Thursday, April 05, 2007

Step One - Signing

We have had a hard time having the packet of acceptance papers notarized. Our bank hedged when they saw the number of pages that needed a notary stamp. Then they flat out refused when they saw the bundles of paperwork from India had stickers denoting where the notary should sign and were bound with string rather than a staple or paperclip.

After searching through our network of friends, we found out our next door neighbor, Lesley, is a notary. Who knew? She agreed to come over and do the signing with us. On her way, she noticed a hint of smoke in the air and as she neared our entry, noticed smoke rising from the skylight of the house directly behind ours. Patrick met her at our front door and by the time he could get the phone to dial 911, the windows were breaking out of the neighbors house, now totally on fire! Luckily, the home was vacant while a major remodel was being completed. We stood and watched as the firefighters axed their way into the smoke filled basement area and attempted to save the shell of the home.

The ironic part of the story is the day I was born, April 30th 1963, my parents watched out the window of the hospital as the Music Box Theater burned to the ground in Tacoma. My dad was a firefighter so next to my birth this was a big event! Throughout my life, the story of my birth always ended with "That was the day of the famous Music Box Theater fire!"

While Bhargabi was obviously all ready born, this was the day that we officially took steps to make her a part of our family. Growing up in a firefighter family there has always been a fascination with the work they do and I'm sure this day will always be remembered as the day we signed papers and watched the neighbors house burn!

The good news is our papers are in route to Kolkata, India right now! The last time I tracked our package it was in New York, but headed international! Once signed, Ms. Anju Roy and her staff at ISRC will review the acceptance paperwork, along with our dossier and prepare our case for CARA (Central Adoption Resource Agency). This step can take 2-4 weeks.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Adoptingprocess is very tedious but it's becoming a known choice these days. I've read so many blogs that deals with the adoption process but everytime I get the chance to start the adoption travel like yours, I also get excited knowing that another child will be given the chance to be adopted by a loving family :-)