We received the package that we were waiting for from AAI on Monday with the instructions for gathering all of the paperwork for our dossier. So I went through it and organized it into piles:

1.Documents we have and are now in the "ready to send" envelope.
2.Papers needing only to be signed by us and then be put in the "ready to send" envelope.
3.Papers needing to go to the bank to be signed and notarized.
4.Document (approval by AAI for us to adopt through them) needing to be sent with a form to Washington state to receive the "great seal" certification.
5.Document (power of attorney for someone in Ethiopia to act on our behalf during the adoption process) waiting to be notarized at bank and then be brought to Secretary of State to receive the "great seal" certification.
6.Document needing to get to 2 of our references to be signed/notarized.
7.Documents needing to be typed up and then be placed in one of the 1st 6 piles.

Whew! Now for the good news after dragging you through that big bunch of things that probably don't mean to much to you. All of this will be accomplished this week and we will officially be sending in our dossier to AAI on Monday.....one week from the time we received the instructions!! CRAZY! For those of you that don't know the adoption process very well, the dossier preparation step could take weeks. I do have to admit, we did have a head start because while working with our first agency I just skipped ahead from what we were working on and started working my way down their dossier list, gathering what documents I could.

Two big hurdles now almost over! Our homestudy is finished and (hopefully) at the agency for approval and our dossier is almost complete. Yippee! Tomorrow I will write about happens next.

Have a great day!
Wendy