Traipsing down the paperwork trail....

By Donna B. McNicol -
We are making progress. We've received my birth certificate, my late husband's death certificate, my two early in life marriage/divorce certificates and our Social Security statements. Yesterday we got the tracking information for Stu's New York birth certificate. Nothing from my two Virginia marriages yet....

Two whoopsies so far, one fixed, on pending. We printed the official looking online letters of benefits from the Social Security website. Sent a copy to our facilitator and she said they wouldn't work, they have to be originals (with a signature or stamp). So a couple days ago we headed to our neighboring town and stopped in the Social Security office. We got called immediately after registering and she quickly printed, signed and stamped our letters. Less than ten minutes and we were done!

From there we headed to CVS where we got our prisoner looking passport photos taken. Not cheap since we needed three photos each and they come in twos, but in a small town, there aren't a lot of choices.

Oh, the other whoopsie is my birth certificate from Massachusetts. It was the first document to arrive but I can't use it. The date stamp is all but illegible. Three phones with three voicemails left and no return calls. Sigh...frustrating. This was one of the most costly documents but VitalChek isn't liable for the accuracy or usability of the document. So next week, I'll be working on my novel from home where 1) I can hear better and 2) I can get return calls easily.

This week we will order our background checks, the last thing to be ordered. We have our contract from Ecuador Movers and will be sending that off to them shortly. Here's hoping that things will progress smoothly from here!

I also picked up some drop-in sheet protectors for the originals and have them all in a three ring binder. All the better to protect them and keep everything in one spot. Two steps forward and only one step back this week!


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