Dossier to China!!!

Finally!!!  After the lengthy, precise, irritating, expensive [and a few other descriptors which I will leave out here] paperchase, our dossier was mailed to China today!!!  HAPPY DANCE!!!

The dossier is a very large and oh-so-official stack of paperwork that represents our family to the Chinese government and is the basis on which they determine our eligibility to adopt one of their sweet little nationals and bring her to the United States.  Of course, they already lay out their requirements before we embark on the process, so we have been pre-weeded. 
The dossier includes the following:

• HOMESTUDY- This many-page packet is an in-depth biography on our family, and it was created through a little bit of documentation about finances and employment, a few references, and a TON of interview information.  Pretty much, this is where they want to know about your relationship with your mother, the quality of your sex life, and what color you poop. 
• PROOF YOU EXIST- Birth certificates, marriage certificate, physical exam reports, employment verification, police reports/FBI clearance, USCIS immigration approval, financial statement, and a petition to the Chinese government stating why/who we would like to adopt.  EACH of these documents has to be notarized, authenticated by the Secretary of State in the state where it was created, and sealed by the Chinese consulate that oversees that state. 
• PHOTOS- We had to submit 3 passport photos each, 3 photos of just us as a couple, and 8 "family life" photos.  CCAI mounted them and got them all prettified.
• PASSPORT COPIES - well, duh

Then, if you have things like name changes, medical info that needs further explanation from a doctor, then those things need to be in there as well. 
There need to be black and white copies of everything included as well.
And money.  Can't forget money.

So.  Now.

Now, it will take 3-5 business days for the dossier to GET TO China.  It's kind of a long way.  Then it gets logged in to the CCCWA (China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption)'s system.  The date it gets logged in (LID) is a big deal.  That is the day that we officially begin to exist in the eyes of the Chinese government.  For the traditional (non-special-needs) program, everything is based on your LID.  People are matched with their children in order based on that date.  For us, it's not quite as big of a deal.  We were already matched before our homestudy was completed.  Still, it's a milestone.  We will get our LID about 2-3 weeks after our dossier gets to China. 

After that, the thing goes through translation into Mandarin.  I'll talk about that later.

For now, our precious red binder of everything us is making its way from Centennial, Colorado to Beijing, PR China. 

One step closer...