Dossier = Fancy Name for Lots of Papers

So, in the past few months, many of you have heard me ramble, complain, or celebrate our adoption dossier.  And many of you probably wondered what the heck I was talking about...and may have even secretly scowled at me for using such a fancy word....it really does sound silly.  So what the heck is a dossier?  According to dictionary.com:


dos·si·er/ˈdôsēˌā/

Noun:

A collection of documents about a particular person, event, or subject

In our case, our dossier was a collection of adoption documents, including:

1. Notarized and State Certified Power of Attorney Form

2. Statement of Reason to Adopt (application letter)

3. Photocopy of USCIS Fingerprint Appointment Letter

4. Photocopies of US Passport 

5. Official passport photos

6. Photographs of the family

7. Photographs of the family's home

8. Home Study

9. Letters of Employment 

10. Financial Statement

11. Birth Certificates 

12. Marriage Certificate

13. Medical letters 

14. Police clearances

15. Two letters of reference

16. $5,500

Every single document had to be signed by at least 2 different people and notarized, and one had to be sent to the Secretary of State to be certified. This is what all of this paperwork looks like:

And this is what a bewildered postal worker looks like when you ask him to take a picture with you and a box that has your dossier in it:

To us, dossier means 4 months of stressful, grueling paper chasing with a 12, 13, 14, and 15 month old attached to you hip; a heart-wrenching letter to the Ethiopian government explaining why you would make good parents to one of their children; trying to capture the inside and outside of your house in 6-8 photos; and having a ton of faith that God will provide the $5,500 you need to submit said dossier.  

So, the reason you see me and Juliana posing with the bewildered postal worker is because our God is amazingly faithful and truly does provide in HIS own time.  On March 14, we had every single document necessary to submit our dossier and get on the waitlist for our daughter....minus $3,000 of the $5,500 fee.  Yesterday, we were $1,500 short.  Today, we received a grant for $2,200 and mailed our dossier to Portland, OR.  We are officially on the waitlist and will know our waitlist numbers on Monday!!

Dossier....big, fancy word for lots of papers and lots of love.