The Next Steps

After our Dossier was complete it was time to get it certified and authenticated.

The first stop was to the Secretary of State's office. Each document had to go to the state that it originated in. So my birth certificate and our marriage license went to Iowa and Eric's birth certificate went to Washington. All our other documents headed to Pierre, South Dakota!

It felt a little unnerving sending this stack of papers off that you worked so hard to gather the last months. They were now out of my hands and in the mail. I carefully watched the Fed Ex web site to see where my very important package was. After it made it's stop in Pierre it was supposed to me at my door by 10:30 in the morning. I waited and finally at 11:00 I checked the web site and it said it was delivered to my door. I opened the door and there was no package. It sent a little panic in me as I wondered where in the world were my very important documents. I walked up and down our street wondering if it got delivered to the wrong door. No luck! I got on the phone with Fed Ex and they were going to track down the driver. Emma and I anxiously waited in the driveway and couldn't have been more happy to hear the noise of the Fed Ex truck coming down the road. I explained to the poor Fed Ex man, who probably wondered why I was waiting in my driveway, the importance of the package. What a relief to have it back in my hands.

We went and made copies of the certifications and then turned around and put it in the mail to get authenticated in Washington DC. In Washington our documents made two stops. The first stop was the Department of State.

The Department of State drilled this very official looking paper on top of the original notarized document and the state certification.

The Dossier then traveled to the Chinese Embassy for it's final stamp of approval. Each document needed a seal from the Embassy. It was so fun to see it all written in Chinese. I have no clue what it says but it looks official!

What a feeling to get the package back in my hands and have everything look so official but more importantly to be done. The same Fed Ex man delivered our package. He said he recognized it and was pretty sure it was important adoption documents so he kept an eye on it.

The next stop .... our agency!