have it certified by the Secretary Of State's office...you do the math. ") As always, any of the paperwork that requires a fee will be enclosed like *this*.

1. *Home Study*---This has already been completed and approved. The agency has already notarized it, gotten the county certification, and sent it to Columbus for state certification...as well as forwarding a copy to the INS/BCIS.

2. *Marriage License*---Garry drove to Wooster to get these. They already come certified with the raised seal so they will only have to receive certification from the Secretary Of State.

3. *Birth Certificate*---Garry picked up his while he was in Wooster and since I'm a Wadsworth Lifer, he only had to go downtown to get mine. Two copies per parent, these also come certified with the raised seal and will only need Secretary Of State certification.

4. Divorce Decree---N/A

5. China Medical Statement For Adoptive Applicant---These were first filled out by our doctor, then the form changed. So I filled in the new set and returned them for his signature! A basic physical exam is required along with blood tests and a urinalysis. This was covered under our insurance for Hope and we're fairly sure it will covered for Claire as well. The form wants name, date of birth, and address. There are 11 Yes/No questions under Medical History. It is basically a list of have you ever had Tuberculosis, Tumor, Heart Disease etc. The next section consists of information gathered during the physical exam and lab work. Height (in meters), weight (in kilograms), blood pressure, vision, hearing, heart, lungs etc. There is a lisiting of all of the blood/lab tests required and they want to know the date they were completed and if they were normal/abnormal or negative/positive. You will all be thrilled to know (as were Garry and I) that we are still HIV negative. Sarcasm folks...sarcasm. They want a list of any medications we are taking and for what purpose and if our health is suitable for raising a child. Doctor's signature, date, MD license number, and SPECIAL stamp...done. We got so wound up about this "special" stamp. We thought it was something issued by the AMA or something. Nope, it seems they just have a hard time reading the doctors' handwriting so they want a stamp on the paper showing name, address, phone number etc.

6. Employment Letter---To be written on company letterhead, by the employer, and state length of time employed and salary amount. We had this done at the same time we did our home study documents. We just asked for THREE originals at once! The wonderful woman who did this for Garry even gave us a spare. THANK YOU!

7. Non-Employment Statement---I wrote this one for myself, by myself. All it says is that after adopting Hope I decided to become a full-time stay at home Mama, and plan to continue as one after bringing Claire home.

8. Local Police Clearance---Again, we simply asked for THREE originals per parent when we went to have this done for the home study.

9. China Financial Statement For Adoptive Applicant---Name, annual income this year and last year, other annual income, life insurance amounts, listing and amount of assets, listing of liabilities, their monthly payment, and totals owed...totals for everything, and signatures!

10. Tax Form---Copies of pages 1-2 of last years 1040 form.

11. Passports---Copies of the inside front cover of our passports showing our picture and signature.

12. Letter Asking To Adopt---I think this one is pretty self explanatory! If you're interested in reading our letter let me know and I'll email you a copy. There are several statements that must be included but basically you are telling the Chinese officials about yourselves, why you want to adopt, and the type/age of child you are interested in.

13. Guardianship Statements---These are actually two separate documents. We need to write a letter to the Chinese officials stating who will be responsible for our daughters' care should anything happen to us. They want to know names, ages, jobs, if there are any other children in the home, if they are in good health, etc. The people whom we have appointed as guardians, need to also write a letter stating that they accept the responsibilty and re-state all of the same information we had in our letter.

14. Copy of I-171H Notice Of Favorable Determination---Holy Grail time folks. When you begin this process you are faced with Holy Grail Part One, the I-600A. This is called the Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition. You are letting them know your intent. I can't give you many details because Garry filled it out both times. We mailed it off, along with our check to the INS/BCIS in Cleveland on April 13th. They received it on the 14th and sent us a receipt for our check. A few weeks later we received a letter telling us when to report to Cleveland to have our fingerprinting done. If you remember, we had those done on May 31st. The INS/BCIS can't complete the process without the completed home study. They received ours on June 1st. You are told to expect Holy Grail Part Two, the I-171H within 60-90 days after they receive your home study. I STILL can't believe we actually HAVE it already...just 21 days after the home study reached Cleveland! The I-171H states, "Your advance processing application has been forwarded to the American Consulate or Embassy at Guangzhou, People's Republic of China and email sent 6/22/05. Approved for one (1) child. WHOO HOO!!!!!

YIPPEE!!! We finally have our Affidavit Of Health Insurance Coverage IN HAND! WOO HOO!!!

Garry was not able to get it taken care of while he was in Dallas. Blessedly he was able to come home a day early so by the time the document would've reached Dallas, he would've been home. He made some calls and had a completed fax of the document in his hot little hands by the end of the week. One step closer friends and family! ONE STEP CLOSER!

Tomorrow...next week...whatever it takes. Life's tragedies and miracles continue whether I post or not! ")

As promised, here is everything you've always wanted to know about The China Dossier. As with the home study documents, I can only speak to what my agency wants me to do at this point in time. Any form requiring some sort of payment will be surrounded like *this*.

1. *Agency Registration Form*---A four page document that basically tells the agency that we want to adopt from China. Page one wants the date of application, date the I-600A was filed (Holy Grail part one), date of I-171H approval (Holy Grail part two), names, birthdates, social security numbers, country of citizenship, place of birth, email address, home/work/cell phone numbers, FedEx account number, date of marriage, my maiden name, name of the agency conducting the home study along with their address, phone number, date it was initiated and then completed, and the name of our social worker. Page two needs salary and the effective date of that salary, amount in savings, amount in checking, and any investments we may have. It continues by asking the purchase price of our home, our mortgage amount, our monthly payment, date of purchase, current market value, and number of bedrooms. After that we are to provide lists of banks, personal loans, or other accounts that we owe money to. We must provide the names, balances, and monthly payments for each. Also included on this page is a spot for the name of carrier, the amounts, and the effective dates for life, disability, and health insurance. Page two ends with a section called "Child Desired". We are to check what sex we prefer to adopt, enter an age range, indicate if we are interested in a sibling group, and which country we want to adopt from. Page three! We are to list the names, ages, and relationships of any other person living in our home. We continue by listing the names, addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth for our parents followed by the same information with our siblings. We must also include ourselves (and the same information that was entered on page one) along with our siblings to show birth order. Page three concludes with a small section where we are to describe our general health and any medications we are currently taking. The last page wants to know if we've ever applied to another child-placing agency, if we are currently trying to adopt through another agency, if we've ever been disapproved by another agency, or if we've ever had a child removed from our home. Signed...dated...done.

2. Adoptive Applicant Authorization For Release Of Confidential Information Police/Criminal Record Check---The exact same form we filled out for the home study...again for the China program.

2. Affidavit Of Health Insurance Coverage---A very simple, one page form that verifies that the adopted child will be covered under our health insurance once the adoption is final. The information needed includes family name, policy number, address, effective date, telephone number, name of insurance company, address of insurance company, and the phone number of insurance company. It requires the name of the insurance company again at the bottom, the signature of the person verifying this information, and the date. OK! Rant coming! This little ditty has to be filled out by either: the insurance company, the human resource department of the company of employment, or the insurance representative within the company. The human resource department has had this form since APRIL and has done nothing except pass the buck on who has to fill it out. It has literally been in FOUR DIFFERENT STATES and has yet to be touched. The last time Garry called to find out what was going on, the woman he spoke to gave him the impression that if he called again it was never going to be completed. Garry's boss is in Dallas. Garry is in Dallas this week. Garry is having a blank form FedExed to him, will fill it out himself, and have his boss sign it. Enough already!

4. Information Summary---Another simple one pager! Names, birthdates, ages, places of birth, date, place, and officiant of our marriage, address, schools we attended and level/year completed, work address, occupation, years there, annual income, passport numbers and expiration dates, name, gender, date of birth, date of adoption, and race of our children...and if the child lives with us.

All of these have been turned into our agency, save for the elusive health insurance document.

Those are basically the registration documents...I haven't even begun to tell you about the dossier paperwork...and won't until later! My daughter is awake!

I'm sure this will be the first of many small (or large) rants that you will be reading over the next few months. I find it amazing that it has taken a little over two full months before I have become so frustrated that I want to scream at the top of my lungs. Maybe the second time through the process IS easier! ; ) I will say I haven't cried over it yet!

I realize I haven't given you the lowdown on the paperwork for the China Dossier yet...and I realize you are happy with that fact...but I'm going to whine about it never the less.

Apparently the Chinese government has become very particular with what they will and will not accept on the dossier papers. I don't have a problem with that. Please just tell me what you want me to do and I will do it. For this reason, our agency wants us to copy, fax, or email all of our dossier documents to them before we have them certified so they can make sure we've filled them out correctly. Again, I don't have a problem with that.

One of the couples we traveled with previously is going through the process for the second time with us in hopes that we will travel together again. Our friend took her dossier papers in to the agency this week to have them checked. She apparently met with a less than sympathetic individual who took a red pen and placed a large red X over each paper that had even the tiniest of mistakes on it. I fail to see how this is constructive or of any help to anyone. You've seen the list of documents we have to complete for the home study. The dossier is no different. There are many forms to fill out and also several letters that we have to write. Imagine how you would feel after spending hours and hours of your time on these papers, only to have someone X them out. I don't know about you, but I would feel like a discouraged, demoralized, insignificant child. Garry called and spoke with Chris, our angel who is the director of the China program. She apologized...even though it didn't happen to us...and promised we would not have to go through that experience. She said that she would probably have suggestions or corrections that we would have to make but she would make those notations in the margins of the papers. Somehow, I find that a much easier pill to swallow.

AND we found out that our China medical forms which are currently at our doctor's office being filled out are the wrong ones. China changed the form...again. This happened during Hope's adoption process as well. The forms are just about identical except for the fact that the questions are in a different order.

You do what you have to do. It is all part of the process...we got through it once we will do it again!