In order to get everything completed for our dossier so that it could be turned in this week, we had to hand carry the last two papers of the dossier to the Sec. of State’s office and then the Chinese Consulate in Chicago.
Once again we thought we knew how everything would play out, and once again we found out differently. Monday went wonderfully. Everyone that I met went out of their way to be nice and helpful. Then came Tuesday, and I was hoping for the same.
We read that if we got our papers to the Chinese Consulate by 11:00 am for authentication, we could pick them back up at 2:00pm. They opened at 9:00am, and we arrived at 10:30am. We were told to take a number. Our number was 151; they were on number 76 at the time. Noon came around, and they still hadn’t called our number. They then closed for lunch for one hour. We were back waiting at 1:00, and we were finally called at 1:30pm. We were told our papers would be ready for pickup the next afternoon. We had missed the drop off time for same day service. We decided that it would be best for us to spend the night there, rather than make the long drive home and then back the next day.
Since we hadn’t planned on spending the night, we did not have anything with us. We went to WalMart and got the few items that we had to have in order to spend the night. We stayed in a suite and fixed dinner there. All that being said, we returned the next day and got our papers.
I was planning on making a trip to St. Louis Thursday to hand deliver those two papers, the corrected paper, and the requested photos for our dossier. I called ahead to make sure that Tina, the lady that handles the China adoptions at CHI, would be there. She answered but was on her way out the door. She was sick and going home. She said she wouldn’t be in Friday either. I decided to Express mail the items instead of taking them in person, since she wouldn’t be there anyway. The package should arrive there today, and she said she would mail our dossier to China Monday. She still seems confident that we will meet the Oct.1 deadline, even though our papers will still have to translated in China before arriving at their destination.
Once again this journey is out of our hands, but that is what a walk of faith is. We keep moving ahead, trusting that ever delay or push forward is part of God’s timing, and that He will provide the way.
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