Notarized, Certified, Authenticated and Delivered

So, we have received our last official document that we have any control over, and now have to wait for the fast moving US government to send us that Holy Grail of paperwork, the official adoptive parent stamp of approval from Uncle Sam, the I-171H! So now... we wait (90 business days). Once that is received we send the whole package (the afore-mentioned I-171H, plus two official pen-in-hand certified, notarized apostiled, great sealed birth certificates; one official pen-in-hand, notarized, certified, apostilled, great sealed marriage license; one home study, two employment letters, two criminal background checks, one adoption petition, one financial statement, two physical examinations, all notarized, certified, apostilled, and great sealed) to the Chinese Consulate in Houston, along with a check for $260.00, and then...we wait (20 business days). Then, the whole package gets sent to China and we get the official log in date, which means we are officially in line for our baby!!! And then... we wait (6 to 16 months). So who knows, maybe in the summer of 2008, during the Beijing Olympics, we'll go to China.

Regarding the fingerprinting experience...fascinating. We got our official appointment time for the Department of Homeland Security and showed up. We would have taken a picture of the process, but we would have been arrested. We arrived 5 minutes early and they made us go back to our car and wait 5 minutes and said that we'd better not have our cell phones when we came back. Nice folks. They checked our fingertips three times, to make sure we didn't have some Minority Report-type dead guy fingertips taped to ours. Then, rather like in a delicatessan, we took a number and waited ("Now serving # 23!"). Then, rather than ink, they swab our fingers down with alcohol and laser our fingers (sort of like when you photocopy your face).

Construction update... remodeling begins on Casey's swinging teenage pad on Monday. Here's the "before" picture...

We'll be adding new drywall, recessed lighting, crown molding, built in book shelves, carpeting, a closet, paint in the color of Casey's choice (Emo black?)...oh yes.. and a door.

"After" picture will follow.