Defying the Etter Family Motto

The Etter family motto is "Nothing's Ever Easy."  In fact, we use our motto so frequently, I just had to have this family crest custom made for Justin's last birthday:

The Etter family defined.

The screws you have are never the right size, the pan you need is always at the bottom of the stack in the cupboard, and the printer is always out of ink when you need to print something right away.

And the government agency fails to tell you which documents you need to bring to your appointment resulting in multiple trips and a wasted day.

And then sometimes things seem way too easy and you wonder if you overlooked some major component of the process that would have made it ten times more tedious than it actually was.  This was the case when we took our notarized documents to the state of New Jersey to be authenticated. We braced ourselves for the worst.  But you know what?  It was way too easy.  So what did we do wrong?

Our USCIS approval came in the mail on Thursday, August 31.  Thanks to modern technology and an efficient postal service (did I really just write that?) that morning, I woke up and read an email from USPS alerting me to the fact that it would be delivered later that day!  (Side note:  if you haven't signed up for the "Informed Delivery" option from the USPS, I highly recommend it!)

Our next step was to get the approval notarized and then take it, along with 11 other notarized documents, to the city of Trenton to be apostilled, or authenticated (meaning they verify that the notary is legit).  Because we admittedly lack patience, and because Jenny has been waiting for a family since she was born 4.5 years ago, we paid an extra $15 per document for expedited processing.  We drove into Trenton on Friday, Sept 8 to drop everything off, and drove back on Monday, Sept 11 to pick everything up.  

And it worked like clockwork.  Maybe we were expecting the worst from the state of New Jersey? After all, government employees have a stereotype for a reason. (I can say that because I happen to be a government employee.) We got onto the elevator to exit the building and looked at each other. "That was too easy!" we both said in unison.  

We now had a 2-inch thick packet of our most important documents:  birth certificates, marriage certificate, health records, employment verifications, adoption applications, powers of attorney and a 20-page deeply personal Home Study.  This was our "dossier".  This was the packet of credentials that someone from the Ministry in Jenny's country was going to use to determine our suitability to adopt.   This was everything.

And now it's on its way to Jenny's country.

Vivien loves seeing where her big sister lives!

We have no idea how long it will take the authorities in Jenny's country to review and approve our dossier, but we aren't resting on our laurels while we wait.  We have registered to take a 9-week course for adoptive parents called "Empowered to Connect" and we are busy gearing up for our next fundraising effort:  a multi-family yardsale coming up on Sept 22 & 23.  

Our friends and family continue to support us beyond our wildest dreams.  And God continues to show Himself to us in amazing ways.  Each day we are one step closer to officially adding Jenny to our family.  And each day we are growing in faith and love.  We can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!