Nine down..4 to go!

So… last week we decided to go into the city on Friday and get some paperwork taken care of.. Here’s how it went!

First, breakfast at Waffle House just up the street from us.  Need a big breakfast for a long day!

Next stop the Post Office, right across the street.  I ran in to get two money orders.

Next.. we went to our agency’s office.  CCAI, they are located right near Perimeter Mall.  No problems getting there, the traffic was done for the morning.  We gave them our I-800A application and had Jamie check our Dossier photos.  Chandra notarized 6 documents for us.  We learned that it’s only $2 per doc to verify a notary from Fulton County.. but in COBB it’s $15 a doc!!!  YIKES!  So Chandra is a notary in Fulton!  Next stop, the Georgia Vital Statistics office.

This is located in the middle of a neighborhood.  Very odd, until we realized the building used to be  a school!  Ya see weeks ago I ordered a certified copy of his birth certificate.  I requested that it be “Pen in Hand” meaning a LIVE signature.  That’s what we had to get last time.  We did NOT get that.  So we called and they said send it back, and they’ll redo it.  Well weeks went by again and nothing.  David called, and they had no record of the second request.  SHEESH.  So we were to bring in our receipt from the first request and they’d do it again.  So we did just that.  Brought in the receipt and it took 15mins or so, and we had the Signed birth certificate.  Next stop.. Lennox Marta Station.

We parked, for free, then walked over to take MARTA into town.  Robyn LOVED being on the train!  We changed trains at Little 5 Points and only had to go one stop to the GA State stop.  Once out of the building it was time to head to the Fulton County office to get the notarized stuff verified.

It was only three blocks from the station, and we first went into the wrong building.  Thought it was in the Fulton County Services Building.. nope it’s in the Courthouse across the street.. someone was kind enough to let us know!  Once inside we were able to get our documents certified by the Fulton County Clerk and apply for Robyn’s passport!  Here’s her passport picture!  Awesome pic huh! 

After this .. we were hungry!  So as we were standing at the corner near the courthouse we could see an Italian place and some place with yellow awnings.  It was decided to see what the yellow awning place was up the street.  Turns out it was quick Japanese food.. and VERY good too!  Robyn and I shared a noodle dish and Daddy got something spicy!  Then as we were about to head to the Sec of State office, it started to pour.  We hung out at the restaurant until it let up.  After a radar check, we headed back towards the MARTA station.  Ok.. so we found 1 and 7 Martin Luther King Jr Dr.. but where was #2?  So we went into Building 1 and they directed us across the street.. yes in the very same building as the MARTA station was in!  How nice!

Last stop.  Once inside we had to check in with security as to the purpose of our visit, got some ID visitor badges and up to the 8^th floor. (those were some FAST elevators!).  Here we walked in, and it took no more than ten minutes to get them, now 7 with his birth certificate, authenticated by the state!  --At $10 a piece!  So, 7 documents ready to go to the Chinese Consulate for their Authentication, then they’ll be ready for the Dossier!

Yesterday I got my two back from the State of Florida with their authentication all set.  And then I got my birth certificate back from Nassau County in NY.  Turns out it DID NOT need to be authenticated by the county because it had some signature on it already. ARGH that was wasted postage!  BUT>the stamp on the Priority Mail Envelope with my FL docs had not been cancelled!!!  So I was able to reuse that sucker!

Today I mailed my NY birth certificate back out to NY, to Albany for the final state authentication!

So all we have left are…his Med form, Home Study and I-800.

His medical form; the doctor’s office keeps screwing his up!  They got mine correct, but they keep putting extraneous notes on his.  And you can’t have stuff on them like that!  So he is going to go by there tomorrow and try again.  ARGH.

Our Home Study is complete!  Just got it last night for us to review.  I had a few fixes to make.  Once that is complete, we can send that off to the USCIS office with our I-800A.  That is the form that grants us permission to bring a foreign orphan into the country.  Once we have the resulting I-800 form.  We’ll do those last documents like we did the 7 on Friday,and the dossier is complete!  We get logged in and the wait to match begins!

We are thinking/praying that we go sometime before Christmas next year.  It’ll be interesting to see how long we wait.  It will give us a chance to catch up on the adoption bills in the meantime!

Robyn on the train!

Have a great week!

ZaiJian

~Donna