Home Study

I got a call from Dick today saying we didn't put down how much we had left on our mortgage when we updated in January. Hmm, I thought we had filled out everything. He's working on the home study and will hopefully have it ready for me to pick up tomorrow.

Elegance of the Qing Court

Brad, Tammy and Mia came to church with us on April 27, 2008. We went to eat Val's buffet and then they and I went to the Joslyn Museum's exhibit of The Elegance of the Qing Court. It was family fun day and everything was FREE! We like FREE! We had a good time and learned a lot!

We saw the end of the Tai Chi demonstration and then the Lion Dancers from Lincoln performed. They were the same group that performed at the Chinese New Year Celebration in February. We also heard a girl playing the Chinese harp. Very pretty music. The exhibit itself was very interesting, especially the explanation of how they did lacquer. They had a multi-paneled room divider that was lacquered and VERY ornately carved. Of course, they had the vases and clothes and a display of belt buckles! A Chinese children's group performed music and poetry which we did not get in on. I had my name written in Chinese characters and Mia made a hat.

China Program Update - 4/25/08

We received another China Program Update today. CHI received travel approvals for 8 Waiting Children families. Waiting Children are essentially "special needs" children which can include children with minor (or major) medical needs (most of which are easily corrected in the US), or older children that have not found a forever family yet.

Home Study

Talked to Dick today and among other things asked about how long it takes to write the home study because I just don't know and I want to know about how long it will be until it gets to USCIS. We can't get our fingerprint appointment until they have the home study. He said that he was quite busy and once he can get to it and not have any interruptions, it will only take about a day since he has our previous home studies to copy and paste from. He has to follow the format that is layed out by CHI, too.

So, that gives me an idea of how long we have to wait for the next step.

USCIS Form

We received a reply from USCIS on April 7, 2008, that we can fill out the form noted in their letter when we come for the fingerprint appointment.

On April 10, 2008, we met with Dick for our last face-to-face meeting to complete the Home Study. Now we are waiting for it to be completed and be sent to USCIS so we can get our fingerprint appointment.

More USCIS and Medical Reports

On April 2, 2008, we received an email from USCIS asking us to complete a survey about our experience at the USCIS office.

I picked up our medical reports and the doctors' statements on April 4, 2008. I was going to go after work but they close at 4 pm so I ran up there over lunch time. It was a good thing I did that because the person doing the notarizing wanted me to look over everything to make sure it was all filled in and correct. There were some measurements missing so she had the doctor fill it all in and then we were good to go. I made copies to give to Dick because the Home Study has to match all the other paperwork.

China Program Update - 4/4/08

We received the CHI China Program Update email today. They received 7 China referrals, all little girls. These families waited 27 months for their referrals.