Readoption Day!

Today we are readopting Finn and Tali in the state of Ohio.  I know, we should have done this a lot sooner, but we never really felt the need.  Now I think it would be helpful for the process if they both had Ohio birth certificates instead of one from Guatemala and one from China.  Knowing how the Ecuadorian embassy operates makes us think that this will be the right way to go.  However, the woman from probate court called me yesterday afternoon (the afternoon before the court date, mind you, and they've had our paperwork for a month) and said that they didn't think they had the correct paperwork for Finn.  We gave them everything we had that we thought was the right piece. (None of the bilingual teachers at work would help me decipher the pages.  That really bothered me.  It was like I was asking them to sit down and translate hours of paperwork. Whatever.  So, I muddled through it on my own.)  I thought that maybe we had lost some of the paperwork while moving.  I tried to find WPA's (World Partner's Adoption) website online, but it looks like they have shut down.  I found a number that I thought might be one that would get me to the right person, so I called.  I talked to a man who used to work with WPA, but went out on his own after they closed.  Luckily he had all of WPA's paperwork.  BUT, just this week he had started to shred all of  2002 and 2003's paperwork.  Luckily we adopted Finn in 2004 and he was able to find our file.  He scanned and emailed me all 74 pages of the documents and it looks like everything he has we have, so I don't know what the lady at the court is talking about.  I hope we can get this done today.

The other glitch we ran into is that I had no idea that we would have to wait 6-8 weeks for the b certificates.  That will not help us with the visa.  I called the head of Vital Statistics in Columbus and pleaded our case.  Hopefully she will help us expedite this process or let us walk it through.  I was thinking that if it doesn't work out we can still enter Ecuador on our T-3.  Then once we get the paperwork we can either continue with the 12-IX or just go right to the investor's visa.  We will play that by ear. 

My next job is to get another copy of our marriage certificate.  I have one apostilled copy, but some people say the embassy will keep it and others say they will give it back.  I want to have an extra one on hand just in case.