From D.C. to Beijing

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Corrected INS form

Last night we got our new and improved INS form! I still cannot believe how fast it came. I had heard horror stories about the Fairfax office and our experience with them has been nothing but FANTASTIC!!!

We have a courier who is going to notarize our 171 and get it authenticated in D.C. then to the State Dept and off to the Chinese consulate. She will be doing this either Friday or Tuesday. This is great news because now N and I do not have to take Friday off and got to D.C.

We should be DTC by September 15. Our agency mails them every other Friday. It is too bad we will miss the one tomorrow because cutie will be 16 months old on Friday!

Once we are DTC we can ask for an update. We should also travel sometime between end of December and end of January we hope.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

INS update

N called the INS worker over adoptions and she was very nice and said they were correcting the form and sending a new one today I believe!!!

So on Friday we will take it and get it notarized in DC and then authenticated.

We will try to get the State Department and Chinese consulate if possible and then we should be DTC by the end of September.

School today for both N and I and I am NOT loving it. I am so tired of school. I have been trying to graduate from college since fall 1993. GRR that makes me sick to just type it.

We also had to call the doctor to write out that we had a TB test and it was negative. We hope to have this in the next day or two!

Monday, August 28, 2006

We got it !!!!

We got our INS approval!!!
They started our application on 8/7/2006
We got fingerprinted on 8/15/2006
They processed it on 8/23/2006!!

And we got it today!

Now the bad news is ......They have our address wrong on the form and I am trying to see what we need to do about this or how to correct it. If it is easy to fix we could be DTC by the end of September and if not well then who knows.

So just like everything N and I touch a little good news and a heap of bad lol.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Pictures of Hohhot

Another person going to Inner Mongolia to adopt found some pictures of where we will be going.

Pictures of Hohhot

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Fingerprinting done!


N and I went to the Alexandria INS today and got our fingerprints done! This makes background check number 6 but hey who's counting anymore!

We are so excited. I know that in this area it can take 2-4 months to get approval but someone recently got approval in 3 weeks!! So we ask you all to keep us in your prayers so that we will get approval soon.

Ok I found the most adorable bed for Evie but we will not get it until we move and she has her own room but it is sooo cute and pink!!!


We will be looking and get her one of the smaller plastic toddler beds first because of space issues.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Shoes

Ok I know I keep posting but well...I have a good excuse. I am out of school and I am bored! I know I complain about being tired of school but to be honest I like the routine. I also like that it keeps me too busy to think about what I am about to post........

SHOES!!!

Ok I know it sounds crazy but it is really starting to bother me. We hope Evie will be home sometime this winter and well its cold and snowy here in the winter. And she has no shoes!!!

I mean people have told me that in her age group she could wear size 5, 6 or 7 shoes!! How am I going to bring shoes to China if I have no idea what size to get?!!?

Now please...........I know to those of you who gave birth to your children this sounds well....hmm it sounds kind of crazy and guess what?!! You are right it is crazy. I mean we can always buy her some shoes IN China. I can take her to a store and point to her little feet and I am sure that they will understand me. But I think this need for shoes is a manifestation of my need to control what little I can in this situation. I mean ever moment that passes she gets a little older and I miss out on her as a baby. I mean she is now 15.5 months old. I know she will be more than 20 months when we go to China and it breaks my heart to miss out on her being a baby.

Friday, August 11, 2006

Little girl clothes!!!!


Ok I have to confess that I have bought many many many clothes for our sweet little Evie! I swear I cannot help myself!!

I am so in love with Baby Lulu and Baby Gap and Gymboree!!!!

Oh my word they make the most adorable baby clothes ever!!

I told N I am going to start posting all of the cutie clothes on the blog and he looked at me like I had 3 heads LOL!!

I have been getting most of them at yard sales and well I score the most delicious Baby Lulu dress from Ebay!!

I have bought mostly 2T with a few 18 months sizes. Because we could travel any time from January to March and well the last update we have she was 1.5 months and weighted 7.7lbs and was 20.1 inches we have no idea what size she will wear!

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Its time to put the gloves on!

N and I got not only our authentications back from Virginia which was amazing! They received it on Friday and we got it back yesterday!!!!

We also got our invitation to be fingerprinted!!!!! We cannot have any burns or cuts on our fingers or we will have to wait!! So the appointment is on Aug 15 at 8:00 am and until then there will be no cooking and no sharp objects including paper!!

The letter we received stated it could take up to 9 weeks to get the 171H. N and I are hoping we will have it by the end of September so that we can be DTC by the end of October!

Just for fun!

These are all of the states I think I have been to. not sure about N!



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Home study

We got our home study today!! All nice and notarized with the license attached!

We are now going to fed ex our I-600a form to the INS and send our documents to the state of Virginia to be authenticated!

I cannot even begin to tell you the troubles we have had to this point. To be honest on Monday after the new set of trouble began I was ready to give up! The insane amount of obstacles we faced made me feel as if we were not meant to adopt this baby and to be honest I still feel a huge amount of doubt. Not really sure what we are going to do yet but at this point I told N I was going to apply to grad school for Fall 2007 because it really feels as if we will never have a child.

I also finished all of my finals today!!!

And the heat is crazy here and it is making people a bit crazy!!

We will post all of the terrible things that have happened in a few day that have made this adoption journey and nightmare! Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I could find the support I need. N of course just keeps plodding along. He has such an easy going attitude....hmmm must be why I adore him so much!