The Golden Ticket!

From the US Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services:

"It has been determined that you are able to furnish proper care to an orphan or orphans as defined by section 101(B)(1)(F) of the immigration and nationality act."

We got it! Our I-171H was waiting in the mailbox when I got home from work today! Now we have all the pieces we need to proceed with our adoption. We need to get a copy of it notarized, certified and authenticated and sent off to CCAI so that our dossier can go into critical review. I can go right downtown to get it done in one day - I'm going to shoot for taking off Friday. OK, gotta go celebrate!

Video: Adoption1

Adoption1
Video sent by ludo

Turn up your speakers, grab the tissues and prepare to fall in love with these beautiful children!

Collecting Dust

The lastest news/rumour is that our local CIS person has resigned and there is currently no one in our state working on adoption cases. It's been 8 weeks since fingerprinting for us. There's no telling how long it will take for them to hire a replacement and get things going again. So our file sits collecting dust. Not good news, but at least we have an answer as to why the wait.

Update 3/22: OK, our SW said that there is a replacement in place and that they are 8-9 weeks behind. She said that when the former officer left they were working on home studies recieved in early January - uh, that should include us! Hopefully we'll have a very cheery post soon!

Still Waiting for I-171H

We are still waiting for our immigration approval letter. I saw another person in our area who already received theirs and their timeline was similar, so hopefully it will be soon. Our SW is going to call CIS for an update on Tuesday. I'm trying hard to be patient, but as each month is seeing the matching process slow down further, I'm really anxious to get our dossier to China soon.

Update 3/12: still no news. SW's call to our local CIS has not yet been returned.

Update 3/17: SW called again Thursday and still no return call. She said she did find out they are in the midst of a staff change. Hopefully the end result will be faster processing. Jacksonville has been processing within days of fingerprinting - send some of that efficiency this way!

D.T.CCAI

That's Dossier to CCAI - one step closer to DTC or Dossier to China! I can't even describe the knots in my stomach as I dropped the package into the UPS box. I don't think I'll ever forget that 'klunk' as the package hit the bottom. It was SCARY and exciting at the same time. I checked everything several times as I collected everything and again about 10 times after receiving it back and a few times again today. I can't believe my little "hobby" is now totally out of my control!

Here's a shot of our dossier package I sent to CCAI today. We only need one more piece - our immigration approval letter or I-171H. I wish I would have kept track of how many hours went in to collecting all of this stuff. How much stuff? Here's the list:

• Home Study Report
• Adoption Petition (also known as letter of intent)
• Financial Statement
• Birth Certificate
• Marriage Certificate
• Police Clearance Letters
• Physical Forms
• Employment Verification Letters
• 3 Passport Photos each
• 11 Photos
• Copies of our Passports

Now we wait for the I-171H. It's been 3 weeks so far...

2/16 Update from our agency: Congratulations! Your dossier has arrived at our office! :)

Rednecks and Child Safety

Our good friend got free tickets to see Jeff Foxworthy last night - you know "If...you might be a redneck". He was hilarious. He did a little talk about how we raise children differently these days compared to when he was growing up and a few things hit so close to home I almost hyperventilated laughing:

Today a 5 year old gets a computer - we got wooden paddles with a red rubber ball attached with a rubber band. When the ball snapped off, the paddle went to mom for future use...

Today kids playgrounds are so much more interesting and safe - we had the metal swing sets that were never properly cemented in the groud so when anyone swung more than 4 feet off the groud the entire frame would tip...

He also mentions lawn darts - remember Jarts? We had them! The real ones - the heavy metal ones!

What a difference 2-3 decades make!

Outsmarted

Our neighbor stopped over last night to invite us for Cuban dinner on Saturday (YUM). Unfortunately we have other plans, but as he chatted with Jacek over a beer we learned something interesting. Our little girl is sneaking out!

Tuesday has been jumping over our fence to say hello to neighbor! Why didn't we know this? Because when she's done she jumps back into the yard. Her agility trainer would be proud.

Looks like we'll have to budget for that tall privacy fence much sooner than planned.

Super Bowl Champs!

What a game! The Steelers are the Super Bowl champions! Woo HOoo!

We spent the game with about 1400 (no, that's not a typo) fellow Steeler fans at a (huge) Chicago sports bar. It was an incredible night! I don't think I'll have a voice tomorrow from all the cheering.

Here's a shot of Jerome Bettis with the trophy. We are so happy he finally made it to the big game and won - he deserves it more than anyone.

GO STEELERS!

Almost There

Our documents came back from the Chicago Consulate today. All that's left to complete our dossier is our I-171H - immigration approval letter. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!

Happy New Year!

Today marks the start of the Lunar New Year celebration in China. It is a 15 day celebration ending with the Lantern Festival.

Here's a great summary of the traditions and meaning surrounding this important holiday from the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco.

It is the Year of the Dog. Click to learn more about the Chinese Zodiac and to find your 'sign'.

Wishing you all good luck and prosperity in the Year of the Dog!

Tagged

There's a sort of tag game going around the adoption blogs - something fun to do to pass the time while everyone waits. Diana tagged me so here we go...

What were you doing ten years ago?
I was working full time and going to grad school full time - talk about burn out!

What were you doing one year ago?
Filling out our application to our first homestudy agency.

Five snacks I enjoy:
1. Chocolate
2. Fruit
3. Nuts
4. Soy Moon Gouda
5. Chips & mild salsa

Five things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Pay off the mortgage
2. Travel
3. Invest more
4. Donate more
5. Visit the spa regularly :)

Five bad habits:
1. Procrastinating
2. Not putting my laundry away
3. Chocolate :)
4. Unbending and twisting paperclips
5. Forgetting to do the litter box

Five things I like doing:
1. Spending time with Jacek
2. Playing with my dog (agility, training, ball)
3. Scuba diving (wish I could do it more)
4. Exploring natural places (woods, canyons, beaches, etc.)
5. Experimenting in the kitchen

Five things I would never wear, buy or get new again:
1. Shoes that aren't comfy in the store - no breaking in for me
2. Neon colors
3. Leg warmers
4. Really short skirts
5. Anything itchy

Five favorite toys/games:
1. Cranium
2. Tiger Woods Golf
3. Tennis
4. Slinky
5. Play-doh

I'm supposed to pass this on to 5 more bloggers but I think everyone has already received it. So if you haven't - you are hereby Tagged!

Off to the Consulate

Our last set of documents is off to the China Consulate...thanks to Jacek. I had a last minute crisis at work so my plan to make the copies, get a money order and send it off was squashed - but Jacek saved the day. He drove to my office and picked everything up and was able to process it and get it to UPS before the truck pulled away. They will receive it before Friday.

The other consulates have been quick about getting our documents back to us, however the Chinese New Year is the 29th so I'm sure the Consulate - or at least parts of it - will close. No one seems to know exactly when or for how long.

Here We Go!!!

Heeere we go! Steelers..here we go...Pittsburgh's goin' to the Su-uper Bowl! Woo Hoo! Our annual Superbowl party will be extra fun this year! Go Steelers!!! Look's like Tuesday's Wish came true!

Fingerprints Done

We went to the local application support center for CIS (immigration) today and got our fingerprints done. It was quick - well my prints and the machine didn't really get along too well, but they were quality approved so all should be good. One thing I will say is the people that work there must really hate their jobs and every customer who enters. Not one hello. Not one smile. And I venture to say they were just plain unfriendly. Every single one of them.

But - we were happy to have this milestone completed! Now we wait for our immigration approval letter. Reports from the message boards on time from prints to letter from the Chicago office are ranging from 3 to 6 to 12 weeks (just one 12 weeker and there was no explanation as to whether or not anything unusual caused it to be 12 weeks). So fingers crossed for a quick turn around!

Must Love Dogs

...even when they buy movies from Blockbuster without your permission. Kind of ironic, isn't it? I think as we prepare Tuesday for a child in the house by tugging her tail, pulling her ears and stealing her toys she has taken on the task of preparing us for a child and all of the unexpected undesirable things that come with it by playing doggie-toddler. Seriously, she even has the defiant "NO!" down pat. Too cute. Wonder how much Blockbuster's going to charge for this?

A Year of Change

I just realized it was a year ago that we attended an information meeting at our former home study agency. We chose the agency because we originally planned to adopt from Poland and they were one of the few local agencies that provided adoption services for Poland. We initially chose Poland because that is where Jacek is from and it seemed like the natural choice. Since then we changed to China, changed home study agencies, and even changed our bathroom in our quest for Hana.

In some ways the past year flew and in some ways it dragged (thanks, former home study agency). I'll talk about all of that in future posts, after we have our LID date and I no longer have to worry what document to send where and when - we'll have plenty of wait time to fill the blog with the who's-what's-why's-where's and how's of China adoption...stay tuned!

Rolling Right Along

The remainder of our documents (minus the I-171H) are on their way to the Secretary of State's office. I decided to just mail them rather than go downtown. I'll save the downtown trip for the I-171H certification and authentication since we'll be expediting it. I figure we have time to send the documents through UPS since it'll likely be at least 6 weeks from when we get fingerprinted to the time we get immigration approval.

Disappointment

So we get up bright and early and head to the currency exchange to get the rest of our documents notarized and then it was off to the CIS Application Support Center for fingerprints. What's this? There's a sign on the door apologizing for the schedule mix up, but they are closed today for MLK day. Of course I wasn't happy. There is a small chance we can go first thing in the morning later next week - if not we'll be there next Saturday again to I'm sure longer lines 'cause it'll be us, everyone else and all the others who couldn't go today. Sigh.

Fingerprint Letter Here!

I just got home from work to find our fingerprint letter from immigration in the mailbox! We'll likely go on Saturday to get our prints done - I'm so excited!!! This is the last set of prints we'll need to do then we wait for CIS approval.

Home Study Officially Done

We received 3 notarized copies of our home study today. Another copy is on its way to CIS (immigration). When they get it they will send us an invitation to get fingerprinted. When they get our prints they will review our file and send us an approval letter I-171. We really have no idea how long this will take - I've seen others online who got them within 6 weeks, some 12.

Meanwhile I'm preparing the rest of our documents to be notarized, certified at the Secretary of State's office and then authenticated at the Chinese Consulate. After that's done we'll send them on to CCAI for critical review. Then when we do receive our I-171 we can expedite it throught the authentication process and send it to CCAI - who will then send our dossier to China.

The light at the end of the paperchase tunnel is getting a little bigger! :)