Robin's Birth Certificate Sent to North Carolina for "Authentication"

Today we sent Robin's birth certificate off to the North Carolina's Secretary of State for Authentication.  It's amazing what you have to go with our paperwork.  Our mounds of paperwork has to be notarized, then "authenicated" by the Secretary of State (NC for some, ID for others).  We then have to send them to the Department of State in Washington D. C. for review and approval.  It then goes to the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. for their stamp of approval!  Of course, each one of these reviews/approvals costs $.  In D.C., we also have to pay for a courier to hand carry our paperwork around - more $$.  I thought the INL had a lot of red tape, but immigration has us beat hands down!!!!