Secret Step

I have a lot to catch you up on.  I've been so busy dealing w/ it, I haven't had time to blog.

So, as you know, the adoption process is oh-so complicated...and sometimes frustrating.  This is no different.

I was so excited to have been done with the Dossier (yay!), and *knew* that all I had to do was take the paperwork down to ATL to have it Apostilled; then we could send it off.  Everyone kept telling me how simple this step was, so we were like right there, almost done. 

Only we weren't.   Apparently there's a secret step.

I look online at the Secretary of State's site to make sure I'm set to go, call ahead like I was told to to let them know we're coming.  I call the only number I see to call, which is - of course - a recording w/ no options to push anything to talk to anyone living.  Grrr.  But the recording said something that I tried to jot down fast & actually had to call 3 times to get it all:  

In the State of Georgia, for every notary that we used in the Dossier, I had to go to that notary's county of certification to the Clerk of Superior Court.  I then had to get a notary certification for that notary for every document he/she notarized, and have that stapled to each form.  

Of course this was all jibberish to me and I had to decode all that.  And although I really like my agency, I sent a frustrated email asking what on Earth this was all about, how I was supposed to do it, why I didn't know about it, etc. She didn't know at first, but then recalled that a few states require this step.  What can you do, right?

Here's the Dossier (BEFORE adding notary certifications & apostilling forms on each).  

I'm afraid to count.

Randomly, this photo of my thumb reminds me of Art class in school.  Feel free to sketch.

So when I wrapped my brain around what this meant, I set out on my research to figure out how to accomplish this surprise task.  I went through all of our documents, and realized that we had used notaries from 4 different counties. (*Of course, had I known about this 'secret step,' I would have tried to use notaries from only 1-2 counties.)  I guess it could've been worse.  Anyways, online, I located the addresses of the Clerk of Superior Court for all 4 counties.  Then I mapquested them all to see how to get there, length of time, etc.  All in all, it would take me nearly 6 HOURS of driving time to accomplish this task. 

Mapquest said the furthest county's office was:

away.  Sheesh.

G started preschool again this week, and my friend had K over for a playdate one morning, so I decided to try to accomplish COUNTY 1 (the far away one) alone before having to pick them up.  I navigated thru the city (It's ALWAYS rush hour in ATL.  For real.)  and found the office.  

B & W makes this journey look better ;) 

In summary: no wrong turns on the way there, entered only one wrong building, found the office, went thru security, got the Notary Certifications with no problem (thank you, Jesus!!) & paid $4.  2 wrong turns getting back, and still had a few mins to meet Cuban Daddy for a quick lunch date before picking up G & K.  Whew!   

1 county down, 3 to go.

Always an adventure, 

 ~ 6 in Love ~