THIS WEEK'S UPDATE
Before I start this week's update, let me first apologize. It has been an extremely frustrating week. I am so DONE with paperwork, doctor offices, lawyers and above all - ALL GOVERNMENT OFFICES!
My piece of useful information for this week is this: if you have to work with a government agency - know in advance it will test every ounce of patience you have. We thought we had Florida and Indiana supplying us with the apostille we need on all of our documents-well, that isn't the way it has turned out.
Basically, an apostille is an international notary - it is a document that comes from the Secretary of State, and is something that is internationally recognized. There are standards for the information that should be contained on this document, as well as what size it should be.
Got an email from someone with the State Department on Thursday that said, "We're not in a position to change our practice for this one (1) request - which might jeopardize other transactions if Indiana provides differing Apostille documents."
WHAT? Those that know me well know that I don't respond favorably when I am told 'no' to something that I need. I honestly thought I was going to go postal!
Needless to say, I replied to this person with some strong language, and promised that I would get what I need out of her office! It just infuriates me to think that after all this, the reason we wouldn't be able to get a court date is because of something as simple as this! To top this off, the way they are providing the apostille is NOT within international standard. In my reply - I even included a mocked up version of what the document should look like - really, they could take what I did and just use that for our documents.
I cc'ed a friend who happens to work for the state - and whose office is right down the hall from the Secretary of State. She offered to talk to some friends she has - and long story short - we are going to be able to get done what we need done. I am sure my over-emotional emails only made me sound like a crazy person - I am so grateful to have friends (who know I am not a lunatic) with sound reason and logic - who are willing to help us.
The situation in Florida isn't as frustrating. They're just incompetent. They sent us the correct form; however they didn't send us the document. DUH!
TRAVEL PLANS
If I didn't tell you - we did schedule our trip to Irkutsk. Aug 30 - Sept 9 is when we'll be gone.
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