I-800a Approval

Friday, November 25, after 78 days we received an email from our officer that she had approved our I-800a application. Praise God! This is the last piece of paper we needed so all our paperwork could go to China. Our I797(I-800a approval)was delivered by Fedex on Tuesday, November 29. After going to 4 different notary offices we were finally able to get it notarized and dropped off at the N.C. Secretary of State's office. We picked it up today and now it is in route to the courier in Washington D.C. Friday she will walk it thru the U.S. Department of State and drop it off at The Embassy of China. On Monday she will pick it up and fedex it to our agency. Our agency sends dossiers to China on Fridays. December 9,2011 our dossier should be making its long trip to China.

My Mom, My Best Friend

It has been two years since my Mom went to be with the Lord. Not a day goes by that I don't miss her and wish I had more time with her. There were so many things she never had time to teach me. There are so many moments I wish I could share with her. One day we will meet again.

Having Faith

It has been 66 days since USCIS(Homeland Security) received our I800a application to adopt.  In mid August this approval was only taking 45 days.  At the end of August it took from 62-70 days.  At 66 days we still don't have an officer.  We have to have an officer to be approved.  Just need to have faith that it will happen in God's time.  His timing is perfect.  So difficult when this one little piece of paper is all that is keeping our dossier from going to China.  Praying that this will be the week.

Happy Birthday, Nicholas!

It is hard to believe Nicholas turned 16 today.  Wasn't it just yesterday that he was born? What a handsome young man he has grown up to be. I can see so many changes in him over the last year. He is maturing in so many ways.  God truly blessed us!

Happy Halloween!

The girls had so much fun tonight Trick or Treating! Grace told us that next year Alyssa will be with us.  We can't wait to see her in her little costume enjoying the fun with the girls.

Unfortunately no news on our I800a.  Looks like people are waiting even longer for this approval. We are at day 52 and it appears it will be at least 10(probably more) days until we get approval.  We can't do anything else until we get this.  We know it will all happen in God's time. Sometimes it is just so hard to be patient.  We want to bring our little girl home and put a smile on her face.

Dossier (minus our I800a approval) in California

Great news! All of our paperwork except our I800a approval is in California. It arrived at our China coordinator's house this morning.

List of Documents for our Dossier:
1) Application Letter
2) Non-Employment letter for Kristen
3) Employment letter for Dallas
4) Kristen's birth certificate
5) Dallas' birth certificate
6) Marriage certificate
7) Financial statement
8) Kristen's physical
9) Dallas' physical
10) Kristen's police clearance letter
11) Dallas' police clearance letter
12) Homestudy
13) I800a approval(waiting on this)
All the above documents have to be notarized, sent to the Secratary of State in NC to be certified and then sent to Washington D.C. to the State Department to be authenicated, and on to the Chinese Consulate to be authenicated. 
14) 3 notarized reference letters
15) copies of the first page of our passports
16) 2 passport photos of both of us
17) 6 family photos mounted on card stock
18) checks to various people

So glad to be done with this part of the process.  Just one more document and we can send all of our paperwork to China.  We are still quite a ways from travel but every step is one step closer to bringing our little girl.

USCIS Fingerprint Appointment

What a pleasant surprise! Dallas, Kristopher, and I went to the Durham USCIS office today to be fingerprinted.  This is another part of the process. Before we can adopt Alyssa we have to have approval from the Department of Homeland Security. This is one of the longer steps to the process. We are about halfway there.  So back to the surprise. This is our third time being fingerprinted for an international adoption. This is the third office we have been to. You don't get to choose where you go, they tell you when and where.  In Jacksonville and Charlotte the experience was far from enjoyable. We came out feeling like criminals. The employees were very unfriendly.  Today was a completely different story.  They were joking and asking about our adoption.  How nice to actually enjoy this step of the process.  Now on to praying for a speedy approval.