Apologies in advance for the repetition to all who've been reading along from the beginning, but to you new-ish here this week's entries are meant to give a smattering of what goes on here, but certainly not the whole picture.

I hope to publish most days from Singapore in addition to these wanders down memory blog, but can't promise anything.

Starting with international adoption-related information, this post about dossier prep from the 9th of February may help you feel just a little better about beginning the process.

So, affix your crampons, and prepare to climb that mountain of paperwork ...

I remember the first time I heard the word dossier used in terms of adoption. It conjured images of spy networks, ambassadorial portfolios and international intrigue.

"We have a whole dossier on you."

"Are my eyes really brown?"

Okay, so I got over the whole ‘Casablanca’ thing pretty quickly.

Dossiers are a compilation of required documents regarding hopeful adoptive parents and come in many shapes and sizes -- all are roughly rectangular and range in length from ridiculously ponderous to seemingly endless. Entire forests (hopefully regenerated for the purpose) are sacrificed for originals, copies, copies of copies, notary statements that copies are copies of copies, duplicates for so-and-so, triplicates for your files, quadruplicates in case the duplicate copies of copies don’t copy, and … well, you get the idea.

Dossiers differ from country to country, state to state, agency to agency, but there are a few documents that are basic: birth certificates, marriage license, home study and financial statements. Official documents must be certified copies of originals, but with most issuing agencies computerized these days it’s a straightforward and frequently online procedure. Some adoptions require all documents be notarized, others insist on an apostille.

The USA requires fingerprints done by the FBI be included in the process, so American families get the joy of a brush with the Feds. (This is sounding more like a Bogart movie all the time.)

As daunting as this seems at the beginning of the process, it actually turns out to be more work than you imagined. It’s also more frustrating and anxiety producing and can cause headaches, swollen ankles and sleepless nights for months on end.

It’s a bit like being pregnant.

It all came together in my head when I heard the term ‘paper pregnancy’. Then my frenzied pursuit of paperwork had me dubbed ‘Mother on a Mission’ and I understood exactly what I was going through: international adoption.

Suddenly, the skies were brighter, the sun was shining and all was right with the world because I knew then that others had gone before me on this road, and more would come after. Although I was treading unfamiliar ground in my little world, the mountain of paperwork could and would be conquered.

An umbilicus of documents grew and eventually connected me to my child.