Authentication...Check!

I was surprised and overjoyed to see our mail lady at the front door today with a really important envelope in her hand! I hadn't even started tracking the package yet because it had only been at the Chinese Consulate for six days. They said on the website it would take between 10-14 days to authenticate. It was a good thing I didn't have much planned for the day because I was able to turnaround and get the dossier shipped off to our adoption agency before the post office closed. I'm hoping and praying that everything was done correctly so it can be on it's way to China soon! So, the next step is for the agency to review it, and then it'll be heading to China!!

Here's the stack of papers, all notarized, certified, and authenticated!


This is what the authentication seal looks like. It was so cool to see the Chinese on it. Unfortunately the picture came out fuzzy, but you can get the idea of what it looks like.

For those of you wondering what authentication is, here's what our agency's guidebook says. "The government of the People's Republic of China acknowledges the legitimacy of a document and accepts it for its intended purpose through authentication."

Documents Certified-Check!

We just got back in town and the IL certified documents were waiting at the post office for us. I made copies, triple-checked to make sure everything was in order, said a prayer, and mailed them off to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago. The lady at the post office was impressed at how organized I was this time. I'm getting the hang of this! Now I understand why they call this phase the paperchase!

Iowa is fast!

We already received my birth certificate back from Des Moines. They received it Wednesday morning and it was on it's way back to IL later that day! I am really impressed with how quick the turnaround was. I talked to our agency and they said IL is much slower. I'm hoping we'll receive everything back from Springfield in the next few days. I'm nervous having all of those precious papers in someone else's hands!