DnotTC (or hoping not to be lost in translation)

I had one goal in mind for our dossier, even though I knew it was unrealistic. I wanted to be DTC (dossier to China) on or before my birthday. My birthday was Friday. We seemed to be paperwork cursed and we found out Thursday end of day that there was a problem with one of our documents in our dossier. Marty's Hep B test was too old. It's funny, but at least six pairs of eyes looked at that document and didn't notice it.

Thankfully, we just needed to get updated results to CCAI and then our dossier could move to the translation department.

Marty went to the doctor when they opened Friday morning and explained what we needed. Thanks to his persistence and follow-up, everything was resolved Friday and we moved, officially, to translation.

When will be DTC? I'm not quite sure, but I think it will be the beginning of next week.

DTFedEx (Dossier to FedEx), or Eva's Mom is Being Silly

Today, the whole family took Eva's paperwork to the FedEx location closest to our house and actually 'mailed' Eva's dossier. Mom and Dad gave it a good luck kiss and Jada gave it a high five. Yes, we are dorky.

Since it's a holiday, it will go out tomorrow and arrive at our agency on Wednesday. Our agency takes about 9-12 business days to get the dossier to China. We are very excited to have the paperwork done.

The next step is to get the actual dossier to China (DTC), which our agency does for us, and to find out our LID (logged in date). Our LID is the date that will ultimately determine when we get our referral.

So, cross your fingers and toes that I didn't mess anything up and that it will be in China very soon.

It arrived early!

"It" being that lone document I mentioned in my last post that was sent to the Chinese Consulate's Office in Houston. We were told it could take up to 20 business days and, given our recent luck, I figured it would take at least 25 business days. :^P

However, I was wrong and I am a big enough person to admit it.

What now? Now, I make some copies of documents, write a couple of checks, and send the dossier package to our agency. Then, in about two weeks, our dossier will officially be in China. Yes, we will be DTC again in September.

Eva's Dossier is Traveling

It's sad...really. You see, Eva's paperwork has already traveled further than I have this year. Her dossier documents are in Washington D.C. right now for the last part of the sealing process.

This also means that this is the first time her documents have been under the Chinese flag. In this case, they are at the Chinese Embassy.

When they return to us on Tuesday, we may not recognize them with all the seals on them. It's almost like sending your child to summer camp to have them come back tattooed. Just kidding. :^)

It's hard to be sad for too long since this means we are much closer to being DTC (Dossier to China). Our hope is to be DTC by mid-September. It all depends on the fate of one lone document currently in Houston. However, that's a story for a different post.

Plumping Up My Finger Tips

My fingers have a problem that I didn't even realize I had until a couple of years ago. They are difficult to print.

These are the reasons I have been told: They are too small to properly show the rings. They are too wrinkled.

Either reason, my finger tips don't print well and I have problems every time I get them printed. This wasn't a problem until we decided to adopt and I need to get them done at least once a year. This year, it has been twice already and Friday will be the third time.

Since I cannot give up doing dishes for a week (I tried that and it didn't fly). I have decided I will need to figure out something to plump up my finger tips. The only ideas I have so far are drinking more water and putting lotion on more often. Any thoughts?

Homeland Security Fingerprinting Date

We have a date for our fingerprinting appointment with Immigration. We will be printed on Friday, July 27th in the afternoon.

I guess that means I need to start moving paper forward again. :^D I will explain the process in my next email.