Compiling a dossier for an international adoption takes a lot of time, a lot of attention to detail, and a lot of patience (especially since several of the items involve waiting on government entities).

A new friend of mine has hit just this stage.  It seems overwhelming at first.  There’s a long list, and the very first item is a homestudy report which comes with a separate but similar checklist all its own.  And then every document must be notarized, authenticated by the county in which that notary holds her/his license, and then apostilled by the state in which that county is located.  So some people are looking at a whole bunch of notaries, multiple counties, and several states in order to compile their one family dossier.

Here’s my method of keeping the madness to a minimum. Read the rest of this entry

My friend Mary started Tiny Talk Tuesday a couple years ago.  It’s a blog carnival meant to help parents record and then look back with laughs at the things our kids said when they were “little.”  So here are a few things heard around OUR house recently:

  Read the rest of this entry