handsful

12/05/2005- Randy sends me a link to his friend’s adoption story (see Sean’s Website).  That was pretty much it for me.

02/05/2006 – Sent away to CCAI for information pack.  Wow…even Randy got misty watching the DVD.

03/08/06 – Sent adoption application to CCAI-FL.

03/13/06 – Nancy Fontaine at CCAI-FL called to say we are approved to adopt! Now the real fun begins…

03/22/06 – Up until this point, we’ve been busy pulling together all of the necessary paperwork for our agency. Today, we sent in all the required paperwork and our 1st agency fee so that CCAI will let us download the Dossier Guide, which will explain how to compile all of the necessary documents for China.

03/24/06 – Downloaded Dossier Guide!

03/25/06 – Ordered certified copies of our birth certificates and our marriage liscense from Vitalchek.com.

03/30/06 – Applied for passports and obtained local police clearance letters from the Sherriff’s office…nice to know we were right about not being hardened criminals!

04/03/06 – Today was our physical appointments. Ouch.

04/12/06 – Matched with a social worker today! Up until now, we’ve been typing up our financial statement, adoption petition, employment (and non-employment for me) verifications, verifying that our references have turned in their letters, having documents notarized, sending them off for certification at the state level, and tracking down when our physical forms and doctor letters will be ready. It’s quite a maze of things to do!

04/13/06 – 1 Month since our adoption application was approved! We now have all of our documents, they just have to finish going through the notarization / certification / authentication process.

04/21/06 – All of our documents are now notarized! (with the exception of our home study and I-171H form, which will come later)

04/25/06 – Met with our Social Worker, Mr. Leon Pipho today. He treated this 1 meeting as 3, which means we only have 1 more, on May 12th. Also sent Randy’s birth cert. and our marriage license to D.C. for U.S. Dept. of State certification.

04/26/06 – Mailed I-600A form to USCIS (immigration). This begins the process of us being able to bring a foreign child into the U.S.

05/02/06 – Randy hand-delivered our FL documents to the Sec of State in Tallahasse and had all 8 of them state certified! Also, received the NC docs back from the U.S. State dept. Big progress today!

05/05/06 – Sent our NC and NJ documents to their respective couriers in New York city and Washington D.C. for authentication at the chinese consulates.

05/06/06 – Our passports arrived! I wasn’t expecting them until the 10th!

05/11/06 – Sent 8 of our FL docs (all except HS report and I-171H, which we don’t have yet) to the courier in Houston for authentication at the consulate.  Which means, all of our existing docs are “out there” being authenticated!  I’ll be happy when they’re back, safe and sound!

05/12/06 – Big day :) Had our last visit with our social worker today. He said he would have the report to us early next week! We also received our FIRST completed document from the Chinese consulate in NY. The document was my birth certificate and it’s now ready for the dossier.  Our FL documents arrived at the courier in Houston today, and I got confirmation that our NC documents are on their way back to us from the Chinese consulate in Washington, DC.

05/15/06 – Received our NC docs back from the Houston consulate. That makes a total of 3 sealed documents ready for the dossier! Still waiting on the 8 from the Houston consulate, our home study report, and the I-171H form.

05/17/06 – We received the rough draft copy of our Home Study report. It’s been reviewed by the dossier dept. at our adoption agency and by the social worker’s supervisor in Tampa, FL.  We also checked it against the dossier guide (which helps us make sure our documents are suitable for China). We sent a few changes to the social worker.   After he makes those changes, he’ll send the final copy to the supervisor in Tampa. She’ll sign it and and get it notarized.  She’ll then send it to our agency, who will send us 2 copies (1 for the dossier and 1 for us) and will also send it to immigration.  Whew!

05/19/06 – Received our 8 FL documents back from the Chinese consulate in Houston, all appropriately authenticated!! That makes 11 docs sealed and ready to go.

05/22/06 – Heard from CCAI today that our Home Study was received by them. They?sent 2 copies to us (one for us, one for the dossier) and they sent 1 copy to USCIS (immigration). I *should* get our letter asking us to get fingerprinted in about a week!

05/24/06 – Final Home Study report received!  We’ll hold onto it until the I-171H comes in and then send them together for state certification and consulate authentication.

06/03/06 – Received Fingerprint Notification letters from USCIS. These letters give us permission to go get fingerprinted by immigration, which will lead to us receiving the I-171H form.

06/06/06 – Went to the Jax USCIS today and had our fingerprints taken! Now, the wait is on for the I-171H!

06/21/06 – It arrived! 11 business days after fingerprinting, and the I-171H is here. It’s off to be notarized, certified (Randy will take it himself to the sec. of state in Tallahassee tomorrow) and then off to the consulate in Houston.? We’re almost done with our paperchasing!!

06/22/06 – I-171H and home study report are now state certified.  Package is ready to send to courier tomorrow for authentication at the Houston consulate.

06/28/06 – Big Day! Last 2 docs arrived back from Houston, properly authenticated by the consulate.  Made copies, double and triple checked everything, then sent our Dossier to CCAI in colorado via Fed-ex! It will arrive tomorrow! Now, the countdown to DTC (“dossier to China”…the date they send it to China) and LID (“Log in Date”…the date that our dossier is officially logged in to China’s system…and the date that puts us in line for being matched with a baby) begins.

06/29/06 – Dossier arrived at CCAI on 9:54am! Got the email confirming they received it. :)

07/14/06 – Got the email from Amanda in the Dossier dept…we made it through! NO MISTAKES!! CR took only 11 days!

07/19/06 – Got another exciting email today! We’re DTC as of 7/18/06!! Now we’re waiting on that LID to come asap :)

07/24/06 – Jack Song, in the CCAI dossier and China department, emailed to say that our dossier arrived today at the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) in Beijing, China!

08/02/06 – Another email from Jack Song! I’m starting to really like this guy.  We have our official LID!? 8/1/06!  So, this means our dossier is logged into the CCAA system, and we’re officially “Paper Pregnant” and in line for a referral! Very happy day!!

09/13/06 – 6 months since we received our approval from CCAI to adopt! That went by fast…

10/01/06 – 2 months since LID! Current wait time from LID to Referral is 14 months.

10/10/06 – Received the infamous “Brown Envelope” from Guangzhou, China! It’s officially from the US Consulate there and will be the paperwork that we eventually fill out to receive Lainey’s Visa to enter the US. We are told to just keep it in a safe place to bring with us to China.  Makes me feel like things ARE moving along during this long wait!

10/20/06 – Ladybug sighting! A little orange ladybug landed on Marley’s leg at the boy’s baseball game tonight.

10/27/06 – Made the decision today to fill out the Medical Condition Checklist. We will fax this over to CCAI, and if they receive a Waiting Child’s file that matches our criteria, we will be able to review her file!

10/30/06 – Faxed the MCC over to CCAI today.

11/3 – 11/4/06 – Attended the CCAI Reunion in Orlando, FL. Saw SO many adorable little Chinese girls.  Makes us miss Lainey!

11/30/06 – 1 Month since sending in the MCC for a Waiting Child!

12/1/06 – 4 Months since LID

1/30/07 – 3 Months since sending in MCC

2/1/07 – 6 Months since LID

2/8/07 – Ladybug sighting at church…crawling on the outside of my truck door, he greeted me as I was getting ready to leave church.  Marley returned him safely to the grass.  I love seeing those little guys.

3/1/07 – 7 Months since LID

3/2/07 – 4 Months since sending in MCC (although, we actually sent it in 10/30, but there’s no “30” in February!) Our guesstimate for a referral is “spring or summer”. June, maybe?

3/8/07 – See 3/8/06…it’s been 1 year since sending in our application to CCAI!

5/30/07 – 7 months since sending in MCC…next list should be due out in July. Will Lainey be on it???

6/1/07 – 10 months since LID!

6/30/07 – 8 months since sending in MCC…CCAI currently has a new Waiting Child list as of mid-June. No call yet!

7/1/07 – 11 months since LID!

7/30/07 – 9 months since sending in MCC…did not receive referral from the June list (obviously!). Hoping for a new list in August. Prediction!? Referral before September?

8/1/07 – 1 YEAR since LID!

8/30/07 – 10 months since sending in MCC…a new list of waiting children was announced yesterday, and calls are expected this week and next. I’m trying to breathe.

9/27/07 – According to the CCAA website, our dossier is OUT OF REVIEW!!? Woo hoo!

9/30/07 – 11 months since sending in MCCs. We’ve waited way past the average wait for a SN referral (they quote around 8 months wait). They’re waiting for a new list of children. Praying Lainey is on the list.

10/1/07 – 1 Year, 2 months since LID

11/7/07 – Sent all re-file paperwork to CCAI for our new I-171H.

11/16/07 – The phone FINALLY rang!!? REFERRAL!!!! Ling Qing Qin, age 16 months, b-day 7/4/06. Repaired CL, un-repaired CP, small hemangioma on her back.  We’re in love!

11/21/07 – LOI paperwork sent to China! (updated information on her was requested on 11/5)

12/4/07 – Home Study update finished and mailed to USCIS (for re-file)

12/5/07 – Received Home Study update copy (will save to take to China with us)

12/6/07 – Re-file paperwork received by Jax USCIS (should receive notice to re-submit our fingerprints in 2-3 weeks)

12/13/07 – Received Home Study addendum copy  (will save to take to China with us)

12/21/07 – Pre-Approval!!! (PA)

12/31/07 – LOA!!!! Estimate for travel is mid February!

1/5/08 – Update on Lainey from the Bengbu CWI!

1/7/08 – Fingerprints re-done at Homeland Security office

2/13/08 – Travel to Lainey!