Another step forward

Our marriage certificate and my birth certificate are both back all nicely certified and ready to be packed with the dossier. Maryland is so fast, I was astonished that they came back so quickly. Hopefully, everything else will go this smoothly from here on out.

Beginning of a long week

This week is probably going to be the longest of them all. Everything will be in limbo while all the paperwork is processed. I am praying that next week I can start to see some things coming in. It may be the week after, but, oh please, let it be next week. The good news is, once it starts to roll in, it should happen very quickly and our paperwork will finally be done. I can wait a bit longer for that.

Paperchasing

Myleigh asked me why I call it paperchasing when the paper can't move, it just sits there.

Today I mailed out all the background check forms for South Dakota, Minnesota, Idaho, and California. Yesterday I sent off my birth certificate and our marriage certificate for certification in Maryland. Tomorrow I will be sending Tim's birth certificate, which finally came in the mail, back to Minnesota for certification.

When the background checks come back, I expect our USCIS approval will be quickly on its way. Once it arrives, I will take it and all the Utah documents up to the state capital for certification. Then, we will be done with our end of the paperchase.

Background checks

I should have actually predicted this, but, we just barely got the applications for background checks from WIAA. Apparently, they moved offices and in the change over, somehow, in this age of technology and portability, they did not have computer access to get the info to me until Friday. We have waited two weeks since finding out about their failure, and now, we have to continue to wait while these checks are processed.

I know I should be patient, and that all things happen for a reason, but, it's hard to accept that they could not access this info from another computer somewhere, especially since it was their error not ours.

I do work from home, everyone does work from home, everyone has access to a computer, even if it means going to the local library. How could it take two weeks? I guess it will all make sense eventually.

So, today is about getting our paperwork together and packed up for mailing or faxing tomorrow. Then, more waiting.

Dossier status

Now that we have nearly all the documents we need, this is the status of our dossier to date.

I need to get our marriage certificate and my birth certificate packaged and sent to the Maryland Secretary of State for authentication.

I am waiting for the I800a from the USCIS, and then will package all the Utah documents and walk them into the Utah Secretary of State office for authentication.

As soon as Tims birth certificate gets here, I will turn that right back around and send it to the Minnesota Secretary of State office for authentication.

I need to take a bunch of family life photos, make copies of both our passport pages, and we both need to have 3 or 4 passport sized photos taken.

Our financial statement is being notarized probably tonight.

Once all the authentications are done, we package all of it up and send it to AAI for them to get the final authentications from the United States Secretary of State, and, the Chinese consulate in Washington DC, and then it is sent to China.

Truly, the longest part of the process is almost over. Once the I800a gets here, the rest will go pretty fast. Then we just look for our little girl, and wait for PreApproval (PA) from China.

Oh boy, a big step forward.

Today we had our fingerprints done for USCIS (immigration) and both passed with no problems. We were in and out of the office in about 15 minutes. I am so relieved.

Also, our marriage certificate arrived in the mail today. Finally, I can send the Maryland and the Utah documents to be state certified.

All we are waiting on now is Tim birth certificate, and the background checks from Ca, SD, MN, and Id to come back and our I800a should be quickly approved.

and yet another step back

Did we even make any progress, it's hard to see if we did at this point.

The agency that did our homestudy, WIAA, failed to complete the background checks in all states we have lived since we were 18. Tim lived in Mn, SD, ID, CA, and Ut, and I lived in MN, CA, and UT. They only checked Utah, and since we have lived here for 26 years, except for the three months in California back in 1986, it really seems foolish to me that we have to jump through this hoop, but, it's a Hague convention requirement, and most of their requirements are fairly rediculous anyway.

I am not the least bit concerned about the checks, they will be routine, and hopefully quick. It's just that it adds more weeks, probably, to this process. Since we still don't have our marriage cert, and Tim's birth cert has been delayed by weeks, I guess that's not going to be a huge hairy deal, but, still, I just want this part to be over already.

AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and another step back

USCIS processing office sent me an email today asking for clarification on the other places we have lived since we were 18. I looked in our homestudy, and sure enough, it was not spelled out that those places were checked and cleared.

I mailed Tim's birth cert request again. I emailed a copy of the letter from USCIS to both Beesh at WIAA and to our SW Tom.

Please, don't let this be the other shoe I keep waiting for. I still have not seen our marriage certificate come in the mail, it seems to be taking a very long time. Sigh

Two steps forward one step back

Well, we got our fingerprint appointments scheduled for March 6th, which is this Friday. Then I got the application for Tim's birth certificate returned to me in the mail. I had somehow, adoption brain or something, post dated the check for March. So, they returned the whole thing to me. ARGH!!!

Tomorrow I will mail it out, again, and pray it doesn't take too long.