Brown Envelope Arrived

We got the "brown envelope" in the mail! When the American Consulate in Guangzhou, China receives the adoption paper work from the Department of Homeland Security the Consulate sends the family a notification letter and a lot of forms that are partially filled out. We have to take all of it with us to China. All this paper work comes in a nondescript brown envelope. I've heard of people who threw it out with the junk mail because it looks like junk mail.

We were keeping a watch out for it but weren't going to worry if we never got it. That's the other thing, sometimes families never get the "brown envelope". The agencies say "don't worry about it if you don't get it. We'll make sure all your documents made it to the Consulate's office before you fly to China." This never gave me a warm fuzzy feeling, but it's one of those things that Jeff says, "You just gotta let this one blow by you." I guess things get lost and if you don't have the pre-filled paperwork for the VISA and baby's medical exam they just do it again when you get there.

Here's the really ironic thing... The letter in the "brown envelope" is date March 5th 2007 and the letter has Jeff's name spelled correctly. We didn't get the new I-171 from the Department of Homeland Security with the correct spelling until March 9th. I don't know what's up with that, I guess the Consulate spelled his name wrong off the original I-171, but in making that error actually spelled it right!