...About That Proofreading...

Prepare to be confused. ;-)

The names have been changed and changed and changed to protect the innocent.

Let's go back to the beginning.

Cupcake's birthmother gave her a name that is common in both English and Spanish, but she used an unusual spelling. Her given name was something like "ARRIANNA MARIA RIVA LOPEZ" with two 'R's and two 'N's in the first name. When we were matched with Cupcake, we decided to keep her original first and middle names with the unusual spelling as a way to honor her birthmother.

In English, the common spelling would be ARIANNA. (one 'R', two 'N's)
In Spanish, the common spelling would be ARIANA. (one 'R', one 'N')
Her official name would be ARRIANNA. (two 'R's, two 'N's)

Got that?

So, on our pick-up trip, the morning of the Embassy appointment, our lawyer arrives with the paperwork. After nearly three years of adoption paperwork, we knew one thing...ALWAYS CHECK EVERY DETAIL AT LEAST FIVE TIMES. READ IT FORWARD. READ IT BACKWARD.

Guess what?

When Cupcake's birth city issued a new birth certificate listing us as parents, they misspelled her name. They spelled it "ARRIANA" (two 'R's, one 'N'), which is misspelled in any language. Her official name was now "ARRIANA MARIA SMITH". Unfortunately, all the embassy paperwork uses the birth certificate, so her Passport, Visa, and Cerificate of Citizenship are all spelled wrong. Our only choices at that time were to stay indefinitely in Guatemala to fix it, or fix it in America after the fact. We chose to come home.

Our best option here in Missouri was to proceed with the hearing which took place yesterday. As we were proofreading we noticed something. On the paper that dealt with the name change it read, "The minor child, ARRIANNA MARIA SMITH f/k/a (formerly known as) ARRIANNA MARIA RIVA LOPEZ...will be known as ARRIANNA MARIA SMITH." That first name should have only one 'N' because it is the misspelled name that is being changed. So, our lawyer took the paper off and had someone white out one of the 'N's. Then we were called into the chambers.

After the hearing, the bailiff handed us our papers. As we proofread them again, we noticed that they had whited out the wrong 'N'!!!!! They had whited out the second 'N' in the second name. Can you say, "PANIC!"? Our lawyer had already gone into the chambers for the next hearing. We waited for him to come out. We pounced.

"Don't worry," he tells us. We've heard that before.

In fact, they were able to white out the correct 'N', type a new 'N' where the old one had been whited out, and refile it. All in about 15 minutes!

YEAH!!! I love America!

Her name is officially correctly and properly changed, though the court documents are not pretty!

And the moral of the story is: ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS PROOFREAD YOUR DOCUMENTS!
THEN, PROOFREAD THEM AGAIN!


Blessings to you,
Mamita