You are NOT going to believe this!!!

After sleeping in this morning, I was doing the happy dance when I checked the tracking # of Pat's employment letter coming back from being apostilled in Indiana. It was "out for delivery"! Yippee!!! I got all the other documents for our dossier in order - tripled checked everything - and was waiting for the announcement that the mailman had come. I went on-line to find FedEx places that ship on Saturdays. The kids ran down to get the mail and I eagerly ripped open the envelope...That's when I saw it. The letter had NO apostille!!! Instead it had a sheet of paper with it that said the notary was not found in their system. WHAT?!?! Evidentally, the notary that signed Pat's employment letter is inactive. SIGH...of course, as you read the other day, my usual first response is to panic (and cry!) and think about the worse thing that can happen (we would be delayed long enough to not get submitted before they close the end of Nov., etc). I thought the EARLIEST we could get the dossier out would be next Friday, if we overnighted everything and the processing time in Indiana was quick - once we got a new letter. And then the evil one is whispering in my ear..."this is all your fault...you could have had this taken care of 3 weeks ago...this is all your fault." Get thee behind me!

But my husband to the rescue!  I thank God the Lord gave me a man who isn't controlled by his emotions (like me!) and one that can think rationally and analytically (unlike me!).  So, after he processed this and had time to think, he came up with a tentative plan.  We call his office (secretary/boss) on Monday morning and explain the situation. Hopefully she can draft a new letter with all the exact same salary numbers (which is in our homestudy - they MUST match!). Maybe they can get it notarized on Monday with a new notary. I'll have her scan a copy and email to me to verify it's correct. Pat will drive down to Valpo Monday night (3 hrs) and stay overnight. He will then get the letter Monday night or early Tues morning. He'll drive it down to Indianapolis (another 3-4 hrs from Valpo) and pray they will process the letter while he waits. (I'll call on Monday to ask and beg.)  He'll bring the whole dossier with him, add this letter, and ship it via FedEx from Indianapolis and drives home safely Tues night ....LORD WILLING!  So, once again, I ask for your prayers for our paperwork and this process. Please pray that all goes smoothly with the new letter and notary, the Sec of State in Indianapolis is willing to process right away, and everything goes well with getting it shipped over on Tuesday. IF this all works, I guess we will only lose ONE day, as FedEx didn't pick up around here on Saturday anyway. So, once again, the Lord is faithful. Once again, he knew all of this was going to happen. He knew Pat would be able to take Tuesday off of work in between the projects he's working on. Oh, I pray that someday I'll be mature enough in my faith that my first reaction is not panic and tears and thinking worst case, but instead it will be a calmness knowing the Lord knows and that He has gone before us to prepare a way. Someday...

P.S. If there is any adoptive parents reading this that will be getting documents apostilled in Indiana, there is a link on the Sec of State page to check to "Verify your notary information". Please use it. Wish I would have.