Paper. Work.

She said I would feel overwhelmed.  She said to read and reread it and call with any questions.

OH.  MY.

Overwhelmed.

Tense.

How is this ever going to get put together?

The Dossier.  Have you ever had one?  Me neither. 
Now I do.

According to the Costco dictionary my mom bought me in 1994 right before I wooshed off to college, a dossier is "a file of documents containing detailed information about a person."  Detailed, yes.  Seriously.  Wow. 

As a kid I often thought I'd love the job of a secretary.  I thought filling out paperwork all day would be so much fun.  Well, here's my big chance.  45 pages, plus a supplement for our particular state.  The hard part is that it's not just me filling out the forms.  We have to get people from all over the country to cooperate EXACTLY how the particular paperwork requires.  And it all has to be notarized, most State-Sealed.  We have to take a notary to the doctor's office.  How does one do that?

We've already adopted once, we should have expected this, right?  Uh-uh.  No dossier last time. Wasn't required for that country.  Can you feel my stress?  Paul thinks it's no big deal.  "You'll do a great job, dear."  But ask him if he's read the dossier packet yet.  He hasn't.  I need a full time assistant.  Anyone?  Bueller?

Just to clarify.  I'm not complaining.  Really.  This is all very exciting, especially as I remember the end goal.  Just full of temporary overwhelmedness.  Oo, temporary.  That's a good word.