And what is it to work with love?

. . . It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy,
even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.

It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,

And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.

Before I started requesting all the birth and marriage certificates,
I wanted to be sure that I understood exactly how the certificates need to be. Here, experiences (of individuals) and opinions (of consulates) diverge. The Los Angeles consulate (from which I took my list of required documents) requires all documents to be translated. Also, all documents pertaining to the Italian side must have an Apostille attached. An Apostille is a document from the Secretary of State where the event occurred, stating that the certificate (of birth, marriage, etc.) is valid. Apostilles must be accepted by all signatories to the Hague convention as legal documents, regardless of the country in which they originate. Wikipedia says, “Obtaining an apostille can be a highly complex process. Getting a birth certificate with apostille in New York, for example, requires applying to three separate offices in succession.” Maybe I can send all the documents together, though. So far, I only need documents from Utah, California, and then our son’s birth certificate from Washington State. Yesterday, I mailed off the letters to the parishes in Italy that have birth records for Domenico and Harriet.