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I have had a lot of people emailing me and asking about how our adoption is going, so I thought I would give you an update. I hope that by having others follow along on our adoption journey for Solomon by sharing our steps of the process, our experiences and our emotions, it will help give some of you out there an idea of what the adoption process can be like.
I know adoptive parents love time lines, so here is our time line so far:
Aug. 10, 2007 – Decided to adopt Tsega at AHOPE, and called AAI to verbally commit to him.
Aug. 13, 2007 – Got application packet from AAI.
Aug. 14, 2007 – Sent completed application packet back to AAI.
Aug. 18, 2007 – Got packet from homestudy agency for homestudy update.
Aug. 20, 2007 – Got next packet of paperwork from AAI.
Aug. 21, 2007 – Sent completed paper work back to AAI along with first portion of fees.
Aug. 25, 2007 – Got dossier packet from AAI.
Aug. 27, 2007 – Sent completed dossier and next portion of fees back to AAI. Also sent one document to Wyoming Secretary of State office and one document to Washington Secretary of State office for authentication, with prepaid envelopes to have the documents sent on to AAI once authenticated.
Aug. 30, 2007 – Filed I600A appplication with USCIS
Sept. 13 and 14 – Homestudy visits with social worker
Sept. 26 – Homestudy completed and faxed to AAI. Homestudy was approved that day by AAI, and was sent on to our state/USCIS by our homestudy agency.
Sept. 27 – Fingerprinted for I600A application.
Oct. 4, 2007 – Received official referral for Tsega.
Oct. 5, 2007 – Sent AAI completed placement agreement along with welcome bag for Tsega.
Oct. 8, 2007 – Dossier was sent to Ethiopia.
And now we are waiting on court news. We believe that our case was submitted to court on Nov. 7 with Group Y, but we are awaiting confirmation on that. We should be hearing about our court date very soon (actually our agency thought we would hear by now). We are expecting a court date sometime in December, and then we have been told we should travel three to four weeks after that, assuming our case makes it through court the first time around.
We are still waiting for our I171H, the approval to our I600A application. We need this before we can travel. Our office is slow as mud, but we’re nearing the time frame that we should be receiving it soon (although “should” doesn’t mean much when you are dealing with USCIS).
I feel like we are getting down to the end of things which is exciting, and yet at the same time I have anxiety over the court process and we are having some complications with child care for when we travel, but we will figure it out.
I have gathered everything on my packing list and have it in piles in the huge closet in one of the boys’ rooms. I have clothes ready for Solomon. I am itching to get his bed set up. I am so ready for him!
We have gotten quite a few pictures of him lately from travelers which really helps with the waiting. It is so good to see him looking so healthy. We also keep hearing though that he is somewhat shy and withdrawn with visitors and that he really seems to need someone to come love him. That is hard to hear when we are so anxious to do just that.
I am very grateful that it is Thanksgiving this week and that the Christmas season is upon us as they serve as very good distractions. I am hoping time flies by!
I will share news on our court process as soon as we hear something definite.
