"good news!" was in the subject line of an email we received from our agency on Thursday. That good news is that our dossier has been registered by China...aka: we have a log in date (LID). Our agency did not specify in the email what our LID was but that it was "this week". So I am assuming Monday 9/24, Tuesday 9/25 or Wednesday 9/26. You know my next conversation with our program coordinator will involve finding out our exact LID. Once I have the date I will insert it here...
(Update: on 10-1-12 we learned that our LID was 9-24-12)
Next step: this coming Tuesday afternoon we will have a conference call with the program coordinator at our agency to review in detail with her the special needs and ages we are open to.
We are getting so close to being matched and seeing the sweet face of our child. I almost can't believe it.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Flapjack "FUN"draiser
A huge thank you to all of those who helped make our Applebee's Flapjack Fundraiser this past Sunday so successful. Whether you attended the breakfast, donated an item for our raffle, purchased raffle tickets, donated money even though you couldn't join us at the event, or prayed for us and our little girls waiting half way around the world....we are so very grateful for each and every one of you.
We are still waiting to hear that our dossier has been logged in to China's system, which means we are eligible to be matched with a child. I am hoping that one of my upcoming posts will be to announce that we have found our child, seen her face and have begun to learn all about her.
We are still waiting to hear that our dossier has been logged in to China's system, which means we are eligible to be matched with a child. I am hoping that one of my upcoming posts will be to announce that we have found our child, seen her face and have begun to learn all about her.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
DTC!!!
We are officially on our way to China...
We are DTC (dossier to China) as of Monday, September 17th. That's the day our agency shipped our dossier off. That's it...one big step...now on to the next wait.
Next step: we will get notified that we have a LID (log in date) which means our dossier has arrived in China and has been processed, at which point we are officially entered into their system to be matched with a child.
We are DTC (dossier to China) as of Monday, September 17th. That's the day our agency shipped our dossier off. That's it...one big step...now on to the next wait.
Next step: we will get notified that we have a LID (log in date) which means our dossier has arrived in China and has been processed, at which point we are officially entered into their system to be matched with a child.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Our Dossier
Last week Tim and I went on the final road trips necessary to complete our dossiers. On Tuesday we made the quick 3 hour round trip to Harrisburg to have our I-800 A forms certified by the Secretary of State. Literally, we waited just 4 minutes and got right back in the car to head home...we were home by 10:15am. Then, on Thursday we made the BIG trip to Washington, D.C. We left home at 3:30am and arrived at the U.S. Department of State at 6:50am...and even then we were 6th in line. They opened the office at 7:30am and we were out of there with our documents authenticated by 7:44am. So, off to the Chinese Embassy we went. After a quick stop at Kinkos (the Chinese Embassy requires you to submit a photocopy of every page of each document you present for authentication...sorry trees!) we arrived at the Embassy by 8:15 and were 2nd in line. The lobby opened at 8:30 and we took a seat and waited until the counters opened at 9:30. This time we were having our documents authenticated with same day service, and since we each had only 1-2 documents to be authenticated we were hoping to be able to pick up our documents earlier than the scheduled pick up time of 2:30pm. But no such luck, our pick up slips were stamped with a pick up time of 2:30-3:30pm. Bummer! So we headed off to see some DC sites...the White House, the monuments and the Smithsonian museums. We returned to pick up our documents with their fresh seals from the Embassy at 2:15pm and we were back on the road home! A long but very successful day!
Presenting....Our dossier:
16 documents
68 total pages
1. Family photographs
2. Adoption application letter
3. Copy of passports
4. Sean's birth certificate
5. Shannon's birth certificate
6. Marriage certificate
7. Sean's employment letter
8. Shannon's employment letter
9. Financial statement
10. Sean's medical form
11. Shannon's medical form
12. Sean's criminal clearance
13. Shannon's criminal clearance
14. USCIS I-800 A approval
15. Home study report
16. 3 reference letters
Each document has been:
~Notarized
~Certified by the PA Secretary of State
~Authenticated by the U.S. Department of State
~Authenticated by the Chinese Embassy
This is a HUGE step, so much time and effort went into compiling our dossier.
Next step:
Our agency will review the dossier for completeness and accuracy, then send it to China (hopefully by the end of this week). That date is when we will officially be known as DTC (dossier to China)...and a whole new world of acronyms will begin!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Approved!!!
Finally, today...one week after we were informed of our RFE by USCIS...our agency emailed all the required documentation to our officer and 2 hours later she informed me that we had been approved.
The Department of Homeland Security has approved our request to adopt a child from China!
We are so glad this step is now behind us but we know that means there are new steps with more waiting ahead. But at least we are baby steps closer to seeing our child's face for the first time....no, really, this is more than just a baby step!
Tim and Dawn received their approval the day after we got notice of our RFE...so they have been patiently waiting for us to also be approved.
Next step: Take the I-800A approval notice (aka I-797 form) to Harrisburg to be certified then to DC to be authenticated by the Department of State and the Chinese Embassy. Then our dossier will be complete and can be sent to China.
The Department of Homeland Security has approved our request to adopt a child from China!
We are so glad this step is now behind us but we know that means there are new steps with more waiting ahead. But at least we are baby steps closer to seeing our child's face for the first time....no, really, this is more than just a baby step!
Tim and Dawn received their approval the day after we got notice of our RFE...so they have been patiently waiting for us to also be approved.
Next step: Take the I-800A approval notice (aka I-797 form) to Harrisburg to be certified then to DC to be authenticated by the Department of State and the Chinese Embassy. Then our dossier will be complete and can be sent to China.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Ugh...an RFE!!!
There are many acronyms in the world of adoption paperwork, but none more dreaded than the RFE (request for evidence).
Our I-800A was mailed in to USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration) on August 9th, the day after our home study was approved (that is the very earliest you can submit it). On August 25th we received our fingerprint notice with an appointment date of September 14th. But, not being the kind of people to sit back and wait...we went to the office this past Wednesday (August 29th) and walked-in for our fingerprints. They were very kind, took our paperwork with the appointment date on it and allowed us to be fingerprinted. We were beyond thrilled! I had heard on-line of some people being allowed to do this, but there was no guarantee.
Now the not so good news...
The day after our fingerprints I was able to get in touch with the Immigration Officer who will be reviewing and approving our I-800A. She told me she would get right to work on it. I was so excited! When she called me back about 4 hours later I could hardly contain my excitement....until I heard that acronym...RFE. She was apologetic but apparently just one little sentence had been omitted from our home study. She is unable to approve us until our agency submits an addendum with that one...little...sentence. It was Thursday at 5:00pm. And just our luck, it is Labor Day weekend so our social worker was out of the office Friday and the earliest she can get it done is next Tuesday. REALLY?? This stinks.
Our I-800A was mailed in to USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration) on August 9th, the day after our home study was approved (that is the very earliest you can submit it). On August 25th we received our fingerprint notice with an appointment date of September 14th. But, not being the kind of people to sit back and wait...we went to the office this past Wednesday (August 29th) and walked-in for our fingerprints. They were very kind, took our paperwork with the appointment date on it and allowed us to be fingerprinted. We were beyond thrilled! I had heard on-line of some people being allowed to do this, but there was no guarantee.
Now the not so good news...
The day after our fingerprints I was able to get in touch with the Immigration Officer who will be reviewing and approving our I-800A. She told me she would get right to work on it. I was so excited! When she called me back about 4 hours later I could hardly contain my excitement....until I heard that acronym...RFE. She was apologetic but apparently just one little sentence had been omitted from our home study. She is unable to approve us until our agency submits an addendum with that one...little...sentence. It was Thursday at 5:00pm. And just our luck, it is Labor Day weekend so our social worker was out of the office Friday and the earliest she can get it done is next Tuesday. REALLY?? This stinks.
The Paperchase
birth certificates, marriage certificate, financial forms, criminal clearances, fingerprints, physicals, reference letters, employment letters, photographs...
notarized, certification, authentication...
I-800A, I797C, I800, passports, visas...
Harrisburg, Washington D.C., China...
We have found ourselves consumed by "the paperchase". And we are determined to break records for speed in getting our documents prepared to be DTC (dossier to China). This is our goal in the next two weeks, to have each of the 13 documents for our dossier ready to be shipped off the China before the end of September. But before that can happen there is so much to do...
First, and this was the easy part, we had each of the documents notarized at the local UPS store.
Then, on Wednesday, August 29th, Sean's brother, Tim, and I took all of our documents on their first road trip, to the Secretary of State in Harrisburg, PA to be certified. (Basically to have another form stapled on top of the document that says the notary who signed it is legit.) We were in and out in about 45 minutes. No bad...and only a 1.5 hour ride each way.
The next day we went to Washington, DC (Thursday, August 30th) to have each of the documents authenticated. Our first stop was the US Deparment of State. They stapled another form on top of each document stating that the PA Secretary of State is legit. And even that's not good enough. So, the last stop of the day was to the Chinese Embassy to get their stamp of approval for each document. Tim is a crazy traveler...so we were on the road to DC at 3:30am! We arrived at the Department of State just before 7:00am, 30 minutes before they open for the day and there were already about 12 people in line. Once we handed in our documents we only had to wait about 1 hour for them to be ready. After that we found a Kinkos to copy each of our 12 documents and their certification and authenication papers, about 60 pages total so far, and we're not done yet!! (The Chinese Embassy needs not only all of the original documents but also a copy of each page.) Then we were off to the Chinese Embassy, which was only 2.5 miles from the US Department of State. We arrived there at 9:45 and were on the road home again by 10:30 (we will have to go back next week to pick up all our documents...it costs way too much for same day service!!) It felt really strange to walk out of the Chinese Embassy without our dossier paperwork. Kind of like when you leave home and have that feeling like you are forgetting something. We assured ourselves that our documents were safe in hands of the Chinese Embassy employees who handle these things everyday. Then, as we left the parking garage and drove by the front of the building we heard the fire alarm sounding and saw everyone evacuating...all those employees that we had just entrusted our priceless documents to. Still praying that was a false alarm!
We were home at 1:15, after 10hrs and 350 miles....all in a day's work to get our little girls home!
Next step: once our I-800A approval arrives in the mail we will repeat all the above steps!!
notarized, certification, authentication...
I-800A, I797C, I800, passports, visas...
Harrisburg, Washington D.C., China...
We have found ourselves consumed by "the paperchase". And we are determined to break records for speed in getting our documents prepared to be DTC (dossier to China). This is our goal in the next two weeks, to have each of the 13 documents for our dossier ready to be shipped off the China before the end of September. But before that can happen there is so much to do...
First, and this was the easy part, we had each of the documents notarized at the local UPS store.
Then, on Wednesday, August 29th, Sean's brother, Tim, and I took all of our documents on their first road trip, to the Secretary of State in Harrisburg, PA to be certified. (Basically to have another form stapled on top of the document that says the notary who signed it is legit.) We were in and out in about 45 minutes. No bad...and only a 1.5 hour ride each way.
The next day we went to Washington, DC (Thursday, August 30th) to have each of the documents authenticated. Our first stop was the US Deparment of State. They stapled another form on top of each document stating that the PA Secretary of State is legit. And even that's not good enough. So, the last stop of the day was to the Chinese Embassy to get their stamp of approval for each document. Tim is a crazy traveler...so we were on the road to DC at 3:30am! We arrived at the Department of State just before 7:00am, 30 minutes before they open for the day and there were already about 12 people in line. Once we handed in our documents we only had to wait about 1 hour for them to be ready. After that we found a Kinkos to copy each of our 12 documents and their certification and authenication papers, about 60 pages total so far, and we're not done yet!! (The Chinese Embassy needs not only all of the original documents but also a copy of each page.) Then we were off to the Chinese Embassy, which was only 2.5 miles from the US Department of State. We arrived there at 9:45 and were on the road home again by 10:30 (we will have to go back next week to pick up all our documents...it costs way too much for same day service!!) It felt really strange to walk out of the Chinese Embassy without our dossier paperwork. Kind of like when you leave home and have that feeling like you are forgetting something. We assured ourselves that our documents were safe in hands of the Chinese Embassy employees who handle these things everyday. Then, as we left the parking garage and drove by the front of the building we heard the fire alarm sounding and saw everyone evacuating...all those employees that we had just entrusted our priceless documents to. Still praying that was a false alarm!
We were home at 1:15, after 10hrs and 350 miles....all in a day's work to get our little girls home!
Next step: once our I-800A approval arrives in the mail we will repeat all the above steps!!
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