Last night my husband and I went out to for Chinese food and a movie with our friends J and D, who are adopting from Haiti. D is also our family doctor, and because he'd just completed our adoption physicals, he brought our notarized doctor letters for our Ethiopia dossier to the restaurant. I thanked him for being so prompt, tucked the envelope into my purse and didn't think about it much after that.

Last night when my husband and I pulled into the garage, I realized I no longer had the envelope. I looked all over the car and couldn't find it, so I figured I must have dropped it at the theater and would have to call them when they opened. I was pretty worried I'd never find it and then I'd have to ask D to redo them, plus wait a couple more days. I was certain I still had it with me when we left the restaurant.

This morning, I got a phone call from the woman who runs the restaurant saying that she'd found our envelope. Apparently I'd absentmindedly taken it out of my purse when writing the check! Our number isn't listed, but the owner of the restaurant knows us (because she dotes on our Chinese daughters when we eat there as a family) and was able to get our number off our check. Relief!

Another great thing about living in a small town and knowing lots of people is that they're willing to bend over backwards to help us out. Notaries, for example, are particularly patient and giving with us. You can figure that with an average of about 15 documents per dossier, times 4 adoptions, we've had a LOT of things notarized! We've never had anyone let us pay them a cent, even when one of them makes special trips to our home from her job at the bank so we can have things notarized after hours. We love her!

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