We spent the past week gathering the remaining family photos required for the dossier. Last Sunday my parents came to visit, and last Monday a friend from college came to visit (Hi Raj, I know you’re reading). All of the above were victims to our camera. We’re ever appreciative of their patience.

Today, we went to Kinko’s to sit for 2×2 passport pictures for the dossier/travel visas. They turned out just as beautiful as a driver’s license photo. Actually, they weren’t that bad.

While there, we sent off the remaining family life photos and six passport photos via FedEx to CCAI. Once home, I emailed the agency that the photos were in the mail.

It’s time to celebrate. How about a trip to Paris?

About a week ago, we sent off a packet of papers to the adoption agency’s dossier service. This packet included a copy of the  I-797C (A.K.A the I-171H), a few photos, and a few fees.  We were excited, as it appeared to us that the only thing left to gather were a few more photos (family life and passport-type). They received the package via FedEx on Thursday, as expected.

Like clockwork, I receive an email from CCAI. (Actually, they are very good about confirming receipt of paperwork.) Everything that we sent looked good, however… they are still missing the final home study report. As we knew that our home study agency had sent a draft copy to the adoption agency for comments, we had assumed that they had also sent them the finalized copy. They had not. No big deal. The home study agency had provided us with several copies. Just need to visit FedEx again.

The other problem, which we thought would be more difficult to handle, actually turned out to be a simple fix as well. Apparently, the Chinese Consulate in Chicago recently had a policy change that requires all documents to be current within the last 6 months. This rendered my physical exam form “expired.” The form needed to be re-done with a more current signature, but the data from the physical exam in July was just fine. The key was the date by the signature. But would the physician be agreeable to re-completion of the form without another office visit? We were thinking   that this would be difficult to explain. A night of indigestion ensued. However, Ben went to the physician’s office on Friday and explained the situation to the front desk. They were reportedly a bit confused, but the physician overheard the conversation and performed the necessary paperwork on the spot! I really didn’t think it would be that easy.

This weekend we plan to mail off the final home study report and the new physical exam form. There’s still a matter of those pictures… So, happily, we are back to where we started.

We have also been cleaning in preparation for the home study. As it turns out, we really didn’t need to do that. However, these cleaning projects were tasks that we had been wanting to do for a long time. The home study just gave us the excuse to spend the time cleaning. We bought shelving for the basement and the garage and really made an improvement in those areas.

Today’s meeting with the social worker mostly involved us talking. She did a brief look around the house, but she was there primarily to observe us. She was laid back and friendly, and the experience was downright pleasant. It was nothing at all like some of the horror stories we have read. She didn’t show up early or search our closets. She wasn’t even interested in our basement, but we insisted on showing her that, considering the work we put into it.

After she left, we ate at Homegrown Cafe and got some cupcakes at Sweet-n-Sassy. In the evening, we packaged up another pack of documents for CCAI and sent them via FedEx.

After completing the main objective of this trip, we were also able to complete a few side missions. We had a few forms notarized to authorize Baltimore City to release background check information to the state of Delaware for completion of the required 5 year criminal and child abuse background check.  We were directed to the Windswept Copy Center in Dover by the Post Office. Interestingly, the notary was also named Benjamin Todd.

And the most long-awaited leg of the journey – we finally visited Sonic. Sonic has been tormenting us for years with their television advertisements for cherry limeade and banana cream pie shakes, however up until recently there had been NO Sonic restaurants anywhere nearby. Why the commericals? Who knows.  Regardless, the food was good. We drove into a parking spot, ordered, and food was delivered to us. Interesting experience. Ben was not disappointed by the banana cream pie shake. We’ll be back, but probably not that often.

Thursday night into Friday morning there were a lot of “what ifs.” Within the past year, I had entered  federal employment, which required a much more extensive background check.  Should be a breeze, actually. However, what if something was mistakenly added to my record? Maybe they were just calling to ask us where are our fingerprints, as the appointment with the State Police isn’t scheduled until July 30.  We would not know until morning.

First thing Friday morning, armed with the complete and correct telephone number, we called the Division of Family Services. They had called to inform us that due to the Adam Walsh Act, we would need to have a background check completed for the state of Maryland as well. This is because we have been living in Delaware for less than 5 years. We will be receiving forms in the mail for permission to perform these searches. We are to sign them, have them notarized, and return them to the Division of Family Services so that they can complete the background check. Simple, yes. Another hoop to jump through? – of course. We’re becoming quite adept at jumping.

I received word from CCAI on 6/20 that our Full-Dossier Compilation Service Agreement, payment, and a few dossier documents had been received. There was, however, a problem… Ben was born in Manhattan. This means that his birth certificate falls under a “special requirements” clause. He needs a “long form” or “vault copy” birth certificate with letter of exemplification, or else the document cannot be sealed properly by the Chinese Consulate.

If you’ve been paying attention, then you know that we ordered both of our birth certificates from VitalChek. It’s a lovely service, actually. However, it only supplies “short form” birth certificates.

The ONLY way to obtain a “long form” birth certificate from Manhattan is to call the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and speak to a live operator.  Operators are available from 8AM-4PM on Mondays thru Fridays. Their website notes that the wait for operator assistance “can be as long as 20 minutes.”

So, Ben called this morning at approximately 8:45AM. He waited… and waited. And drew a few rather pathetic and sad-appearing doodles during the waiting process, might I add.

Finally, after 1 hour and 28 minutes of waiting, he spoke to a rather knowledgeable operator who helped him order a “long form” birth certificate and “letter of exemp,” as she put it.  This should arrive by UPS courier in a few days.

Ben will be sure to thank his parents for deciding on Manhattan as his birthplace.

Last weekend, we went to the local UPS Store to attempt to mail off our request to the Bahamas for a certified copy of our marriage certificate. This requires an international money order for the fee, as well as international air mail via courier service with a pre-paid return envelope. In order to send a pre-paid return envelope, one must have an account with said courier service. Ben had called the UPS Store, and apparently had been mis-informed by the fellow on the phone that we could buy an international money order at the store, open an account, and mail off our request. When we arrived at the store, this was not the case. They do not sell international money orders. They could not assist us in opening an account; that must be done through UPS directly – and they are closed on the weekends. The employees also seemed not to know much about international mailing. This forced us to re-think and re-group; I subsequently spent a lot of time doing internet research regarding this process:

International money orders are easily obtained at the local US Post Office. They cost $3.85.

We decided to use FedEx as our courier service provider. We easily opened an account online. No problem.

Earlier this week, we decided to proceed with the Full-Dossier Compilation Service from CCAI for the sealing of our dossier documents. We contacted CCAI, who forwarded a copy of the service agreement to us via email. After a short trip to the same local UPS Store for notary service – the only local notary easily available on a Saturday – we headed to FedEx to mail off our payment and a few dossier documents.

We were also armed with a request letter for a certified copy of our marriage certificate and its accompanying fee in the form of an international money order. The employee at FedEx was knowledgeable, and walked us through the process of completing the international airbills for outgoing and return mailings. I didn’t realize how much it would cost to mail via courier to the Bahamas, but considering the distance I can understand the price. Hopefully, everything works out well.