Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Contracts out!

Problem with my date of birth resolved. I'm seven years younger again! I called the homestudy agency when they opened at 9am today. They had corrected copies ready and notarized when we arrived to pick them up. We drove to downtown Indy, parked at Circle Center, and walked several blocks to the government building that the Indiana Secretary of State's office is in. They were just super nice to us. The woman who does the authentications was at lunch, but arrived 10 minutes later. She authenticated our documents with pretty gold seals and complex folding in about 5 minutes. What makes this even better? The State of Indiana doesn't charge for authenticating these documents. I know of other states that charge twenty dollars a document. That would have cost us two hundred dollars! Thanks, Indiana!

We used their phone book to find a FedEx/Kinkos. Nearest one was on Monument Circle, the heart of Indianapolis. It was a beautiful but really warm day. We took some photos in front of the monument with our big pink folder that contains all of our precious adoption documents. We spent at least an hour at FedEx/Kinkos making copies, writing a cover letter to TECO (Taipei Economic and Cultural Office) in Chicago, and mailing off the precious package next day air. We left the store at 3:30pm and it's supposed to arrive at TECO Chicago before 11am tomorrow. Amazing! There's a prepaid mailer inside, so hopefully TECO Chicago processes our paperwork quickly and FedExes it back to our agency ASAP so we can get going and get our case logged into court in Taiwan.

I was very nervous making copies, worrying that we'd forget something. I don't think I was so nice to my husband. I'm sorry, sweetie. I was just so nervous that we'd mess this up. Thanks for not being overly grouchy with me. I "loveada" you.

Well, we almost did mess up. We had the envelope all sealed and ready to ship out when Kevin remembered, "Wait! Did you put the check to TECO in there?" TECO charges fifteen dollars a document to authenticate them. Whoops. I forgot. Good thing we're a team.

No pictures tonight. Of course I'll post more later. We're away from home, spending tomorrow at the lake before Kevin's mom, dad, and grandma go back home to Florida. Hope to spend some good quality time on a floating raft in the lake tomorrow with an adult beverage in hand.

Contracts in, and now contracts out. Big sigh of relief tonight. Just hope that we did it all correctly.

5 comments:

  1. Wow, that was fast! Now here's hoping you'll get logged in soon and get a fast judge.

    BTW - who won the race? You or KB?

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  2. Congrats! You couldn't have done it faster, really! And there's a master checklist, right? Just hearing about all the steps has me nervous and I'm not there yet. I can be a really organized person, but when I'm rushed I go a bit crazy and forget stuff all over the place! I'd be the one snapping at my spouse, too. Thankfully, after years of marriage, I think they're not surprised- they know how we get under pressure, right?

    I'm so thrilled for you! And I just keep looking at her pictures and OH MY GOODNESS she is just amazing! They got some great shots of her, didn't they?

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  3. We loved the ladies at the SOS office too!!! Aren't they great?? And all free... Indiana rocks!!! :) Glad to hear that all went well (despite the little tiff with Kevin, which we ALL can relate to!) Andy and I fought in Chicago too. :) It's really stressful when you send those documents out and you're worried that you'll forget something!! I KNOW THE FEELING!!!!!

    Here's to your package being in & out of the TECO office quickly!!!

    Love ya,
    R

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  4. Yay!!! Yes, good thing you're a team! (It's funny, Jia says that all the time: "We're a team!")

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