I've been questioning myself as to whether I wanted to post about the events of yesterday regarding the Authentication of my birth certificate from the Chinese Consulate in Chicago. After much thought I have decided to go ahead and spill the beans to the masses:-) First, I would like to say a HUGE thank you to the 5 of you who gave me support for the 6 hours of the nightmarish, chaotic, hysteria I went through before the unexpected "finale" to my day:-)
Do I have your attention??? LOL Ok, here goes.....I was actually sitting at the table talking to Devan and her friend Hannah about waiting for my birth certificate to come back from the Consulate in Chicago when there was a knock at the door. Jordan answered the door and yelled at me. All I heard was Express Mail and I immediately knew what it was about!!! I all but ran to the door, signed for my package and even opened it as our mail lady was standing there. As I excitedly pulled out the paperwork from the Express Mail envelope it didn't take long for my excitement to hit rock bottom. I looked down in my hand only to see my document looking EXACTLY the way it did when I mailed it on April 12th:-( NO Authentication Letter was attached to the front. Nothing, nada!!! I literally could have gotten sick. All this time waiting for the document and they didn't do what I asked AND paid them to do. Unbelievable!!!! I wanted to get angry but all I felt was this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Being the pro-active person I am, it was time for action!!! Since it was Good Friday, our agency Great Wall had closed at noon so an e-mail was immediately sent to them just to let them know what was going on and to ask them to call me first thing Monday morning to discuss what to do. I began calling the Consulate but apparently they DO NOT accept phone calls. How can a Consulate NOT accept phone calls? The only way you can contact them is by snail mail, e-mail or by fax. Obviously I wasn't using snail mail and we don't have a fax, so by process of elimination an e-mail was sent. Also had to inform a few friends so they could commiserate with me:-) I had surrendered to the idea that it would be Monday before hearing back from them if they even responded at all. I had exhausted all options so me and my depressed self tried to put on a happy face and prepared everything for the girls to dye Easter eggs. Once they were outside completely absorbed with decorating eggs I thought I would check "just to see" if MAYBE they had responded.....not really expecting anything. To my surprise THERE WAS AN EMAIL!!!! I couldn't get the e-mail opened quick enough.
What happened next made me realize just how completely stressed out I am. There was only one line to the e-mail. No Dear Mrs. Malone, no have a nice day, no signature.....it was one single line but that one line said SO MUCH!!! The email from the Chinese Consulate in Chicago that had cashed my check, sent me the receipt and then returned my document to me without doing what I had requested said this:
You need to look on the back of your document.
I actually sat there at the computer for what seemed like 5 minutes although I know it was just a few seconds before I jumped up, grabbed the Express Mail envelope, pulled out the paperwork, turned it over and,,,,,,there it was. I have not been that humiliated since I don't know when. I had to send them an email and apologize profusely for my stupidity!!!! How embarassing!!!!! In my defense, this is NOT how it was done when we did Jenna's adoption. They attached a letter to the front of the document, not a STICKER to the BACK of the document. Still, I can't believe I didn't even turn the paperwork over to see if anything had been done. Between not getting our home study certified and now this, I am starting to wonder if I'm even qualified to do the paperwork for this adoption:-) I always considered myself a reasonably intelligent person but lately....whew, I think everything is getting to me!!!! Maybe a week's vacation would be good for me!!!LOL
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