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| Four apostilled documents ready to mail to Bulgaria. |
Sitting in the old courthouse with my dad in Knoxville, I sighed a sigh of relief. It was three business days until court. I was in the city I got married in visiting my parents. I was there on the day I needed to immediately get my hands on documents I could only get in Knoxville that needed to be notarized there as well. I had acquired those documents. I just had to scan them for the judge, it was done, things were good. Lucky me, I was in the right place at the right time. I was about to leave, mail the documents just in case and head east 8 hours to Wilmington. Then I got a call from our agency.
“The judge wants these documents apostilled and the originals in Bulgaria before court.”
First, let me explain my main frustration. Two days earlier, I was told the judge in Bulgaria wanted more proof that my name prior to marriage and my legal married name referred to the same person--me. The judge already had my birth certificate and marriage license… which had both names on it. But, those two state-issued documents apparently didn’t quite cut it and they wanted more proof and it had to be notarized and now, authenticated and apostilled. Oh, and this was the first time our agency had ever been asked for this info, so I got to be that person--yay.
If you want to understand what notarization, authentication or an apostille compare to in my mind, this is basically it. Have you ever heard someone say something and then tack on the phrase “for real” as a verification? Well in my mind, that’s what a notary does… they add on that phrase “for real.” Authentication is like saying “for real, for real” and in a nutshell, an apostille is basically saying, “for real, for real, for real.” I mean who needs three “for reals?”
So, I had ask for any possible document to verify this info, since the only one the USA regularly uses is a marriage license--something the judge already had. We tried to come up with any possible idea that might accomplish this goal. So, I had acquired a new marriage license and had an additional paper added to it that had the court seal that said it was a true and accurate copy--extra paper makes it more official right? Then, I filled out an affidavit saying the two names referred to the same person and it was notarized. Then I had asked the court clerk type up a document on a state letterhead stating both names referred to the same person and that was notarized. I hoped three different documents would be enough proof. Now it all had to be apostilled! Apostilled documents have to be completed in the capital of the state you have a document notarized in--that meant Nashville. That’s three hours west, the opposite direction I needed to go, and I had to work the next day at Club Pilates in Wilmington.
I talked to Kev. I needed to drive to Nashville. I texted my work and by the time I got back to my parent’s house all my classes were covered by some super amazing ladies. I was already packed to leave for Wilmington, so I unpacked my car so the girls would have their bikes to ride and clothes to wear. I recruited my cousin Amy to go with me. We put Mom, Daddy, and Joe (my cousin’s husband who had just showed up from Wilmington) in charge of the kids and Amy and I hit the road for Nashville.
I am thankful Nashville is on Central time--we needed that extra hour. We got to the Department of State and right as we walked in the door found out we needed yet another document notarized and apostilled (and someone nice to print it out for us). We got the current documents apostilled at the Department of State and while we waited called the Clerk of Court to see if we could have a document notarized AND authenticated there to save time. The woman on the phone not only said she could work that out, but offered to print the document out if I’d email it to her. Amy drove, I emailed the document--thank goodness for technology. We got it all taken care of and made it back to the Department of State for the apostille 15 minutes before it closed. I scanned all the documents on my phone (thank you technology, again) and emailed them to our awesome agency to be emailed to Bulgaria. Lastly, we headed to the UPS store and mailed the documents to Sofia via DHL. They will get to Sofia, Bulgaria by Monday at 12pm--just in time for court. Mic drop, Peace Out, I’m done.
A couple of things struck me and it wasn’t just the irony of the Eastern European market next to the UPS store in Nashville. Timing was a big one. In June I started thinking about coming to Knoxville to visit the first-ish week of August. As the summer progressed, it seemed to be the best time and Amy and her son Joseph could come with me and the girls. My mom and daddy had decided to come to Wilmington in mid August, but I still felt like I should go there as well. Of course, I had no idea the document requests from the judge would happen and I would need to be in Knoxville. Accomplishing this task in the short amount of time we had would have been impossible if I was coming from Wilmington. God ordained this, it wasn’t random, luck, or my choice.
I received the good news about our court date while I was visiting with my high school bestie and her family in Knoxville, who is my forever bestie. I had the perfect person with me to roadtrip to Nashville, my cousin/basically my sister/best friend. She keeps me calm, makes me laugh and we still get things accomplished--much to our family’s shock. We had fun heart-to-heart talks on the road, got our job completed and had a blast on the strip in Nashville before we headed home. The day I was in Nashville, I got phone calls from our amazing agency just before I left the buildings I needed to be in, just before I walked into buildings where I had no cell service in and would have missed important details and just before we needed to take the next step. We didn’t get info in advance, we got it just in the nick of time. Talk about perfect timing--God’s timing.
The other thing that was highlighted for me is that difficult and stressful situations tend to be our style. It’s such fun. I
Our court date is tomorrow in Bulgaria, in a few short weeks we will be able to reveal Little B’s name and picture. Did you hear me? I said “weeks”, not years, not months, but weeks. I can’t get over that. By that time we will be hopefully scheduling our pickup trip. I have SOOO much to do, this has seemed so far off for so long.
In other awesome news, a sweet friend of mine from our former church is doing a virtual shower starting today for Little B on Facebook (it will be open for two weeks). Virtual means it happens online. I so wish I could have my friends together to celebrate, but it's hard when everyone is spread out. Click here if you are interested or just let me know and I will connect you.
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| Best friends have kids who are best friends! |
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