Battle of the Minutiae

Friends and family have asked us regularly how the adoption process is coming along, and we have replied somewhat montonously that it's just a lot of paperwork. For those of you interested in a little more information, here's a recent "battle" we fought:

I had a letter notarized by the bank stating that I had been a customer in good standing since such and such time, etc, etc, one of many such letters we have to include in our application. The letter was kicked back to us because the notarized section did not have the words "Subcribed and sworn to..." typed at the bottom of letter. The notary and letter was legit otherwise. So that's another trip back to the bank for a redo.

In the big scheme, such a delay is minor, but these little delays add up when multiplied by the dozens of documents we must get notarized. We remind ourselves that it is in everyone's best interest that all the t's be crossed and i's dotted. The second reason for such attention to detail is that all of our documents will eventually be sent to Ethiopia as what is called our foreign dossier. It will be translated there before it is processed, and any aberration from what's expected could cause a more lengthy hiccup then. Better to work out the kinks now. That's how the glass looks half-full, anyway!