Another Step Down

Our Dossier has made it through the review room!! The last notice we received was that Dossiers dated through February 28, 2008 have been reviewed. Last week we were informed that Dossiers dated through April 30, 2009 have made it through. Ours is March of 2009. So this step matters and yet not really until we have a referral. It will mean us travelling a bit sooner because our original review has been done. Of course once we are matched, then our dossier has to be found and made sure that we qualify for the type of child we have been matched with. It really is good news because, to my knowlege, we had no questions regarding: health, income, family, or anything that would make us ineligible to adopt from China. WooHoo!

Last week, we had the privelege of being fingerprinted yet again for USCIS/DHS. This is to renew our immigration pre-approval because we have been approved for over 15 months and not filed for approval (meaning we haven't brought anyone into the country as an immediate family member). The whole experience was top notch, it's just the idea of all the redundancy, but you've heard that before! I thought we would have had our renewal already, but it has not come yet. Maybe someone has duplicated our fingerprints and is wreaking havoc and committing crimes?

Fingerprints

This photo was taken by Townline Lake at Ford-Lincoln Camp in August.

Today we got fingerprinted by the Unites States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). What started out with us being 40 minutes early, ironically turned into us being 5 minutes late. FYI--When heading South on Ind. Blvd at 7:30 a.m., one should remember that if, for any reason, you have to turn around and head back 5 miles North, that it will take you at least 3 times as long to get back. So, we find the place in an obscure corner of Hammond only to observe the small waiting line outside the door--they weren't even open yet. Two minutes later the desk guy opens up and starts YELLING directions in English to the 7 Mexicans in front of us. Just a little confusion for them. The whole ordeal took us about 8 minutes and we were back to business as usual. We are expecting to hear back from USCIS anywhere from 30 to 90 days from now. (Come on 30!!!) So we need this final paper to show China that we have been approved from the US to adopt abroad. Recently, with the implementing of the Hague Treaty, there have been a bunch of new procedures and the government agencies are trying to keep up with the new applications while still dealing with the old grandfathered ones. Crazy.

Deb & Dwayne