God Provides

Apparently, the Chinese government likes to see paperwork that has been notarized.  Most of the items for our dossier have to be notarized, so we've been getting familiar with the ins and outs of the notary public service.  Did you know that most banks have notaries and will usually do it for free (even if you aren't a member)?  Most of the items are pretty easy:  fill out/type out paperwork, go to the bank, sign it in front of the notary.

Some of them are a little more challenging, because it's not our signature that has to be notarized.  We each need a notarized letter of employment, but thankfully we both work at places that have notaries around.  The physical exam paperwork has to be signed and notarized by our doctor...and it's been a bit of a trial to obtain. 

We tried our regular doctor...one we've had for about two years, and one that I wasn't super fond of.  Perhaps I've been spoiled by my (ER doc) sister's over-the-phone triage where she patiently explains all the things she thinks it could be, why she chose the diagnosis she did, and what to look for in case she's not right.  Our doctor was more of a 'this must be wrong, here's your treatment' kind of guy.  Plus his nurse is super strict about showing up for appts 15 minutes early.  So when I a) called about a notary and the front desk basically asked if we were planning to bring one to the appointment and b) discovered he'd cut his hours way back and we wouldn't even get in for 6 weeks, we started looking for a new doctor.  Bleh.  We tried to get some recommendations, but between not taking new patients or not taking our insurance, I wasn't having much luck.  I finally just called the first one listed on our insurance website and made the appt.  And God really provided for us!  Our new doctor is very nice, she was able to do the physical at the new patient appt, and she's very familiar with the notary public at her bank.  We're still waiting for the paperwork back, but I guess that's a good sign.