G was at school & my mom was watching K this morning. I knew I could get at least one more county done, and was hoping to finish both.
I remembered all of the paperwork when heading out the door, so that was a good start. Ha.
I headed to the furthest county, the GPS (thank God for those!) said it would take about 40 mins.
I found my way, & parked in the parking garage. Before I could get out of the car, another (unmarked) car backed into the space beside me. As the guy leaned forward, typing on the laptop computer anchored in his car (huh?), I read the back of his shirt: "Recovery Agent" w/ a pic of handcuffs. Curious, I was. Although one of the cameras mounted on his car looked as if it were aimed right at me, I looked on. I could clearly see his screen & he had a certain make & model of a car pulled up (a Toyota for those as interested as I). I waited a few mins to see what would happen, but then gave up, got out, and started to walk towards the Courthouse. A car passed in front of me, and slowly the Recovery Agent pulled out behind it. It was a Toyota.
Told ya, always an adventure! lol
Anyways, back on track. I found the right office. After only waiting a couple of minutes, it was my turn. I gave her several papers. As she's working on them & then walks away for a minute, I suddenly remembered I had included my ORIGINAL I-171 approval. (One I need to take with me to Honduras!) I freaked the heck out. When she came back, I told her- through the glass- that I had made a mistake and needed one of the forms back; that I needed to make a copy of that form & she could have the copy; I needed to keep the original separate. She seemed thoroughly confused and was basically telling me no. I was really freaking out at this point; she wasn't understanding. Finally, she says, "I'm just going to paperclip them together, so you can do what you want when you get it back." * I was freaking out b/c the others had STAPLED the authentication to the document, and I knew my original couldn't be stapled.* I was mad at myself for making that mistake. There's just so much to keep straight, and such pressure to do it all right.
11 documents x $2 each = $22 + $2 CC fee = $24 total. Cash or Credit Card, but a CC required a fee. I only had $18 cash, so CC it was.
I was relieved to get out of there and get that document back in my hand. County 3 complete.
3 Counties down, 1 to go.
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I made pretty good time, and figured I'd probably have just enough time to do County 4 before picking up the kids...I went for it.
Although I'm most familiar with this county, it was the most difficult of all. First of all, due to the layout of this city, its blocks, & one way streets, it was difficult to know where to park & find space. Then I didn't know which building to go to. There was a sign saying "Superior Court, Clerk" in front of one building & a sign saying "Clerk, Superior Court" in front of another. Hmm. So I went with the larger, well marked, busy building. I asked the guards if I was in the right place before going through security; they said I was. Went through, they directed me where to go. It was far.
I get there, and the office is marked as 'Clerk of Superior Court,' but when I ask someone about the notary authentications, she says: "You need another department. Did you come through the long breezeway?" (Me: "Yes.") "Okay, go all the way back to wear you came from, back through security, out the door, and across the street." Hmph.
Finally, I get there. Sit down & the lady goes through all of the documents, printing them all, sealing, etc. It's nice to have someone seem confident in what they're doing. I try to make small talk as this is taking a long time (I have many from this county), and I love talking to people about adoption. A couple minutes into it, she boldly states, "Well, if I were to adopt, I'd adopt from right here (Meaning the USA)." Me: "Yes, there are children everywhere that need a home." And we proceed to sort of 'get into it'...not to the extent I would have liked, for I had much I wanted to tell her on the situation, but I bit my tongue. She was completely close-minded...so frustrating. Oh well.
11 more documents x $2 = $22. This time, only cash (I knew I didn't have it) or check. I never carry the checkbook around w/ me, but at the last min. this morning, I threw it in. Whew!
By the way, the cost of apostilling is $10 PER DOCUMENT. So, I'm thinking that puts us around $300-$400 for that. ( + to the $50 I just spent on this paperwork this week + to the cost of gas for driving 6 hours, county to county = one expensive step!)
She did give me this information sheet that I will use to get the entire Dossier apostilled soon...tomorrow or either first of next week?! IDK, we'll see. SO excited!!!
4 Counties down, 0 to go!
Feeling accomplished, but we're not quite there yet.
Prayers, please, for the apostilling process to go smoothly!
~ 6 in Love ~
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