Every little thing is exciting . . . .

Friday, February 18, 2011 we took Catherine and Luke to passport services to apply for their passports.  When we left, Kevin and I were so excited.  We said "Yea!  Now we can go to Canada!"  Seems like such a small thing, applying for a passport, but it was another step in getting us closer to Claire.

On the downside, I emailed Immigration on Thursday to let them know that we had been printed so that they could work on our file now instead of waiting until the appointment date.  I received an email back thanking me, stating that our file had been noted but that they were currently working on files that were received by them in late December.  So looks like we have a bit of a wait . . . .at least 30 more days before we get their approval.

This approval is the last thing we need before we can send all of our documentation to China.  So now we are in hurry up and wait mode.

Marching On!

A lot has  happened since my last post.  I got our documents in the mail to Immigration on January 21, 2011.  That felt like a huge step.  On February 2 I also sent out documents to 3 Chinese Consulates to have those documents authenticated, a necessary step before we can send everything to China.  Regulations required me to send my birth certificate to Los Angeles, Kevin's birth certificate to Chicago and all of our documents that were notarized in Washington to San Francisco.

On February 7 I received two phone calls.  One from the Consulate in Los Angeles and the other from the Consulate in San Francisco.  The message from San Francisco was that I'd forgotten to send a copy of Kevin's passport.  So I got that faxed off to them.  The message from LA was that I had used an outdated application form.  I was instructed to go to their website and download the proper form.  When I did the link said the page had been deleted.  Of course they didn't give me a phone number to call with questions so I had to fax a letter explaining the problem.  In the meantime my adoption agency sent me the form they thought was correct.  I faxed that off, but a few hours later received a call from the Consulate again.  They had faxed me the proper form, but I was at court not at the office(yea for cell phones!!).  It sounded like they had not received my new fax, but after checking found it.  I was told that it was not the proper form, but that it "will do".  So now we wait for all of those precious documents to come back to us.

On Valentine's Day we received our finger print notice from Immigration.  Of course the appointment was scheduled for three weeks from now.  Thanks to Murphy and his law the appointment was set at 8 a.m. on a day when we will be in Las Vegas so no way we could make that.  So on Tuesday, the 15th and 21 hours after receiving our appointment, we walked into Immigration and asked to be printed.  The officer pointed out that our appointment wasn't until March and I explained that we would not be in the state on that date and we were told that if he wasn't busy he might be willing to take us on a walk in basis.  He agreed.  When I went back for my prints he was so nice.  Asking if we were excited and if we had any pictures of Claire we could show him.  Of course we didn't because we were in the Federal Building and not allowed to bring cell phones inside.

Today I called and emailed Immigration to advise them that we have already completed the finger prints.  I don't want our case officer waiting until March to start looking for our prints.  So we are back to waiting on others to do their part.  But it really feels like we've taken some big steps forward towards getting Claire home.  We are so anxious for her to join us.  I know that the timing will be just exactly when it is meant to happen.  Just praying that it is sooner rather than later.

Finally

I finally received the Notarized copy of our homestudy yesterday afternoon.  Feels good to have it in hand.  Because now there are things that I can do rather than waiting on others.  The next step is to get it sent off to USCIS(formerly Immigration and Naturalization) to get their approval as appropriate people to bring a child from another country into the United States.  I understand it takes about a month to get that approval which includes being fingerprinted.  The suspicious lawyer in me hates the idea of the Federal Government having a file on me that contains only God knows what including my fingerprints.  But, I guess it's a necessary evil.  Hopefully we will be able to walk in to be fingerprinted instead of waiting for an appointment.  I guess that speeds up the process.  My plan is to have that in the mail tomorrow morning.

She Knows . . . .I think.

I received an email today from our contact in China, Angela.  She says that she received confirmation that the orphanage received our package on January 8.  She will be contacting them about pictures.  Hopefully we will see something soon.  It's exciting to know that Claire knows about us now.  At least I hope she does.  I suppose there is a chance that the orphanage has not given her the things, but I can't think of one reason why.

Praying that she knows we are here and loving her!

Education Done!!!

One of the "new" requirements for international adoption is 10 hours of adoption education.  The reason for this is that China joined The Hauge Convention on Adoptions.  Apparently there have been several adoptions that were not successful for whatever reason.  The education is geared toward giving people a realistic view of issues that can occur and what to look for with their child.  We didn't have to do this when adopting Luke.

At first I thought it was a huge pain.  Mostly because I felt like there should be a waiver for families who have already adopted.  But I've also thought that with a lot of this process.  China already has a file on us.  Our birth, marriage and other documents haven't changed.  Why do we need to resubmit them???  I guess it's just part of the process and we just have to go with the flow.

So we started the education today.  It took us several hours to complete.  We did it together.  A lot of it was kind of what I thought, stuff I already knew.  Much of it confirmed for us that we have done the right things with Luke.  Gives us confidence that we will do the right things again for Claire.  So, in the end I didn't really mind doing it.  It's all for Claire and even at this early stage I'd do anything for her.  So I'm happy to have this step done.  One small step closer to her.

Does she know????

It's sometime Wednesday in China and I can't help but wonder if Claire has received her package.  Oh, I'd love to be a fly on that wall.  Praying that she is happy to know she has a family.  Hoping that she loved the photo album.  Wondering how long I should wait before sending her another package and what should I send??

I want to send so much.  Clothes, books, toys but it's so hard because I don't know what she likes.  More importantly I have to resist the urge to spoil her to death before we get her.  I don't want to create unrealistic expectations on her part.

What I really want is to just hold her in my arms!  Tell her how happy we are that she is joining our family.    Hoping that spring/summer will be here before we know it!

Home Study has Finally Arrived!!

We got the draft late today.  Finally feel like we can move forward.  Had to make some corrections that should take our social worker about 5 minutes to correct.  When we get her notarized copy we can send it off to immigration so that they can approve it and allow us to bring Claire home.  This is a huge step that will take about a month because we will have to be fingerprinted.

But forward progress is forward progress and we are thrilled that this huge hurdle has been cleared.  Hold on sweetheart.  We are making our way to you!!!