I dropped off our Utah documents at the Lt Governor's office on Wednesday, and they said three to five days before we should expect to see them back in the mail. With the Memorial Day holiday this weekend, I'm looking at Tuesday or Wednesday at the earliest, but, really, expect them to come on Friday.
Once they are back, I will package all the docs up and send them to my courier in Washington DC to have the authentications done at the US Secretary of State office, and the Chinese Consulate.
In the meantime, we can work on getting our passport size pictures taken, and take some candid family life photos. We should get Matthew's passport going, too.
Mindy's pageant is this Saturday, so, the preparations for that will keep my mind off everything.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Sad News
We lost our referral of the little girl we hoped to adopt. another agency found out about her and locked her file before we could. So, we continue to wait and search.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
We have found her!!!
After such a long process, and so much searching, we have found our little cricket. Her name is Qu Le Yong, and she lives in Guangdong province. She is four years old, turns 5 on August 15th. We can't post pictures of her yet, as we don't have approval from China for the adoption, so, until that happens, all I can tell you is, she is so adorable, and has a very interesting story.
We dropped off the rest of our documents for state certification, and then we can complete our dossier and send it to China. The agency that she is listed with is Small World Adoptions. I feel pretty good about them, but, don't know as much as I will after doing more research. They come highly recommended by other adoptive parents, so , that is always a good sign.
Once our dossier is ready, which will probably be about a month or so, we will have to wait until it is approved by China. I will be looking into how long that is currently taking, but, I am thinking we will be waiting through the summer. We will miss her birthday, but, I am praying that we can at least have the pre approval in time for us to send her a birthday present.
I just can't express how much I love her already. I just can't stop looking at her pictures.
She is one of the two little girls that were on the Special Needs list that really don't belong there. She is healthy, happy, growing normally, and get this, she loves to pretend her toy cars are Police cars and she is catching the "bad people". For now we will call her Le Le which is her pet name in the orphanage, but, will choose a more permanent name. In Chinese, the name the orpahanage gave her, Le Yong, means beautiful music. She loves to sing, and make up her own words to songs.
Ill post more about her as I sort through all the referral information, but, for now, Im doing the Snoopy dance.
We dropped off the rest of our documents for state certification, and then we can complete our dossier and send it to China. The agency that she is listed with is Small World Adoptions. I feel pretty good about them, but, don't know as much as I will after doing more research. They come highly recommended by other adoptive parents, so , that is always a good sign.
Once our dossier is ready, which will probably be about a month or so, we will have to wait until it is approved by China. I will be looking into how long that is currently taking, but, I am thinking we will be waiting through the summer. We will miss her birthday, but, I am praying that we can at least have the pre approval in time for us to send her a birthday present.
I just can't express how much I love her already. I just can't stop looking at her pictures.
She is one of the two little girls that were on the Special Needs list that really don't belong there. She is healthy, happy, growing normally, and get this, she loves to pretend her toy cars are Police cars and she is catching the "bad people". For now we will call her Le Le which is her pet name in the orphanage, but, will choose a more permanent name. In Chinese, the name the orpahanage gave her, Le Yong, means beautiful music. She loves to sing, and make up her own words to songs.
Ill post more about her as I sort through all the referral information, but, for now, Im doing the Snoopy dance.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Big week ahead
This week brings with is many paperwork and financial challenges.
I need to get up to the Capital to get the dossier State certified. That will cost about $100.
Mindy's costume for the pageant is ready to be picked up from the seamstress, and I am thinking that will cost around $500.
I need to get rhinestones for Mindy's pageant swimsuit, too.
Tomorrow I have a training to go to in the morning, then lessons for Mindy in the afternoon. Tuesday is a four hour staff meeting, and Wednesday is the city council meeting where Mindy presents her platform for Miss Salem.
Thursday Im back at work for four hours, and then more lessons for Mindy. I work all weekend, and, it's Memorial Day weekend so we will be hammered in Dispatch.
Somewhere in there I need to start stoning the costume and swimsuit. The end of next week is the pageant. Phew. Gotta keep moving, or as Dori says, just keep swimming , just keep swimming.
I need to get up to the Capital to get the dossier State certified. That will cost about $100.
Mindy's costume for the pageant is ready to be picked up from the seamstress, and I am thinking that will cost around $500.
I need to get rhinestones for Mindy's pageant swimsuit, too.
Tomorrow I have a training to go to in the morning, then lessons for Mindy in the afternoon. Tuesday is a four hour staff meeting, and Wednesday is the city council meeting where Mindy presents her platform for Miss Salem.
Thursday Im back at work for four hours, and then more lessons for Mindy. I work all weekend, and, it's Memorial Day weekend so we will be hammered in Dispatch.
Somewhere in there I need to start stoning the costume and swimsuit. The end of next week is the pageant. Phew. Gotta keep moving, or as Dori says, just keep swimming , just keep swimming.
Friday, May 15, 2009
We're approved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just recieved an email from our USCIS agent telling me the following:
Good morning.
Your I-800A application was reviewed and approved on May 12. It was put in the mail that day so you should be getting it any time now.
Congratulations!
Kirk Giffen
It's official, we are on our way. Now, as soon as it gets here in the mail, I will be walking it, along with the rest of our paperwork, into the Utah Secretary of State's office for certification. Then, pack it all up and send it to Washington DC to the U.S. Secretary of State office for their authentication, and then, onto the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC for final authentication.
At that point we will need to know who we are using for our placing agency, as they will need to send it onto Beijing, China to the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) office to be logged in (LID) and then reviewed for their approval of our adoption of a special needs child. Yes, another wait. Probably shorter than the last one though, I hope.
Good morning.
Your I-800A application was reviewed and approved on May 12. It was put in the mail that day so you should be getting it any time now.
Congratulations!
Kirk Giffen
It's official, we are on our way. Now, as soon as it gets here in the mail, I will be walking it, along with the rest of our paperwork, into the Utah Secretary of State's office for certification. Then, pack it all up and send it to Washington DC to the U.S. Secretary of State office for their authentication, and then, onto the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC for final authentication.
At that point we will need to know who we are using for our placing agency, as they will need to send it onto Beijing, China to the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) office to be logged in (LID) and then reviewed for their approval of our adoption of a special needs child. Yes, another wait. Probably shorter than the last one though, I hope.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Paperwork almost complete
I sent the updated homestudy to USCIS yesterday. It should arrive on Friday. I haven't done this before, so, Im not sure how it will all turn out, but, I expect that, if this is the only thing holding up our approval, we should be immediately approved.
When USCIS issues an approval, they send you an email that day with that document, and then a hard copy arrives in the mail about two weeks later. I am hoping we get that email early next week.
When USCIS issues an approval, they send you an email that day with that document, and then a hard copy arrives in the mail about two weeks later. I am hoping we get that email early next week.
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