Have you had any trouble getting a document?

So..the paperwork trail is long and time consuming for an adoption. Some documents are relatively easy to get and some take months to get. Some are very simple and some seem a little bizarre in their request. For the most part, the entire process has been pretty smooth and easy and no matter what we have asked of people, no matter how unusual the request, people have been willing to help us.

We are now at the final document (for the moment) required by our placing agency for our dossier. It seemed to me to the be the easiest of all the paperwork to get. It was a simple 2 line letter written on our mortgage company's letterhead that said something to the effect that we were the "record owners" of the home we live in. Doesn't sound to hard. Much easier than all the lab work and medical exams or the 2 hour psych evaluation or the entire homestudy process. How hard would it be to get your bank to write out 2 lines and mail it to you? How hard could that be? Never will I estimate if something is easy or hard again.

I contact a Vice President of the bank that holds the loan for our home. It just so happens that we also have some personal accounts at this bank as well and we have spoken by phone before. So I explain our situation, send her the sample letter our placing agency required, gave her our loan number so she could verify our loan. Explain that the wording "we" "owner" "home address" needs to be included in the letter. That a copy of the title or mortage statement will not do. This is all stated in the directions of the sample letter I've sent her. I also mention that we are needing this letter in 3 weeks time as we are traveling to the east coast then. She tells me, "This should be no problem, I'll get back to you in a couple of days and we should have this for you." "Great," I say. Done. or so I think.

A few days later, she calls and gives me an update. The bank wants to know what the letter is for "exactly" as they are feeling a little unsure of using the word "we" and "owners" of our property because of the fact the bank has the first loan on the house and thus we don't technically own it outright. "Yes" I understand this hesitation. I explain again that since it is coming from our mortgage company it is assumed that we have a loan on the property, however we are on title as the owners, our property taxes are being addressed to us and not the bank and it is just a necessary requirement for an adoption in Russia. Different country, different rules, translation issues, etc.

So she agrees to relay this explanation and to see what they can come up with. A week later I receive the letter. Unfortunately, it does not say anywhere that we are the owners of our home instead that we are the "borrowers" of a loan of our home. I fax it over to my placing agency to see if this is good enough. "No" is the reply. The wording "owners" is very important and will be understood in Russia. So a little desperately as I'm now down to 2 weeks, I send an email to the person who wrote the letter. A very emotional and personal email about our situation, about all that we have gone through to get this far and how this one little letter will hold up our dossier and make it so we can't move forward to bring our little girl home. She calls within minutes and says, "Do not worry, we will do the letter again and send it to you." This was 2 weeks ago today. I emailed last Friday, to inquire about the status and remind her we are traveling next week and need to bring that document with us. No reply. I left a message today. No word. I'm a little nervous and if I don't hear tomorrow I will politely inquire again with the same Vice-President I intially spoke with.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Run into a problem at getting an important document? I'm wondering what else I can do other than drive down to the bank and plead in person. Which I may just do anyway if I don't hear from her soon.