The fingerprint saga hopefully will be over today

My father-in-law goes today to get his fingerprints redone. Please say a prayer that it passes. We are told we are in for a 4-6 week from the time our homestudy was went in. Homestudy sent in on June 7th. So.......Maybe mid July if we are lucky....

crossing all fingers and saying a prayer...

Jen

The baby....

I have been trying to picture our baby. Bill and I refer to the baby as Ming. We called Emily, Sam I am when she was in my tummy. We read her Dr. Seuss books while I was pregnant and she would kick all the time to Green Eggs and Ham.

I really think we will be referred a girl but we have left the door open for a boy. The one bad thing about this is I cannot BUY anything clothes related. One -- we don't know the size and Two -- we don't know if Ming will be a boy or girl. At least shopping would keep me occupied!!!

We still need to work on the baby's room. Once our paperwork is done that is our next step. We need to get a contractor out to dry wall the room (there is paneling up in the baby's room with no drywall behind it).

The baby's name will either be Patricia (We will call her Tricia) or Patrick (leaning towards call him Ricky). The baby will be named after Bill's mom who passed away over 5 years ago. The middle name will probably be their Chinese given name.

Jen

The Wait.....

Currently, the wait for a referral is almost at 12 months from the time the paperwork is in China. Our agency states it could go longer 14 months. China doesn't have enough paper ready babies, plus the CCAA (the gov't agency in China that handles adoptions) is in the process of moving. There was also a Hunan Baby Trafficking scandal that shut down several orphanages in the Hunan Province.

I have been reading about wait times. They go up and they go down. Just like a rollercoaster. We are now in the up period. Maybe by the time, we get to referral it will be a shorter period. CCAA has told the agencies they want the wait not to exceed 12 months. Or at least that is what the rumor is.

My best hope is that by Christmas 2007 we are home with the baby. This is my worst case scenerio that I have accepted as of right now.

Jen

Update 6/15/2006

It has been a bit since I have updated. My paperchasing has slowed down to a crawl. We are almost done. We were fingerprinted on May 19th. My inlaws needed to get fingerprinted as well since they live in our inlaw suite. Father-in-laws fingerprints were rejected. We found out about a week after May 19th. He needs to go get refingerprinted on June 22nd. This puts us back on getting the I171h (document needed from Homeland Security) about one month. I was very upset about it then in the big picture of things what is a month.

Our homestudy was finally turned into the agency. It took exactly 4 weeks from the date we completed it. They sure weren't in a rush. I'm not sure why it took so long. We were done on May 6th. It was mailed off to USCIS (homeland security) on June 7th. Homeland Security needs our application (filed in late April), fingerprinted (May 19th) and the Homestudy (June 7th). They won't approve us now until father-in-laws fingerprints clear. I hope they clear this time. Please say a prayer to the fingerprint gods!

I was hoping that our paperwork would be to China in July. At this point, it looks like August unless Homeland Security performs a miracle. Once I get the elusive 171H back I need to get it notarized, county sealed, state certified and Houston Chinese Consulate authenticated. Then we have to send everything to the agency. It takes 2 weeks for them to critical review it and then off to China.


Jen

Houston Chinese Consulate Documents Are Back

Our documents are back from Houston. They took exactly a week.

We go for our fingerprinting on Friday. That almost did not go smoothly. Bill and I received our appointments for the fingerprinting but Bill Sr and Gayle did not. They have to be fingerprinted as well because they are in our household and over the age of 18. I had to get a Congressman's office involved. I had a contact phone number from our agency. He worked his magic and voila we got their appointments as well. We just found out that we now need the Bill Sr and Gayles birth certicates for homeland security. We have Gayle's now but Bill Sr. I had to order express service from NY. Cost us $75! I should have it next week. We need send that into Homeland Security by June 8th or we have to start the process all over again. Let's all hope that we get the birth certificate from NY.

Our homestudy is almost done. We should have a factual check back to us by Monday then off to CCAI for approval on Wednesday. Once that is done we send that off to Homeland Security and then we wait for the elusive I-171H to arrive. This document (along with the home study) needs to be notarized, county certified, state sealed, consulate authenticated. Then we get to send everything off to CCAI (our agency) for critical review and off to China. Then the wait begins.

I shouldn't be reading any websites. It is getting discouraging. The wait will be long. I have seen anywhere from 12 to 18 months to as high as 24 months. I am prepared for a 12-15 month wait. I'm not sure on the 24 month wait. The next few months will give an indication on how quickly China is matching children.

Jen

NY Consulate Documents Back!

Breathing a sign of relief. We got our two documents back from NY in record time. Things seem to be moving. Our homestudy is done. It should be typed up for review by Friday.

Fingerprinting is next!

Jen

Documents off to the Consulates

Our last documents that we have done are now off to the Houston Consulate. All that is left is the homestudy and getting the I-171H from Homeland Security. Homestudy will be complete on Saturday. I have been told it takes a week to write then we get a copy in draft format to check. Once the homestudy is complete the agency sends it to Homeland Security and they will issue the I-171H (we still need to get fingerprinted for this as well, we are waiting for an appt). Once we get those two documents back (homestudy and I-171H), I need to get them notarized, county certified, state sealed and then off to Houston Chinese Consulate. Then we are done.

We are shooting for our documents to go to China in late July. Please pray that all goes well there.

Jen