Monday I spent all day finishing up paperwork.
I had to make copies of everything, then mail all our documents, except for the I-800A to the US State Department in DC. I also had to enclose an envelope so they could forward the documents to the Chinese Embassy, plus another prepaid envelope so they can return everything to us. I was paranoid I would put the wrong address on the wrong envelope, I checked everything 10 times.
Then I mailed the I-800A to the VA state department, I have already done this with the other documents. Once we get that back we will hand deliver it to DC to be authenticated in a day.
I would love to have everything back so we could be DTC by next Friday, but I am not sure if that will happen. Our adoption agency only sends dossiers to China on Friday's so if not I will have to wait another week.
It was so hard to send my documents off and entrust them to the USPS - praying for there safe return without them there is no Lily.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
FINEALLY !!!!!!
WAHOO !!!!
We have out I-800A :)
This is the last document we needed so that we could be DTC (dossier to China). We now just have to send all our documents to the Chinese embassy, and US consulate to be authenticated then, it can all go to China.
Lily - we are one step closer to you :).
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On another note I just wanted to say that I am married to the most amazing man.
We have just returned from a lovely romantic weekend away, he planned everything, it was all a surprise. We had such an amazing time, it meant so much to just focus on one another, with no other distractions. Just what we needed with number four on the way. It is so important to take those times together, and it doesn't have to be a weekend away, or even a night out, sometimes it is just 30min, alone with no interruptions, where all your attention is on each other. I have to be honest I am not always very good at making that a priority - but my hubby is, and knows how important it is to the strength of our marriage, and consequently to the strength of our family. He is constantly reminding me of this. our marriage comes before our children - this is a hard one for us moms to get - but it's true, I just need to be reminded frequently :).
I have to give a HUGE thank you to my amazing sister, Emma and brother-in-law, Chad who took all our kids for 2 nights - love you guys.
We have out I-800A :)
This is the last document we needed so that we could be DTC (dossier to China). We now just have to send all our documents to the Chinese embassy, and US consulate to be authenticated then, it can all go to China.
Lily - we are one step closer to you :).
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On another note I just wanted to say that I am married to the most amazing man.
We have just returned from a lovely romantic weekend away, he planned everything, it was all a surprise. We had such an amazing time, it meant so much to just focus on one another, with no other distractions. Just what we needed with number four on the way. It is so important to take those times together, and it doesn't have to be a weekend away, or even a night out, sometimes it is just 30min, alone with no interruptions, where all your attention is on each other. I have to be honest I am not always very good at making that a priority - but my hubby is, and knows how important it is to the strength of our marriage, and consequently to the strength of our family. He is constantly reminding me of this. our marriage comes before our children - this is a hard one for us moms to get - but it's true, I just need to be reminded frequently :).
I have to give a HUGE thank you to my amazing sister, Emma and brother-in-law, Chad who took all our kids for 2 nights - love you guys.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Miracles
Now that we have seen Lilly's face, the desire to want to just jump on a plane and go get her is overwhelming at times. For those of you who have experienced the adoption journey you know just what I mean.
We still need to complete our paperwork and be DTC (dossier to China), your dossier is all the necessary documents you need to adopt. We are only waiting on one official document and that is our I-800A, which is the US immmigration approval to adopt a foreign born child. To do this we have to be fingerprinted at our USCIS office, which for us is in Norfolk VA, a 2 hr drive. We had recieved an appointment for Feb 12th at 8am, but this was just not working out for us. When it comes to the paperwork if it is in my control then I want to make it happen NOW - some things are out of my control and I just have to learn PATIENCE and wait on others - not so easy at times.
So my plan, drive down to the office and just see if they will do it for us - hay it worked for Adeye. This weekend we had 14inch of snow, so I was a little worried on Monday that the office would be closed, you can't call them directly so I called the 1800 number - Yah NO CLOSINGS for weather. So off we went, kids and all, for a little road trip - we got there and guess what? A big sign on the door saying
CLOSED FOR SNOW
What!!!!! So reluctuntly we turned around and made the journey home - a little disappointed wasn't this supposed to work????
Then we had a choice do we forgot about it and resolve to wait for our scheduled appointment, or do we try again tomorrow the last free day we would have before our appointment. Of coarse I wanted to jump right in the car and go again, but life is busy and there was planty of things we could be doing with that valuble time, so without even trying to influence his decision I asked Chris to decide and what ever he felt was right to do, I would be OK with (yah right :)). Much to my relief and joy without hesitation, he said - LETS GO, if it means our daughter may get here sooner, then there isn't even a question - I love this man.
So off we went for a second time, praying to God that we would have favor. As we drove down I ran through all the conviencing arguments I would use to persuade the officials to do this for us - and I had some good ones, including bringing Mia in to make a plea for her sister.
Well we arrived and walked straight in - thare was NO one else there, a man walked up to us asked if we had an appointment - I said no, but was hoping we could get them done today - and before I could start on my list of heart wrenching reasons he just said SURE and we were in and out of there in ten minutes. The interesting part was that he said it had been VERY busy all day because of being closed the day before, but now it was empty so no problem - MIRACLE !!!
WOW so easy - God moved on our behalf and He didn't even need me(and all my conviencing arguments) He just made it happen, because he desires to see Lilly safe and loved, just as much as we do.
We still need to complete our paperwork and be DTC (dossier to China), your dossier is all the necessary documents you need to adopt. We are only waiting on one official document and that is our I-800A, which is the US immmigration approval to adopt a foreign born child. To do this we have to be fingerprinted at our USCIS office, which for us is in Norfolk VA, a 2 hr drive. We had recieved an appointment for Feb 12th at 8am, but this was just not working out for us. When it comes to the paperwork if it is in my control then I want to make it happen NOW - some things are out of my control and I just have to learn PATIENCE and wait on others - not so easy at times.
So my plan, drive down to the office and just see if they will do it for us - hay it worked for Adeye. This weekend we had 14inch of snow, so I was a little worried on Monday that the office would be closed, you can't call them directly so I called the 1800 number - Yah NO CLOSINGS for weather. So off we went, kids and all, for a little road trip - we got there and guess what? A big sign on the door saying
CLOSED FOR SNOW
What!!!!! So reluctuntly we turned around and made the journey home - a little disappointed wasn't this supposed to work????
Then we had a choice do we forgot about it and resolve to wait for our scheduled appointment, or do we try again tomorrow the last free day we would have before our appointment. Of coarse I wanted to jump right in the car and go again, but life is busy and there was planty of things we could be doing with that valuble time, so without even trying to influence his decision I asked Chris to decide and what ever he felt was right to do, I would be OK with (yah right :)). Much to my relief and joy without hesitation, he said - LETS GO, if it means our daughter may get here sooner, then there isn't even a question - I love this man.
So off we went for a second time, praying to God that we would have favor. As we drove down I ran through all the conviencing arguments I would use to persuade the officials to do this for us - and I had some good ones, including bringing Mia in to make a plea for her sister.
Well we arrived and walked straight in - thare was NO one else there, a man walked up to us asked if we had an appointment - I said no, but was hoping we could get them done today - and before I could start on my list of heart wrenching reasons he just said SURE and we were in and out of there in ten minutes. The interesting part was that he said it had been VERY busy all day because of being closed the day before, but now it was empty so no problem - MIRACLE !!!
WOW so easy - God moved on our behalf and He didn't even need me(and all my conviencing arguments) He just made it happen, because he desires to see Lilly safe and loved, just as much as we do.
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