Paperwork Schmaperwork!

They told us it would be like this. 4 months of solid paperwork seemed so unrealistic – like an exaggeration. Now I believe them. Those of us who run in adoption circles call this period the paper pregnancy.

We’ve been tirelessly working on our dossier for 3 months now. A dossier (doss – ee – ay) is basically a mountain of paperwork that we collect and send to the Ethiopian government for the adoption process.

• Every form has to be notarized.
• Then you’re required to take that same exact form to the county office to have it certified.
• Then you send that form off to the state to have it authenticated.
• Then you send it to the Feds. Same deal. Authentication? Certification? Whatever they call it.

We told our doctor that we had to have our Physical Examination forms notarized by a notary registered in Lucas County. “Sure, no problem. I’ll just have them do it next door and you can pick them up.”

AAARRRRGGHHH! Wood County! The notary was from Wood County! How convenient!

Now instead of one trip to the Lucas County courthouse in Toledo someone would have to take a single sheet of paper clear down to Bowling Green. Rhonda did that today. At least she tried. She arrived at the courthouse only to find that the notary forgot to SIGN the paper. Stamped. Dated. But not signed. Wasn’t that covered in Notary Public 101? (What comes after stamp and date again? I always forget step #3!) Stamp, date, sign. Stamp, date, sign.

You guessed it. You can’t get the county certification without the notary signature. By the time Rhonda tracked down the notary that our doctor had used the courthouse in Bowling Green was closed.

Add another day to the four month paper pregnancy.