Home Study -- 5/02/08

FINALLY!!! Our home study was submitted to USCIS in Louisville for approval.

I have tried to get an idea of how long they are currently taking.  I have seen one as little as 2 weeks up to 60 days and also heard it is taking 3 months!!!  I truly HOPE that it does not take 3 months for approval.  That would be excruciating.

We also sent the majority of our paperwork to  A Helping Hand (our placement agency) for review. I still have to have the home study notary - county certified and then I can send that  in.

We will be in Owensboro tomorrow - so I am planning on picking it up - the County Certification that is - while we are there.

We still need to get our family pictures taken to submit with our dossier.  Professional pictures are not required so you think this would be an easy task.  Not!! It is so hard lately to gather everyone at the same time for a picture.  I have asked for this for Mother's Day!!

We are working  (Repicci's Italian Ice) the BBQ festival this weekend in Owensboro.

So if you are close, come by and see us. :)

Pre Approval

YEA!! YEA!!

We have PA from the People's Republic of China!!

We received this on 4/23/08 - it was actually approved on 4/14/08.  

This means that we have been ok'd to pursue Aric's adoption.  Any ok from China is a WIN. 

It also means that we can send a Care Package to Aric.  This is in the works...

There are different online sites where you can pick out certain items to send to him. They also will translate a letter to him for you. Which is awesome.  The one we are going with is www.ladybugsnlove.com 

This form of care package is a bit different than what we got to do for Alex. We picked out all the stuff and sent with another family. It is nice to have this option.

Right now we are planning to send pictures of the family - and they will label them for us in Chinese as well, the letter, a Panda bear, some candy and nuts - which is for the other kiddos and nannies, a camera and maybe one more thing!!

It is really hard not to just open up the wallet and send everything they offer.  We are afraid that may be a bit overwhelming to do though.

Oh!! We are part of a Yahoo group for Chongqing Parents - this is for parents that have adopted and are currently adopting.  It is really neat to be able to see the place where Aric lives. There are a ton of pictures which we have scoured looking to see if they could possibly be Aric.  Some are from at least 2 years ago, so sadly I cannot be 100% certain any of them are Aric.  There are some real cuties in the pictures though!!  Anyway, there is an adoptive Mom that is picking up her child this week and offered to check on Aric. She has said she will send pictures.  That would be the ABSOLUTE BEST!!!

Very excited to get to do this!

Word on Home Study

Got an email that our home study is finished. The review at KAS is being done and we should be able to review.  Got an email with it today and cannot open it --- UGH-- on either computer.

So frustrating...

Sent an email back to our Social Worker this morning that we couldn't open it and still nothing.

Hoping for our chance to peek at it soon.

Then the HS must be reviewed by A Helping Hand our placement agency - then KAS will send to USCIS.

We are hurrying up to wait - I want us to begin our wait soooooon!!

Getting Closer to Completing our Home Study!

Ok... well this home study process is taking waaay looonger than I would like.  There have been some additional forms we have had to get. And we also had to get additional references, so it can't be helped.

I am hoping that this will be completed and sent to our placement agency THIS WEEK - then A Helping Hand will review it and granted there aren't any changes necessary they will send it on to USCIS and then we will begin the 2 - 3 month wait for approval from the US Government. They must give a family their approval before you are allowed to adopt internationally.  

Once we receive that approval we can then send our Dossier to China and get officially Logged In - and then the wait for their approval begins...  

We are currently waiting on Pre-Approval from China - which we are told sometimes they issue and sometimes they do not. I think we would like to get it though.  Just to let us know that we are on their radar, so to speak.  We sent in our Letter of Intent on 3/14/08.

In the spirit of our adoption & the fact that we are trying to "learn" some phrases in an effort to be able to communicate with Aric, I thought we should have a Mandarin Chinese Phrase for the Day so here is one for today- 

"I Love You" Wo Ai Ni - said like Whoa A Nee

Aric Wo Ai Ni -- we are going as fast as we can!!!! 

First Blog

Well.... we are adopting - again!!

It's a BOY!!  Aric Gabriel....  He is 4 years old and has one of the BEST smiles ever.

We learned about Aric at A Helping Hand Adoption Agency.

At this point we are doing simultaneous processes....  We are working on the Home Study - which is the starting point and compiling our documents for our dossier.

The day we first saw that beautiful smiling face 2/15/08

Our Date of  Official Referral is 3/06/08

We sent in our Letter Of Intent on 3/14/08

Awaiting Pre Approval (Current wait time is 20 days - feels longer)

We have sent in our USCIS paper work and have been fingerprinted - waiting on the completion of our Home Study.... COULD not happen fast enough for me!!