Dossier-Apostille-Traipsing the USA

So a couple of months ago we sent the Dossier off to the president of the adoption agency. This is someplace off in Northern California. The representative that we have been in steady contact is located in central United States and we knew it would make its way there. The folks in North Cali wanted to go through everything to make sure we had dotted our I's and crossed our T's. We were told it looked ok and so it was sent off to a journey eastward. Unfortunately as soon as it got there we were informed that due to certification reason the India representative was going to be centrally located and our new representative was now somewhere in Oregon. Geez, is this dossier ever going to get over to India?

Well it finally got to OR-E-Gone and yep our stuff was not in order. Let's see. Some of the forms we signed were rather generic and needed to be notarized. So what did I do? Yep clumped them altogether and slapped one notary on it. Sorry each signed document needs a separate notary. nice. Oh by the way you had another child since the Home Study was done, we need another family photo with your 3 week old child oh and we need a statement that she is willing to have an adopted sister. Let's see two of the notaries expire this year, could you write a statement that these documents are true and valid and get that paper signed this will go on top of the pages with these "stale" notaries. By the way as you thought Kali-For-knee-ah, as our governor calls it, charges for each document not for each signer. CHA-CHING –that will be $800 plus please.

Good grief. I feel like a cow that has a vampire bat attached. A little here a little there. Just keep looking at the photo and you realize it is worth the trip.

The Dossier finally makes its way to the adoption agency's Indian rep. He goes through it and wants changes too. Uh that means these need notaries and Apostille too, more $$ honey.

So I started looking at flights as we may be traveling in October. If I get a ticket that allows for flight changes I can lock in my airfare sooner rather than later. Sounds ok since fuel prices and airline fares are only going up. Yikes – for 2 adults and one toddler (same price – no price breaks for families anymore) I am looking at anywhere from $15K to $21,000. Uh not in my budget. Cheapie fares, if I buy now , are about $6,000. Not cheap but quite less.