it came and went

My birth certificate came - state sealed and everything. We dropped our dossier (large package of papers) off at Bethany yesterday. They will take care of sending it off to be authenticated and then will mail it to China. Best guess is maybe one-two weeks for authentication and then two-three weeks before our paperwork is "logged in" at CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs). We'll be given a LID (log-in date) that means the Chinese officials have officially noticed that it got there. Now we have some waiting to do... better get that second bedroom ready!!!

looks like it's coming

The package tracker on the FedEx site says that my birth certificate will be in our mailbox by 10:30 tomorrow. That means we'll be dropping all of our paperwork off at Bethany after work tomorrow. They'll send it to the Chinese consulate in Chicago to have it authenticated and then it will be sent right to China. Then we just have to wait!

it came

My birth certificate arrived so I mailed it off to get it state sealed. I paid lots of money to have it get there tomorrow by 10AM and lots of money for them to send it back fast. Tomorrow I will make copies of everything so it's all ready. As soon as my certificate is back with the MN state seal we can drop our stuff off at Bethany where it will be checked and sent off for authentication. Sweet!

the park

We're still waiting for a copy of my birth certificate to arrive. It's the last piece of paper we need before we can send everything to China. It's taking a LONG time.

Today was a beautiful day. Meili and I went to the park for the first time this year. It's fun to see her climbing up ladders and trying all of the slides by herself. It's quite a change from last year when she wanted us to do everthing with her. Here are a few pictures...

paperwork almost ready...

Our fingerprinting approval letter arrived last week! Now we're gathering the final pieces together for our dossier (bundle of paperwork) that will be sent to China. On Tuesday we have a meeting with our case worker to check everthing over. If it's all ok, we'll get it state sealed and into the mail! We're getting closer!