(The following post was written in a notebook but not actually posted on the blog until we received our referral because we didn’t tell our family that we were in process. We waited until we had the referral for our son before we published on the blog because we wanted to do this “covertly” and have it be a surprise to as many people as possible.)
I took the last hour off work and drove to Lincoln AGAIN to get the last two documents state certified. I drove back to Omaha and had sometime before the dinner that our office was taking us out to (for Administrative Professionals week) so I stopped at Office Max and made copies of everything that I didn’t have copies of and another copy of everything for the Chinese Embassy. I then went to meet everyone for dinner. Very good, very filling – A LOT OF FOOD! I brought lots home.
When I got home I collated all the copies together. Then, after Meighan went to bed, we got it all together and Tony made the FedEx envelopes for outbound and return to send it to the courier in DC to be authenticated by the U.S. Dept of State and the Embassy of China!
We’ll look it over one more time tomorrow before we seal it up!
WHEW! As I said before…NO ONE ADOPTS BY ACCIDENT! It is a very purposeful and deliberate way to build a family!
Friday, May 13, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
To Lincoln
(The following post was written in a notebook but not actually posted on the blog until we received our referral because we didn’t tell our family that we were in process. We waited until we had the referral for our son before we published on the blog because we wanted to do this “covertly” and have it be a surprise to as many people as possible.)
We received the I-797 (fingerprint approval) form on May 6 and got it copied and notarized. Today, I took a couple hours in the middle of the day and drove to Lincoln to get it all state certified. They couldn’t certify the two medical forms because the notary wasn’t quite right. They gave me a couple forms for the notary to fill out. Geez! How many “hiccups” does there have to be?
We received the I-797 (fingerprint approval) form on May 6 and got it copied and notarized. Today, I took a couple hours in the middle of the day and drove to Lincoln to get it all state certified. They couldn’t certify the two medical forms because the notary wasn’t quite right. They gave me a couple forms for the notary to fill out. Geez! How many “hiccups” does there have to be?
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Again, WHAT?
(The following post was written in a notebook but not actually posted on the blog until we received our referral because we didn’t tell our family that we were in process. We waited until we had the referral for our son before we published on the blog because we wanted to do this “covertly” and have it be a surprise to as many people as possible.)
We received an envelope from the Department of Homeland Security today. Could it be our I-797 already? Nope! They need more “evidence.” They requested our marriage license (proof of marriage) and both birth certificates (proof of citizenship) within 45 DAYS! Ha! I got our extra copies (I KNEW there was a reason I ordered extras!), stuck them in an envelope with the letter (as requested) and we’ll drop it in a mailbox later today before the last pick up. They should receive it by Tuesday or Wednesday. Apparently we were supposed to include these when we sent our I-800A form. Oh, well.
We received an envelope from the Department of Homeland Security today. Could it be our I-797 already? Nope! They need more “evidence.” They requested our marriage license (proof of marriage) and both birth certificates (proof of citizenship) within 45 DAYS! Ha! I got our extra copies (I KNEW there was a reason I ordered extras!), stuck them in an envelope with the letter (as requested) and we’ll drop it in a mailbox later today before the last pick up. They should receive it by Tuesday or Wednesday. Apparently we were supposed to include these when we sent our I-800A form. Oh, well.
Monday, April 25, 2011
USCIS Fingerprints
(The following post was written in a notebook but not actually posted on the blog until we received our referral because we didn’t tell our family that we were in process. We waited until we had the referral for our son before we published on the blog because we wanted to do this “covertly” and have it be a surprise to as many people as possible.)
We had our USCIS Fingerprinting appointments today. My appointment was for 11:00 am and Tony’s was for 12 noon. We got there early and were driving out of the parking lot at 11:09!
An interesting thing is that someone from Holt told me recently that the form we are to get after our fingerprinting is taking 8 weeks. One of the other couples from our parenting class was fingerprinted on April 11 and they got their form last Friday – LESS THAN 2 WEEKS LATER! Cool!
So, if the wait time is cut in fourths we could have our dossier to Holt within a month! VERY COOL! I’m being told not to get my hopes up, but… I think it’s TIME for things to start moving faster since we had about a 3-month delay last year (with the “water thing” and my needing to get a job).
Now…I am working on the photos and other papers we’ll need to send along with our dossier (things that don’t have to be notarized, etc.) so we’ll be READY!!!!
We had our USCIS Fingerprinting appointments today. My appointment was for 11:00 am and Tony’s was for 12 noon. We got there early and were driving out of the parking lot at 11:09!
An interesting thing is that someone from Holt told me recently that the form we are to get after our fingerprinting is taking 8 weeks. One of the other couples from our parenting class was fingerprinted on April 11 and they got their form last Friday – LESS THAN 2 WEEKS LATER! Cool!
So, if the wait time is cut in fourths we could have our dossier to Holt within a month! VERY COOL! I’m being told not to get my hopes up, but… I think it’s TIME for things to start moving faster since we had about a 3-month delay last year (with the “water thing” and my needing to get a job).
Now…I am working on the photos and other papers we’ll need to send along with our dossier (things that don’t have to be notarized, etc.) so we’ll be READY!!!!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
HAPPY EASTER!
Happy Easter to everyone! Hope you all are having fun celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord today! as well as finding lots of hidden eggs!
We have had a VERY busy weekend! Meighan had 2 egg hunts (at preschool and daycare) on Friday. Then yesterday we went to our church's Easter egg hunt and then to the Easter egg hunt at the Nebraska Children's Home! She fell asleep on the way home, and after I brought her into the house, I also got a little nap! All that between doing the laundry. Last night I prepared the parts of breakfast and dinner that I could prepare ahead of time (shred cheese, chop onions, measure corn flake crumbs, etc.) and actually got to bed at a decent time!
This morning there was no Sunday School so Meighan came to church with us. She does pretty well in church but, then again, she IS only 3! Two very interesting things happened in church today (besides the fact that they had to use overflow seating in the Family Life Center -- nice problem to have!). Meighan got a little Ty Beanie Lamb from the Easter bunny. She took it to church and at AMAZINGLY appropriate times during songs -- like at the end of "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" -- she would raise the lamb FAR above her head and hold it up for the world to see. I thought of it as raising Jesus up (since He is the Lamb of God). And she did it several times! I wondered if anyone behind us noticed that. The other thing that she did today was, while we were saying the Lord's Prayer, Tony was holding her and had told her earlier that it was prayer time. She closes her eyes and prays. When it was time to say the Lord's Prayer, she was saying the last words of phrases (that's about all she does of songs, too). I was watching her and her eyes were still closed and she was actually trying to say the Lord's Prayer along with all of us! Made tears come to my eyes seeing that! She's already learning to love the Lord! AND...she says AMEN! with GUSTO!
Following are some pictures of our egg coloring session on Friday night, egg hunts on Saturday and her in her pretty Easter dress. Enjoy!
We have had a VERY busy weekend! Meighan had 2 egg hunts (at preschool and daycare) on Friday. Then yesterday we went to our church's Easter egg hunt and then to the Easter egg hunt at the Nebraska Children's Home! She fell asleep on the way home, and after I brought her into the house, I also got a little nap! All that between doing the laundry. Last night I prepared the parts of breakfast and dinner that I could prepare ahead of time (shred cheese, chop onions, measure corn flake crumbs, etc.) and actually got to bed at a decent time!
This morning there was no Sunday School so Meighan came to church with us. She does pretty well in church but, then again, she IS only 3! Two very interesting things happened in church today (besides the fact that they had to use overflow seating in the Family Life Center -- nice problem to have!). Meighan got a little Ty Beanie Lamb from the Easter bunny. She took it to church and at AMAZINGLY appropriate times during songs -- like at the end of "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" -- she would raise the lamb FAR above her head and hold it up for the world to see. I thought of it as raising Jesus up (since He is the Lamb of God). And she did it several times! I wondered if anyone behind us noticed that. The other thing that she did today was, while we were saying the Lord's Prayer, Tony was holding her and had told her earlier that it was prayer time. She closes her eyes and prays. When it was time to say the Lord's Prayer, she was saying the last words of phrases (that's about all she does of songs, too). I was watching her and her eyes were still closed and she was actually trying to say the Lord's Prayer along with all of us! Made tears come to my eyes seeing that! She's already learning to love the Lord! AND...she says AMEN! with GUSTO!
Following are some pictures of our egg coloring session on Friday night, egg hunts on Saturday and her in her pretty Easter dress. Enjoy!
PAINTING eggs is WAY better than dying them in a cup!
Between songs before the church Easter egg hunt.
Hide it under a bush, oh no...!
What a haul!
At the Nebraska Children's Home
Pretty girl!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Happy Gotcha Day, Meighan!
Two years ago today we met our beautiful, smart, loving, fun, energetic, outgoing, helpful, happy, healthy, bouncy little girl for the first time. We knew our lives would never be the same, and we were right! This has been the most positive experience we could have ever asked for. We love you, Meighan!
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