| Date |
Action |
Emotion |
| 02-20-05 |
Completed agency adoption application
online. |
|
| 03-21-05 |
After receiving the agency approval
and their information in the mail, we mailed the signed contract
to the agency. |
|
| 03-24-05 |
Always thinking ahead, Bobby sent in
our passports for renewal. |
|
| 03-26-05 |
Next, sent in the form to the Dept.
of Children and Families allowing them to check our history. |
|
| 03-28-05 |
Obtained a verification of employment
letter from my workplace. |
|
| 03-31-05 |
Mailed the form I-600A (Advance petition
for adoption) to the USCIS (also known as Immigration). |
|
| 03-31-05 |
Next the we sent mailed the Florida
Dept of Law Enforcement a form to perform a criminal history check.
|
|
| 04-07-05 |
We ordered our certified birth certificates
and wedding certificate from vital stats.com. |
|
| 04-20-05 |
Uh-oh...the I-600A was returned to
us because we used a personal check (missed that part on the instructions).
Mailed again with a cashiers check and our newly ordered info from
vitalstats. |
|
| 05-03-05 |
Received notice of receipt from the
USCIS with a note that our homestudy would need to be received by
July 26th to avoid having our application denied. |
|
| 05-05-05 |
We went to the county sheriff's office
to get the affidavit of good moral character and the local police
clearance filled out and notarized. |
|
| 05-12-05 |
After several conversations with the
nurses at my doctors office, they finally agreed they could perform
our physicals and blood work based on form required by China.(Geesh!
This is a doctors office, right? What else do you do if not physicals???)
Of course they had no notary onsite, so we had to find our own. |
|
| 05-14-05 |
Brought our traveling notary to the
doctors office to witness the doctor's signature. Which I might
add the doctor took great offense to. (Uhmmm...hey doc, you think
this was my idea?). |
|
| 05-22-05 |
Faxed our family coordinator (FC) all
of the paperwork we have gathered at this point for her review.
Found out the traveling notary's stamp would expire too soon to
be valid for the paperwork. |
|
| 05-23-05 |
Obtained an employment letter from
Bobby's workplace. |
|
| 05-25-05 |
Faxed FC the completed employment letter. |
|
| 05-31-05 |
Sent the check in advance for the home
study fee. |
|
| 06-01-05 |
Filled out the homestudy questions
and mailed these to the social worker. Finally getting somewhere... |
|
| 06-17-05 |
Went to Celebration, FL for the first
homestudy meeting. About five other couples were there. We covered
appropriate adoption terminology and what to expect after we get
home with our child (attachment issues, etc.). |
|
| 07-14-05 |
The traveling notary called and let
us know it would be 1 or 2 weeks before her renewal stamp came in.
We decided to wait for this rather than deal with getting to doctor
to fill out the paperwork again with a new notary. |
|
| 07-19-05 |
Mailed a letter to the USCIS asking
for an extension for our homestudy since it was in progress but
would not be complete until September (based on what the SW told
us). |
|
| 07-22-05 |
Had a voice message from the USCIS
saying that was no problem, they just put a deadline on this application
to help keep their files purged since so many people start the process
but never finish. |
|
| 07-27-05 |
Got a call from the social worker to
set up the second visit...for the next day! Yikes! Stayed up late
cleaning the house (I've never seen Bobby so nervous). |
|
| 07-28-05 |
Did our homestudy interviews--30 minutes
together, then 30 minutes each separately. Sorry puppies, you had
to stay outside for this. It was pretty laid back, but some of the
questions were tough. Funniest part was Bobby demonstrating how
to use the fire extinguisher. |
|
| 08-05-05 |
Mailed Bobby's birth certificate to
SC to be certified. |
|
| 08-07-05 |
The social worker brought her report
over for us to review and make sure it was factually correct. |
|
| 08-11-05 |
The traveling notary finally got her
renewal, so we took our physical forms to her to be re-stamped.
Had her notarize the application letter to China while we were there. |
|
| 08-11-05 |
We received the final notarized homestudy.
That was fast! |
|
| 08-12-05 |
Mailed a copy of the homestudy to the
USCIS. Yeah! the I-600A is complete and ready for them to process. |
|
| 08-12-05 |
Mailed all of our notarized documents
to Tallahassee to be certified. This is where they check to make
sure the notary is valid. |
|
| 08-17-05 |
Received our package back from Tallahassee...they
weren't happy with the notary wording and stamp placement on about
five of the documents. These had to be re-done or modified in some
way. Big let down. |
|
| 08-23-05 |
Mailed the updated documents back to
Tallahassee. |
|
| 08-24-05 |
Received our fingerprint appointment
from the USCIS for the FBI background check. |
|
| 08-25-05 |
Had our fingerprints done at the immigration
office and ate at Cracker Barrel to celebrate. |
|
| 09-01-05 |
Mailed Bobby's birth certificate to
US Dept of State and Chinese Embassy for authentication. |
|
| 09-16-05 |
Received Bobby's authenticated birth
certificate back. The letter on top is all in Chinese. Our first
document ready to go to China. Several more to go. |
|
08-25-05 to 10-21-05 |
Waiting for the I-171 from the USCIS |
|
| 10-21-05 |
Send I-171 to Tallahassee for certification |
|
| 10-31-05 |
Received I-171 back. Then mailed everything
to the Chinese Embassy in Houston for authentication. |
|
| 11-3-05 |
Received everything back from Houston.
Yeah! Realized we forgot to certify and authenticate the HOMESTUDY!
Boo! Bobby's doing the miracle drive to Tallahasse and saying
a prayer. |
|
| 11-11-05 |
Dossier to China (DTC) This will be
the official beginning of the paper pregnancy. |
|
| ???? |
Wait for the Log in Date (LID) which
tells us China has put our application in line to be processed.. |
|
| ???? |
Now we wait 6- 7 months to be matched
to a baby....(Edited: May be
closer to 9-10 months due to China's office moving)
|
|
| ???? |
Referral day --This is when we receive
a picture and medical history of the baby that is matched to us.
|
|
| ???? |
Travel date-- The travel date is usually
given about a month after referral. And we will actually travel
about 2 weeks after that. So all in all travel will be 6 to 8 weeks
after Referral Day. |
|
| ???? |
Gotcha Day--This is the day we receive
our daughter and she receives her forever family. At this point
adoption is official. This is usually day 2 or 3 once we are in
China. |
|
