Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Guess what Mr. Postman delivered

It's our brown envelope from the U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou! I wasn't expecting this until after we received our LID (log in date) , which I expect hope to receive later this month when referrals are announced.

So, what is all the excitement over this brown envelope? Well, it means that the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou knows that we are approved to adopt an overseas orphan and that when we show up at their door, they are authorized to process Baby S's case. Ahhh, not so fast though. First, the brown envelope contains *more* forms to fill out! Then there is the matter of a physical. Before they can process Baby S's approval, she must undergo a medical exam, and they kindly list, in English and Chinese, all the various approved clinics and hospitals along with the associated fees. There is also an instruction sheet that lets us know that the Adoptions Unit will accept our credit card for the payment of Baby S's visa...Good at least they think there is still money to back that card!

One other thing that one of the forms says, is that on the afternoon of our scheduled appointment for our oath ceremony, that we must leave all cameras and recording equipment at the hotel, as they are not allowed because of security concerns...That sucks! Such an important moment, and we can't capture it on film, what's the deal with that? They also kindly include a map of the U.S Consular Section and the surrounding area, where they list a few places in English, but most locations are written in Chinese. The map though, was obviously designed by a man as it lists the necessary locations as well as a sports center, but not one mention of any good stores or shopping places.

So, the upshot of all of this. The contents of the brown envelope are disappointing, but I am relieved to know that the consulate knows we are on our way!

11 comments:

  1. Hey allright!!! Now we are all members of the exclusive and somewhat puzzling brown envelope club. *grin* I think we should all get together for a good dinner to celebrate (Mexican food, of course). Let's see, what's halfway between Georgia and California?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous7:57 PM

    You did better than I did. When I opened up mine and realized it was just a bunch of papers I put it all back in the envelope and it's been there for months now. Glad to finally know what's in there and to know I wasn't supposed to fill anything out and fax it back within 48 hours or anything...lol

    Tracy LID 3-2

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  3. Thank you for telling us all what the brown envelope means. I looked at everything for about 30 seconds and stuffed it...I mean filed it away with all of my adoption papers! Congrats!

    Tiffany

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey...hehe
    If our papers don't say anything about cameras.....do you think we can get them in on a "grandfather clause"?

    One Step closer... :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'll have to say, I learned more from your blog about the brown envelope than I did by looking at it! Thanks for all the info. Now we can celebrate having another step down. If we would only receive our LID's!

    Colleen

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous6:38 PM

    Yeah for you!!!!!

    That really stinks about the no photos thing though. Especially painful for the scrapbookers!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congratulations. Now go celebrate!

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete
  10. I'll go ahead and share that the "momentous occasion" of the swearing in is done so very informally, there is nothing to take pictures of. It was a huge let-down... nothing like I expected. So don't stress that point.

    Congratulations on your fabulous brown envelope!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Gah! If it were not for my family not being able to post comments I would ban anonymous comments from our blog!

    Congrats on the being a part of the brown envelope social club! Yet another milestone is achieved. The way I look at it is, at least the Feds over in Guangzhou know we're coming, so the U.S. bureaucrats did their job, hooray! Tax dollars at work!

    ReplyDelete

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