Certification By Idaho Secretary of State Complete

Hooray!  We got our certified papers back from Boise today around 4:30 P.M..  We went to Office Max and made copies of certificates.  I ran over to the UPS terminal to see if I could get them on their way to the Assistant Stork Courier Service in Washington D.C..  I made it in time!  If we get the letter to them by 5:30 P.M., they will go out that night.  Our papers are on their way!

Offcial Copy of I-797 Received

Received the official I-797 from USCIS today (approval of our I-800A application).  Emailed Debbie in the Idaho Secretary of States Office this afternoon.  She received our 13 documents to certify around lunchtime today.  She said she has completed the certification and they should go out in the mail on Monday.  Wish it was today, but we are one step closer to having our Dossier to China!.  We have the paperwork ready for shipment to the Department of State and the Chinese Embassy.

Papers to Secretary of Idaho for Certification

Received an email from CCAI that they received a copy of our I-797.  We've been checking our mail daily and haven't received one yet.  Emailed CCAI back and had them send up a copy so we could get it notarized and send our documents to Boise for Certification.  They sent us a copy and we got Trish to notarize this afternoon!  Sent our 13 documents to Boise at 4:00 today.  Should be delivered Friday AM.  Emailed Debbie at the Secretary of States Office in Boise and found out they will be open Friday!  Hopefully, we'll get them mailed back Friday and receive them on Monday - then off to D.C. for Authentication by the Department of State and the Chinese Embassy.

I-800A Approval!

Emailed USCIS last night requesting an update on our I-800A application.  Received an email back from them this morning.  Surprise - we had an officer and our application was approved on 11/18/11!  Emailed the officer back and thanked her for her work.  She replied back and sounded a bit surprised that we would thank her.  Apparently, they don't get much "positive" feedback.  She told us she would be our officer when we submit our I-800 when we are matched with Maddison.  Hopefully, that will go a little quicker!!!

Waiting on USCIS!

Here it is 11/10/11 - still no approval from USCIS!  We are now on day 64 of our wait.  Email USCIS and still haven't been assigned an officer.  Checked the internet and people are saying its taking around 70 days to get approval.  Hopefully, we are getting close!

I-800A Fingerprinting Update!

Robin and I went in and got fingerprinted today.  Place was empty and they were very friendly!  Hopefully, this helps speed along the approval process.......

I-800 A Fingerprinting

Today we received another I-797C Notice of Action from USCIS.  Our fingerprinting appointment is 10/3/11.  I think we will walk - in tomorrow.  In reading things on the internet and talking to Suzie Daley, most people don't wait and just walk in and get their fingerprinting done.

I-800 A Update

9/7/11 - UPS tracking indicates our package arrived at the Texas Lockbox.

9/9/11 - received an email from USCIS that they received our application and has sent it to Missouri for processing.

9/15/11 - received our I-797C Notice of Action receipt form USCIS.

The wait is on....

I-800A Application Submitted to Immigration

Today, we sent our I-800A application to immigration for "pre-approval" to adopt a child from overseas.  It amazing what this process takes to adopt!  We made copies of all our paperwork and headed to the UPS Store to mail our application and paperwork to a "drop box" in Texas.  Apparently, once it arrives, it then gets mailed to Missouri (not sure where in Missouri) to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS).  Once here, you wait until it get assigned to an immigration officer who then approves us for an adoption.  According to the internet, this can take anywhere from 40 to 90 days to get approved.  Hope ours goes quicker!

Homestudy Woes

I thought I'd write a note about our journey to get our homestudy completed and sent to CCAI.  It took a little longer that expected with Rebecca to get us a draft of our homestudy for review.  She was involved in church camp and didn't get us a draft until 8/1/11.  We reviewed it that night and had quite a few of comments.  Rebecca didn't follow CCAI's instructions very well.  They wanted specific words in specific sections.  She didn't use their wording so I had to edit her writeup to include the appropriate words.  Rebecca updated our homestudy with our comments - used most, but not all our recommendations.  Rebecca sent our homestudy to CASI in Boise for their concurrence.  A draft was sent to CCAI for their review and concurrence on 8/14/11.

On 8/19/11, we received comments back from CCAI.  As expected, CCAI wanted Rebecca to put their wording in certain sections (just as I had marked up!).  Rebecca was a good trooper and updated her report and sent it back to CCAI the very next day!

On 8/23/11, CCAI approves homestudy by CASI!!!!!!  Now we just have to get all the signatures and notaries done on the report.

On 8/31/11, we received 4 copies of our homestudy in the mail.  Another piece of paper completed!

Completed CCAI's Online Training

CCAI notified us today that we have successfully completed our 12 hours of online training.  Hague adoptions require adoptive parents to take on-line training classes.   They had training on international adoption, history/culture of China, bonding with adoptive children, etc. We received our certificate from them.  We have to have this in order to get final approval by China to adopt.  This will become part of our dossier that gets sent to China.

Fourth Homestudy Meeting

YEAH!!!! we complete our last meeting with Rebecca.  Very short meeting - less than 10 minutes.  She said she had all the information she needed to complete our homestudy.  She said it shouldn't take too long to get it written and back to us for review.  Hope she is right!

Third Meeting with Social Worker

Today we had our third meeting with Rebecca.  She was only here about 45 minutes.  Today she did individual interviews with each of us - criminal background checks, etc.

Second Meeting with Social Worker

Today we had our second meeting with our social worker Rebecca.  Seems to be a nice lady and we get along very well.  She spent alot of time today asking questions about our personal histories and families.  She asked about our parents and siblings.  How we were disciplined, relationship with parents and siblings, etc...  She spent about an hour with us today.  Two down, two to go!

First Homestudy Meeting

We had our first of four meetings with our social worker (Rebecca) today.  She spent about 1.5 hours at our house.  I was quite interesting - she checked out our house to verify that we had smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detector, hot and cold running water, a bedroom for our new child, etc.  Went over our forms we filled out for CASI and asked alot of questions.  Seemed to go real well.  We set up the remaining three meetings - July 15, 18, and 20.

Pictures at Wahlgreens for Dossier

Today we went to Wahlgreens to get passport size pictures taken for our dossier.  We had to get  6 copies - 3 for dossier and 3 for visas later in the process.

Robin's Birth Certificate Sent to North Carolina for "Authentication"

Today we sent Robin's birth certificate off to the North Carolina's Secretary of State for Authentication.  It's amazing what you have to go with our paperwork.  Our mounds of paperwork has to be notarized, then "authenicated" by the Secretary of State (NC for some, ID for others).  We then have to send them to the Department of State in Washington D. C. for review and approval.  It then goes to the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. for their stamp of approval!  Of course, each one of these reviews/approvals costs $.  In D.C., we also have to pay for a courier to hand carry our paperwork around - more $$.  I thought the INL had a lot of red tape, but immigration has us beat hands down!!!!

Homestudy Packet Sent to CASI

Huray!  we complete all the homestudy paperwork for CASI.  Placed in envelop and sent to Boise today.  Hopefully, we can get our social worker going and finish this step up quickly!

Off to the Doctor for Physicals

Today (6/20/11) we went to the doctor for our physicals and bloodwork.  Had to do all the standard things, but also had to get HIV test.  We went to Community Care and had Doctor Brumsfield.  This was one of Robin's past students dads.  It was kind of nice to have someone we know.

We received the results of our physicals today (6/22/11).  We were both "normal" and did not test positive for HIV!  One more step complete on our "paper chase".

I'm not Teaching Next Year!

After lots of prayer and talking.  We have decided that Robin will not teach next year.  If we get matched early next year, we will have to travel to China for 2 weeks.  Once back, she can take additional time for maternity leave, but most likely, not enough to finish out the year.  Once we have our daughter, Robin will stay home and raise our family.  We believe it wouldn't be fair for the school district or her students to have to find a new teacher that late into the year.