Big Step Friday

Well, this past week was certainly a very long one. Work has been crazy with getting ready for state testing. My schedule has been changed a bunch of times and is more hectic than ever. But, the end of the week was almost worth the craziness of the beginning.

When I got home on Friday 2 things were waiting for me.

1) We received our documents back from CT Secretary of State. They are all authenticated and official looking! Thursday we received the homestudy back from Mass so the only document we need now is the USCIS approval.

2) A letter from USCIS was also waiting. They have us with an I800a received date of 3/20! We are waiting for our fingerprint appointment but we are that much closer to having our documents done!

I am compiling everything together and will send what I have to the NYC Consulate this week. We need to use a courier or bring it ourselves. I'd love the day trip to NYC, and was planning to take the trip, but then I'd need a second day to pick them up. UGH! Not sure what we will do. I might use a courier for these 12 documents and then take a day trip to visit with Karin to complete the last document. We'll see.

But we have made huge steps toward our little girl. Still looks like a hopeful Sept travel, but I will keep pushing it to get it earlier!

Dossier Docs

Dossier docs checklist:

Only missing 2 things-

1) Official home study with agency and SW licenses attached (they send me a copy but not with the licenses)
2) Approval letter from Immigration

OK. The home study was just completed and we now wait for our fingerprint notice. Hoping soon. But, I have all the other docs for our dossier ready to get authenticated early next week. Another HUGE step forward. Hopefully we continue on this path of, although not quick, but relatively painless paper chase. Prayers please!

Home Study Complete!

Oh those words sound so good. I received an email from my home study agency on Sunday saying that our home study was finally updated and complete. Our placement agency accepted in on Tuesday 3/18. Now it is on its way to Immigration. We should get an appointment to have our fingerprints taken in Hartford soon. Hopefully by the end of the month but maybe the first week in April. Then we wait for approval. Please pray it comes quickly, although I have heard that many are waiting about a month for immigration approval.

For now, I have most of the documents for our dossier all set to go to Hartford to get authenticated. I am waiting on my letter of employment, week 3 of waiting for that. UGH! The only other documents needed are the home study, which I should have by Monday and then our immigration approval notice.

HUGE STEPS FORWARD!!! But it still seems like so far to go. Still praying for an early fall travel. Prayers please!

Waiting....Waiting....Waiting

Well, we are still waiting for our homestudy to be updated. I'm not sure what takes so long. All of the background clearances have gone through. So I am happy to report that neither Mike nor myself have any history of bad behavior at the local or state level or anything reported to DCF! Yeah us!

I have most of the papers done for the dossier. We are meeting with the doctor to complete the medical forms today. I am still waiting on my employer to complete an employee letter. It's been a week. Not sure why that is held up. I also need to take photos of the house and Little Miss's room. The room is currently Colby's Lego room so he spent much of Sunday morning cleaning it, under the watchful eyes of Daddy.

So, not much new to report. More waiting and waiting and waiting. And still no name for Little Miss. Top contenders seem to be

Amelia, Morgan, Ella, Sophia. I'd like the middle name to be Mae (Mei). HELP!! Suggestions!!!

Dossier Paperwork

Here it is March and we are still freezing! When will Spring come???

We received a nice packet of information from the agency on Friday explaining the documents we need for our dossier. It also had some information about the home study for WHFC. I spent much of today emailing, calling, visiting, or mailing stuff out. A lot got done which is good but not everything.

The To Do List:

My employment letter will be done next week, I hope.
We need to clean up Little Miss's room and at least make it look presentable so I can take photos.
Need to take photos of the house too.
Medical forms (UGH!) yet again. Not sure what to do about those. Hopefully we'll get into a doctor who helped a fellow China mom with her adoption paperwork, but not until next week also.
Copies and signing/notarizing papers.

Actually, not too bad. I can say that the docs needed for China are so much easier than the docs we needed for Russia. No 25 pounds of paperwork for this one!

So for now, paper chasing and watching videos over and over. Hoping for a "correct" update and new video soon. We had received an update but it didn't make any sense. Measurements were totally off and had Little Miss with 2 LESS teeth than before. I think they were wrong. What do you think?