Fingerprints!

We received our invitation to be fingerprinted from Homeland Security!! I'm so excited about it!! I think it's so funny that they call it an invitation. None-the-less on January 3rd at noon, we get to get fingerprinted. We have all of our documents authenticated, and now get to have them sealed by the Chinese embassy. I found a document handling company that will take all of our documents to the US Federal government in Washington DC, get them all authenticated there, and then walk them over to the Chinese Embassy, and get them sealed, and then send them back to us!! That is so awesome, and the turn around is a whopping 5 days!!! I'm so happy about that! Once that is done, I can turn everything into my agency for translation and review. Once we receive our ok from immigration (I-797C), and get that form notarized, authenticated and sealed, it all goes to China! I'm hoping that happens by sometime in March. We're a couple of days closer to our little girls!! Today, I found this blog. They are in China getting their little girl right now. I'm so happy for them!! I so can't wait until it's us. We talk about our girls hourly. We discuss names daily. We talk about how old they will be. We talk about the clothes that we'll be able to get them. We talk about the blankets we will make them. Blankets are a big deal in this house. We feel them so much!! They are already such a big, huge part of this family, and we have no idea who they even are. We so can't wait until this time next year, when we will be celebrating Christmas with all of our girls; as it should be.

Authentication

I haven't written for a while. There is a lot of waiting in this process. We finally got all of our documents together! It was so exciting. We received our written home studies in the mail just before Thanksgiving, so I had the whole weekend to figure out the authentication process. We have to have everything notarized locally. Then, we have to send it to the secretary of state of the state the document was notarized in, so that the local notary can be authenticated. Then, we send them to the federal department of state, and they authenticate the seal of the secretary of state, then it can be "sealed" at the Chinese embassy. Oh my! I had documents from 3 states, so I had to send letters, and checks, to 3 Secretaries of State. I'm waiting to get those back now. It should be next week. Then, I can send them I believe to one document handling agency, and they will deliver them to the federal agency, and then to the Chinese Embassy. I don't even want to think about what that is going to cost me. Holy Cow! Those agencies only work with some document handlers, and time is of the essence, because if any of the documents becomes more than 6 months old, they "expire" and you have to start all over! The waits at some of these agencies is up to 90 days. I had no idea.

We also applied to immigration to adopt 2 foreign orphans! So exciting! That application is called the I-800a form. When we are approved, they'll send us an I-797c form, and "invite" us to be fingerprinted for their application. That approval process also takes up to 90 days, but when we get it, we're DONE paper-chasing!! We have to send our I-797c to be "sealed" like our other documents, but that one supposedly goes through the system faster.

I ignorantly thought that we would be finished with all of our paperwork by the year's end, and that we would be logged into China's system (LID) by January. That so isn't going to happen at all, but perhaps by Spring, early Summer? I don't have a clue what to even hope for at this point. There is so much more waiting that has to happen. Even after everything is turned in to our agency, they put it in a book-form, translate everything into Chinese, help us make any corrections that need to be made, and THEN send it off to China. Once it arrives there, it goes to the bottom of the pile for who knows how long until it comes up to the top, and they log us in, and give us a Log In Date (LID). Then, we can be matched to our girls, and we'll travel with-in 9-11 weeks of being matched.

I'm excited for how far we've come, I'm anxious for how far we have yet to go, and I so can't wait to meet my girls.

Home Study Take III

We finished our final home study last night. Our social worker is really cool. We actually just met half way and went to dinner. She's going to be hanging out with us for years to come as China now requires so many more post placement visits! They used to only have to do 2 visits in one year post placement, now, we get to do 6 visits over 5 years post placement. Crazy. So, in a couple of weeks, or hopefully less, our home study will be written up, and we'll be able to start the authentication process. Getting all of our documents notarized at every possible level that there is. Getting closer all the time!

We Wait

We wait and wait and wait!! Everything has to be done in a very specific order. We can't do this until that is done. Once we have completed this, we can do such and such. It's frustratingly long. 2 little girls, perfect for our family, in my opinion, came up the other day. I inquired about both very shortly after they came up. One was already matched, and one, we're 3rd in line to look at. She'll match fast. I need to learn the name of this game, and I don't get it yet. We still have a long time to go, and a lot to do, and I wish I could make ANYTHING go a little faster. I'm totally impatient I know, but I want them home. I don't want them in an orphanage with no mother to take care of their every need. I want to jump up and down when they reach every little milestone. They need a dad who will snack on their toes, read them stories, and hold them for hours on end. I want my girls home. I am so excited to meet them. We're at a stand still for a full week and a half until our next home study. Once that is done, and written, we can move on.

Home Visit take II

Our home visit was great! Best part about it, every room, and closet in my whole house was so clean!! It was the best! The social worker was so nice, and totally put us at ease. She actually got permission, very reluctantly, to only have to meet with us twice. Awesome! So we spent the better part of the day together, and it counted for 3 visits. She was great. The girls got to come home for lunch and interview with her. I got to listen from the other room to their interview. They're so funny. They were so nervous and just really wanted to give the perfect answers. They told her that they were pretty sure they knew about 2 people that aren't caucasian. 2?? Some of their best friends in the world are Asian, and there are 7 of them alone!! I totally had to laugh. Ya, there might not be loads of diversity in our cute little city, but there are for sure more than 2! I'm glad it's over, I won't be so nervous for the next one, and the next 10 that we have post-placement. So, I have a small stack of paperwork and what-not that I have to write, fill-out, send away, what have you, and I'm thinking that we'll be ready to start notarizing this stuff by the end of October. I'm hoping to be right on target to be finished with everything by Thanksgiving! I would love to have everything to our agency by then. I hope I hope I hope!!

Home Visit

We finally set a date for our first of 4 home visits. We have finished all of the paperwork for this part! We still have to do 12 hours of parent training to do, and I have to photocopy a ton of documents. We are trying to figure out our fingerprinting and back ground check stuff. There are two different kinds of back ground check, a Federal one, and Adam Walsh screening which is super complicated. I'm pretty sure China is going to want the really complicated one. As soon as we're approved with our home study, China requires another background check, a Federal one, the same one we just did 2 weeks previous and paid $100 for, we get to do again, and pay another $100! Awesome. So, as soon as we do our home visits, (which I'm hoping to be finished by the end of the month), we start our last round of paper work! The paper work isn't that big of a deal, just a lot of forms, but then we have to send everything to get notarized at the city, county, state, federal levels, then notarized by the Chinese embassy. That takes a while. In the news letter that our agency puts out every month they said that last month the average travel time was only 4-6 months from the time the Dossier is logged into China. We could have our girls by next summer!!! I can't wait. We are all so excited.

Still going...

We've started a whole new round of paperwork that I truly can't believe. It's for our home study. There is a 26 page document of straight questions that we have to fill out each - as our autobiography! I'm at least 10 hours into mine, and I'm keeping my answers to 2 and 3 sentences max. I'm close to half way through. Gary hasn't started his yet. I've ordered everything that needs to get ordered, and made my photo copies, now I need to finish up a couple of more things, and send everything off to get verified by the county, then the state, then the US, then one more that I don't really get, then to the Chinese Embassy in Washington. When that's all done, we'll be on our 4th and last round of paperwork before it all gets translated and sent to China. My stomach hurts sometimes I'm so anxious to get my girls. I feel them so strongly pulling me, pushing me. It's the strangest thing I've ever felt. I feel so much love for these little kids that I have no idea anything about, but I know they're mine, and I have to get to them. This lady has an amazing story and an amazing blog. I followed her story from just before she went to the Ukraine to get Mia. I knew, while reading her blog that I needed to get more serious about adopting. It was always there in my mind, we talked about it, I researched different countries, and all sorts of programs in the US, but nothing seemed right. This post of hers struck something in me, that has never gone away - I have more kids somewhere, I need to find them. It's an annoyingly looooong process, and I understand why it needs to be. I still wish it could go so much faster though.

my favorite adoption story

Dossier

We just got home from a river trip, and I rushed to my email as quickly as possible, knowing that my Dossier guide was there. It was!! 48 pages of pretty specific instruction to get our dossier together and ready to send to China. I don't know why, it scares the pants off of me to think about all that I have ahead of me paperwork-wise. And they are so specific about every little thing. Most things need to be notarized at the city, county, state, and country level before then being sent to the Chinese Embassy for more authentication, then it's ready. Utah has a 6th place that we have to send it all to, as well. Yay, Utah. I've read through it all, my head is spinning, now, I need to get to work!! Heaven help me, I'm going to need it.

Moving On

We had a week of indecision. The next round of paperwork had to be coupled with a significant check. One of us was having a little bit of a hard time deciding if this was really where we are going. I understand completely! It's a huge decision to almost double the number of kids we have, and bring special needs into the mix. I'm so positive that this is what we are supposed to be doing right now, I just had to be patient. Not that easy. I'm not good at being patient, at all. 8 whole days later, we're moving on!! He got the answer he needed, and I got 20 pages of filled out notarized papers sent off!! Yay! When those get ok'd, we start getting our dossier ready. My girls start school next week, and I get to do adoption full time. I don't know if it's even possible, but I want to get my dossier to China in 4 months. They're telling me 5 to 6 months to gather dossier paperwork, way too long no? I feel so excited and at total peace with this, anxious as ever to get my girls.

Waiting Children

Accepted!

Step one, we've been accepted to adopt. Wahoo!! With that acceptance came a (i'm not kidding) 43 page document of stuff I need to know, do, fill out, etc. etc., in order to complete a foreign adoption. Oh my, and that's just for the first 1 to 2 weeks. When I finish this stuff, I get more, and more and more. We've heard that it's a full 6 months of paperwork. I have to admit I'm totally overwhelmed, and nervous about how much there is to do. I have to hurry, I'm trying to be on the fast track here. I don't think it really exists, but if I'm given 1 to 2 weeks, I want to finish it in 1. We're going out of town next week, and I want this stuff finished by then. I'll get it.

Application to Adopt

Today I sent off our application to adopt from China. I spoke for about an hour to our adoption agency. She told me that we have a great chance of getting two girls!! I feel drawn, and pulled, and even urgent to get to China, and get my girls. The journey began on the 4th of July. One of my great friend's brother, had just completed the adoption of two little girls from China. It hit me like a ton of bricks, it was time for me to adopt, now! I've been looking into adoption for a couple of years, but it wasn't the time. The time is now. I feel it so strongly, and I'm so excited.

We have decided to go through the Waiting Children Program, and adopt special needs girls. Filling out the mcc was difficult. I spent hours and hours and hours researching so many special needs, talking to as many people as I could find, and consulting our pediatrician. We decided to accept cleft lip/cleft palate, club foot, and minor heart defect. I have spent hours every day researching this adoption, and today, it all went into the mail. I'm going to have so much to do to complete my dossier. I'm a little bit freaked out that I'm going through with it! I cannot deny that it is what we are supposed to be doing at this time. I can't wait.

I sent a request for information on a little orphan that I found at True Children's Home. Her name is Hei Fan. She has a cleft palate, and she's beautiful. She hasn't been matched to a family yet, and I'll be praying that if I am supposed to be her mother, it will work out. I got great advice from my friend's SIL. She said "Heavenly Father has more control in adoptions than anyone else." It's so true. I need to pray to find my girls.

I'm going to use this blog to chronicle our adoption time line, and hopefully next fall, we'll be bringing home two little Chinese beauties. My goal is to have our dossier in China by Thanksgiving time. I'm sure we can do it.