Out of our hands!

We have now turned in the very last piece of paper required by our agency for the dossier. The dossier will now go through a few processes in the states, (translation, certification, athentication) making stops at the Secreatary if State's office and TECO (basicaly Taiwan's consolate) and then be on its way to the Taiwan courts. It seems we may have entered the adoption process in Taiwan at a rather good time. They have recently done away with one step in the process, the Superior Court, so now the dossier will start out in the local courts where the final ruling or decree is actually made. Not many people I am in contact with have adopted since the procedure change, but the few that have seem to be traveling 3-4 months from when they enter court. One family traveled in 2!!

It is all out of our hands now. This is a huge moment for us. When we got the BINDER of requirements for the adoption in November I was feeling like we may never finish, but instead we completed our homestudy and dossier in 2 1/2 months, while hosting Thanksgiving and celebrating a few Christmases. This is what some other adoptive parents call "Birth by Paper", and one observant dad noted that with a hospital birth, "at least you can get an epidural"!
I second that! Neither Chris nor I have hver spent so much time with a Notary Public in our lives. To maintain my sanity while trying to coordinate notarys and my busy working husband with a physician at a hospital, I would remind myself, If I were charged with finding a family for my beautiful innocent baby what might I require? A heck of a lot! Probably much more that has been asked of me!

~Amanda