Dossier On its Way!

Well, last Thursday and Friday (before Memorial Day) I went into overtime collecting everything I needed for the dossier. I had things to print and copy, signatures to acquire and notary stamps to get. Throughout the weekend I was able to get everything together and I went to see Julia at CHI to have her look over everything. We found 3 things I should change. So, I went back to Gina (my personal notary, apparently!) Wednesday morning before we went to Springfield. Paul and I took the kids and we headed out for a day trip to our State's capital. When we arrived at the Capitol building we took the kids for a quick tour and found a tunnel to take from one building to the rotunda floor. Then we found the Index building where we went to get our dossier state certified. Except for a few minor details, which we quickly worked out, everything passed inspection and we left with our state-certified documents! Yeah!!!



After that, we called Jenni Grigsby-Rogal, a friend we met through CHI's Ethiopia adoption yahoo group. She and her husband, Jim, work on the Senate floor. They came out and said hi, introduced us to our Senator, and showed us around a bit. Jenni gave us a Congratulations card on accomplishing this step in our adoption process. It was very sweet!



We had a great day together as a family. It was exciting and somehow profound. I still can't imagine that all of this paperchase is going to produce a child forever becoming part of our family...How providential is our God?! It's amazing!



So, Thursday was my last workday to get everything done to be gone on vacation for a week. I didn't get to FedEx before it closed, so I brought my package with me in the car when we left early Friday morning for Florida. When we reached Paducah, we wasted almost an hour looking for a FedEx drop site. It was in vain! Finally, we got back on the road. Once we got off in Chatanooga, we searched again. It was 5:30 p.m. when we finally found a site. They had already picked up for the day...uggh! However, the man working there said he would walk my envelope across the street and put it in the drop box that was picked up at 6:30. So, it was officially out of my hands!

Now it is off to CHI where it will be bundled and sent to Washington, D.C. to be authenticated at the Secretary of State and Ethiopian Embassy. After that it is off to Ethiopia! I guess we are getting to the point in our journey in which a referral picture is right around the corner - I can't wait!