Paperchase #1

Maya is still alive! We did it, 24 hours together and she doesn't seem unduly concerned for her welfare. Those 24 hours were probably my steepest learning curve ever. This tiny 3-week old baby seems mainly interested in sleeping (luckily for me, as I need to get over this jetlag fast, so I'm snoozing whenever she is) and eating.
So, with Maya on the right track (?), I called Aida to find out if our dossier has arrived from the Mexican Embassy in Lebanon yet (no, it hasn't), and when I can apply for my FM-3 visa, which is one of the requirements to process an adoption in Mexico (not until both the dossier and Ahmed arrive).
Our dossier includes the following documents:
1. Homestudy, conducted by a social worker/psychologist in Dubai, to assess our suitability to be parents. A 57-page document, that's been condensed into about 10 pages (to cut down on translation costs, I believe).
2. Legalised copies of our passports
3. Our birth certificates
4. Our marriage certificate
5. Our salary certificates
6. Medical certificates stating our physical and mental fitness
7. Three references from friends and family addressing our suitability to be parents
8. Police clearances from UAE and NZ
9. Letter of no objection from the Canadian Embassy
The list seems short, but this dossier is the culmination of 6 months of hard work, sitting through countless hours and many dollars worth of education sessions with the social worker, getting documents couriered around the world, stamped, legalised by foreign ministries, notarised by our lawyer, and finally certified by the Mexican Embassy in Lebanon. Or the other way round. My head's a-spinning with legal jargon. And along the way, our lawyer's questioning whether we've had documents that originated in Hague-signatory countries (NZ & South Africa) apostilled. We take it that's what all those stamps are. Ha ha, little did we know...