Gal Around Town

That is where I have been! I started going around town gathering the dossier documents on 7/9/07. I am happy to say that I have sent them all back to AAI on 7/17/07! It was a short but arduous and slightly mind numbing task. Some of the paperwork was easy as pie to get together. I have copies of our marraige license, birth certs, and tax forms. Others, however were a little more tricky. I had to wait 20 minutes one day just to get through the metal detectors to get into the courthouse to see about police clearance. I found out then that I needed 20 dollars--each--cash, and some paperwork signed and photocopied since Tom was not going to come in. Our bank statement took a week to get...those poor girls at BECU. They were very nice though. They had to pull every statement for the year and find deposits and add them all up. It was a huge taste for them. We also had to get 8 passport photos each...not a huge deal, but ca-ching ca-ching...again! I did start to stress out a little when looking for a notary. One bank I went to charges 10.00 per signature. Most of our pages had 2! Tom asked someone at work if he knew of a notary, and to our delight, there is one at his work who does it for free! She does a lot of the adoption notarizing for people who adopt at Russell. She was also very nice and accomodating. When I took our paperwork back to the courthouse for processing, I really thought I would have to come back in a week or more, but the lady at the the desk took the paperwork, ran the checks (we do not have criminal records in case you were wondering!) and notarized everything while I waited. I did feel bad for the 3 men who were waiting for their gun licenses....but not too bad. Tom's doctor was moving her office a few days after I had dropped by the paperwork, and I feared that that piece of paperwork would get lost or misplaced, but the very next day I got a call saying it was ready! I did pull out my adoption card in as many instances as I could, and I would guess that it must have struck a cord, and that may be why things happened so quickly. I am very appreciative at all the personalized and quick responses we have had. So, the paperwork is done and UPSed today!