Yesterday we received our certified documents from Houston at 3:15 and I went to work making the final copies and getting everything in order to send to our agency.  Everything was packaged up and ready to go by 5 pm.  David came home to pick up the package and delivered it to FedEx before their final shipment for the day! 

I frequently checked in on the progress of our documents using our tracking number, and at 10:15 this morning they had arrived at CCAI.  We received an email this evening saying the documents had arrived safely and would be there the next 9-11 days for critical review and summary translation.  From there they head to China and we wait for our Log In Date (LID).  I’m hoping it doesn’t take the full 9-11 days at CCAI...Abigail’s only took 5 days, so we’ll see!  There is a chance it could go quicker! 

So what exactly is in a dossier you ask?  We’ll let’s see...here’s what was in ours:

1. -two copies of each parent’s passport photo page
   

2. -three passport photos
   

3. -three couple photos
   

4. -eight “family life” photos
   

5. -13 documents all of which are notarized, certified by the secretary of state, authenticated by the Chinese consulate       
   

        - Adoption Petition (letter stating why you want to    

           adopt)

       - Birth Certificate (Husband and Wife)

       - Marriage Certificate

       - Letter of employment or non-employment (Husband                    

          and Wife)

       - Financial Statement

       - Physical (Husband and Wife)

       - I - 797C (USCIS approval)

       - Approved Home Study

       - Police Clearance (Husband and Wife)

1. -Doctors Letter explaining or clarifying any serious medical information/past surgeries, etc.
   

2. -A complete copy of all documents, their notarization, certification page, and authentication seal.
   

That’s it!  That is OUR dossier!  Yea!  I must say it feels a little empty around here without all those papers hanging over my head!  Glad to be moving on the the next step in the process!