Get Tadpole a U.S. certificate of foreign birth.

The first step will have been the hardest step, I hope.

The adoption bureau was much more helpful (and no time spent on hold before I spoke to a person!) than the general county court, and is mailing me the forms I have to fill out.

I’m still dreading going through the Chinese paperwork to fill out these forms, but that’s a whole other matter.

That’s good.

Then I looked up the court website and called the court.
That’s bad.

I was put on hold forever, multiple times, and then told that (even though the website says the hours are from 9-5, that no one is there after 4:00. It would have been before 4:00 had I not spent so much time on hold!

Well, now at least I have the direct number for the adoptions unit, and I can call that Monday morning.

Breathe.

I’m usually not this bad of a procrastinator. There must be something in my psyche blocking me.

So let’s do some soul-searching:
I don’t know how to do this. I forgot since last time, which I’m sure is due to the blocking out of the painfulness of all the paperwork we’ve had to do to form our family.
I know I have to get the old paperwork (which means I have to wade through all the very unorganized Chinese documents- scary!), get the new paperwork (I don’t remember where I got it last time- is it available online or do I have to go to the court to get it? I suppose I could try to call the court to ask, but that will be very unpleasant: finding the right person, being on hold multiple times, etc.), and then it’s very simple to file it by bringing it directly to the county court.

I have to breathe, assure myself it will be easier than I’m making it out to be in my mind, and just wade into the task.

I must have it done by August 31. Otherwise, I will let it slide for too long.

If I want to make that deadline, I will have to get going soon! First step: read the paperwork and make a list of any questions I have on how to proceed. Next step: send the list of questions to FCC.

Funny- I did this not too long ago for Frogette. You would think I’d remember how. But I seem to have wiped the experience from my mind.