Dossier complete!

Another major milestone! After an insane few weeks, we are officially finished our dossier and filed our immigration paperwork. A dossier is basically a big application package that we send to Haiti's social services. We had to collect medical/psychological reports, criminal background checks, CPS clearances, reference letters, bank statements, employment verifications, etc. All of these documents had to be notarized and then authenticated twice- once in the county in which the respective notary was commissioned and then again in Annapolis by the office of Secretary of the State. The process was not without a few hiccups. Our bank refused to generate a notarized letter in the state of Maryland so we had to figure out how to get the Texas notarized document to a circuit court in Austin... Somehow, amazingly, family friends who live in Austin were coming to town this past week so, after chasing the FedEx truck down I-95 because we missed the last drop box, the letter was overnighted to their house in Austin. Thank you to Chuck and Dianna for running this very important errand for us! We are grateful to the Francis family (Pat, Ray, and Alyssa) who took scenic tours of Maryland trying to hit each of the circuit courts. Thanks to our resourceful and connected friends Terry and Leslie for working to make sure our documents were tracked down and fast tracked. Brenda and Wim- thank you for meeting with us on such short notice! Thank you to Angie, Debbie, Leslie, and Christine for the beautiful letters of recommendation. And lastly, Gary, thanks for letting me take your car when at the last minute ours wouldn't start with an hour to go before the documents were due in Annapolis!

We never imagined that our path to parenthood would include so much paperwork, a car chase on 95, a dead car battery, so many tears, or such a team effort. Stanley is a lucky little man.