Our I-800A was sent to USCIS today! This basically means we have now officially applied with the U.S. government authorities to bring an immigrant in to the U.S. (yes, even though we don't technically live in the U.S. right now). We had to provide fingerprints and some other information...one of us may have had to provide a kidney - KIDDING! This is so that the U.S. authorities can verify that we are who we say we are and that we have the means to support this person we're bringing to our country and that we're not going to do anything bad.
I have attached the link to the USCIS website in case anyone has trouble sleeping and wants to do a little light reading on immigration. There is no more INS, which I did not know until we started the process to adopt.
So, now I can relax a bit and just wait for this paperwork to flow through the system...except most people who know me know relaxing isn't really something I am good at.
Tomorrow we are off to Edinburgh Scotland to ring in the New Year. How cool is that? I hope to be able to get fancy and post about something besides adoption.
Thursday, 29 December 2011
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
Waiting
The January LID (log in date) we were hoping for isn't going to happen. We're still waiting for the social worker to make final revisions/tweaks on our Home Study report. It appears to be about 95 percent done, but the agency has sent it back for minor corrections/additions. This was after I sent it back to correct Hubs being referred to by the wrong name in the report (I have been having fun calling him "Roy", though) and a bunch of other little nitnoid typos. Who knows...maybe "Roy" will stick - he has been answering to that over the Christmas weekend!!
So, once our Homestudy Report is completed, our paperwork can be sent to USCIS (U.S. Immigration) for approval, which we are being told is taking 60 DAYS! Once that comes back, then our stuff can finally go to China. We are still hoping he is here for his birthday, though....1 Jul. That would be fun.
I've read two really good books while I've been waiting - one is Silent Tears, by Kay Bratt, which details what life is like in a Chinese orphanage. Just by looking at Doodlebug's pictures, we can tell he is in a really good foster home and isn't hungry or cold. But, it was good to get the perspective and it gives some good insight in to the sheer number of orphans in China and the way they're managed/administered. The other books I have read is Message from an Unknown Chinese mother, by Xin Ran. This gives the perspective of mothers who abandon their children or give them to orphanages to be adopted by Westerners. It's a collection of stories of different women - some of them shocking, some of them sad. It helps to give me a better perspective on what would make a woman leave a defenseless child in the street. I don't accept it, but I have a better grasp of how different the life of a rural Chinese woman is from my life.
I am still figuring out this blog thing and everyone who knows me knows the depth of my computer skills (that was a joke) but here is a picture of OUR COPY of our adoption paperwork so far. Our agency has been given two of these packets and our social worker has most of this stuff, too. I know there will be more paperwork to come. The little blue notebook is my almost daily "jot it down" pad...I used it at first to keep track of the bazillion police clearences that we had to get for our dossier and then I started using it to keep records for our taxes. I jot down whenever we get something, mail something out, or something significant in the process happens. We also used it to keep track of our game of Trivial Pursuit this past weekend, but that was kind of an accident - one of my guests grabbed it off my desk and I said "sure, use that" without realizing what it was. So, we've got this as a potential souvineer for our boy someday that he can use to re-live our journey to him, if he so chooses...or as evidence that his Dad knows way more useless facts than his mom.
So, once our Homestudy Report is completed, our paperwork can be sent to USCIS (U.S. Immigration) for approval, which we are being told is taking 60 DAYS! Once that comes back, then our stuff can finally go to China. We are still hoping he is here for his birthday, though....1 Jul. That would be fun.
I've read two really good books while I've been waiting - one is Silent Tears, by Kay Bratt, which details what life is like in a Chinese orphanage. Just by looking at Doodlebug's pictures, we can tell he is in a really good foster home and isn't hungry or cold. But, it was good to get the perspective and it gives some good insight in to the sheer number of orphans in China and the way they're managed/administered. The other books I have read is Message from an Unknown Chinese mother, by Xin Ran. This gives the perspective of mothers who abandon their children or give them to orphanages to be adopted by Westerners. It's a collection of stories of different women - some of them shocking, some of them sad. It helps to give me a better perspective on what would make a woman leave a defenseless child in the street. I don't accept it, but I have a better grasp of how different the life of a rural Chinese woman is from my life.
I am still figuring out this blog thing and everyone who knows me knows the depth of my computer skills (that was a joke) but here is a picture of OUR COPY of our adoption paperwork so far. Our agency has been given two of these packets and our social worker has most of this stuff, too. I know there will be more paperwork to come. The little blue notebook is my almost daily "jot it down" pad...I used it at first to keep track of the bazillion police clearences that we had to get for our dossier and then I started using it to keep records for our taxes. I jot down whenever we get something, mail something out, or something significant in the process happens. We also used it to keep track of our game of Trivial Pursuit this past weekend, but that was kind of an accident - one of my guests grabbed it off my desk and I said "sure, use that" without realizing what it was. So, we've got this as a potential souvineer for our boy someday that he can use to re-live our journey to him, if he so chooses...or as evidence that his Dad knows way more useless facts than his mom.
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
UPDATE
Our dossier reached our agency earlier this week and the authentication process is going forward. Our homestudy social worker is still working on our report, but the early January LID (log in date) that I am hoping for may actually still be possible.
We got an update from our agency today - 3 new pictures and some vital statistics. Our agency told us we can't post pictures, so I'm going to follow the rules (for now!) but he is so stinking cute! Looks much more like a little man than our referral pictures. He's got some chubby cheeks and hands going on - they had him bundled up in 3 or 4 layers of clothing, so he kind of looked like the Michelin Man. He is walking on his own, saying a few words, has teeth and weights 10kg, which is about 22 pounds?? His foster family reports him as smart, outgoing, and "laugs a lot". He'll fit right in!
He is really cute - I'm not biased at all. I can't wait to get him!
We got an update from our agency today - 3 new pictures and some vital statistics. Our agency told us we can't post pictures, so I'm going to follow the rules (for now!) but he is so stinking cute! Looks much more like a little man than our referral pictures. He's got some chubby cheeks and hands going on - they had him bundled up in 3 or 4 layers of clothing, so he kind of looked like the Michelin Man. He is walking on his own, saying a few words, has teeth and weights 10kg, which is about 22 pounds?? His foster family reports him as smart, outgoing, and "laugs a lot". He'll fit right in!
He is really cute - I'm not biased at all. I can't wait to get him!
Wednesday, 7 December 2011
Paperwork Paperwork Paperwork
Today, our dossier was sent to our agency. I hate to let go of these two notebooks of documents I have spent so much time putting together. Living overseas, it has taken me most of the late summer & fall to collect all of the documents we need for our adoption. The dossier is what will introduce Lee and I to the Chinese adoption authorities. It contains a formal letter requesting to adopt one of their children; certified copies of our birth and marriage certificates, proof of employment, proof of financial status, proof that we're not terminally ill or carrying a contagious disease, and pictures of our house and of us. EVERYTHING is notarized. Once our agency tells us it's good, then they will translate it in to Chinese and send it off. Our homestudy report which is in progress will be a part of the translation...the social worker was here last week...hope he hurries!
Once the translated dossier reaches China, it is LOGGED IN! At some point after Log In Date (LID), we received LOA - Letter of Approval. Right now, we have pre-approval. So, come on DHL, get our stuff to Utah in one piece! And fast!
Once I know those documents are there, I will be able to breathe a little bit and try to focus on something else. I know there will be more paperwork, but I feel like we are over the big paperwork hurdle. Hoping to be logged in by 10 Jan...I hope this is a reachable goal. That would be nice!
Once the translated dossier reaches China, it is LOGGED IN! At some point after Log In Date (LID), we received LOA - Letter of Approval. Right now, we have pre-approval. So, come on DHL, get our stuff to Utah in one piece! And fast!
Once I know those documents are there, I will be able to breathe a little bit and try to focus on something else. I know there will be more paperwork, but I feel like we are over the big paperwork hurdle. Hoping to be logged in by 10 Jan...I hope this is a reachable goal. That would be nice!
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