Sorry to leave you hanging ...

I've had so many people asking, "When are you going back?" The honest answer is that we do not know ... not exactly, anyway. We had been told that we would probably go back in November, but we didn't want to get our hopes up.

A little about the process ... after we signed off on our referral indicating that we intended to adopt Addison {we did this while we were still in St. Petersburg}, the paperwork had to be sent to Moscow to be processed. We were told this could take weeks before it would be sent back to St. Petersburg.

Well ... today we found out that the paperwork is back from Moscow and we are ready to have a court date assigned. We are praying that our coordinator in Russia can get us a court date quickly ... please jump on that prayer bandwagon! I'm hoping to get there and be home by Thanksgiving, but that could be pushing it. We'll see ...

Dossier Status: Part III

We are happy to announce that our paperwork was filed in Russia today and now we wait for an invitation to travel. We are getting close!

Dossier Status: Part II

Just got word that our dossier was not filed today either. Maybe tomorrow.

Dossier Status: Part I

Our dossier was not filed today, so hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday. We should have an idea of when we will travel shortly after that ... as of right now, we are thinking it will probably be in September!

Breathe. Breathe.

Apostille {Paperwork Update}

Definition: Since most documents are only recognized in the country where they were originally issued, in 1961 a treaty was signed by many countries to provide mutual recognition of documents. In the United States, an apostille is provided by the Deputy Secretary of State of all the individual states.

Pronunciation: uh-pos-til

Our paperwork is currently in the hands of the Virginia Secretary of State being apostilled. Yay! After it is sent back to our agency, it will be sent off for translation and then it will be sent off to Russia! From there we will wait for an invitation to travel.

USCIS Status {sort of}

Thanks to delivery confirmation, I know USCIS received our I-600A on 6/4/08. I just realized today that on 6/10/08, our check was cashed by USCIS. Progress! I know that seems so silly, but at least I know our application has been processed. I honestly have been sitting here wondering if it was sitting in a pile of mail somewhere waiting to be opened. I guess not!

Edited to add: When I got home today, we had a letter from USCIS waiting for us. It basically was just acknowledgement that they received our I-600A and that they are waiting on our home study, surprise, surprise. Now I'm bummed at the delay all over again.

USCIS

Today we mailed off our USCIS I-600A, which is the application for advance processing of an orphan petition. USCIS is notorious for delays, so we are hoping for the best. We included a cover letter with our application telling them that we are in the process of adoption a child with special needs, essentially hoping to pull on some heart strings and have them kick it into high gear. Sigh ... we shall see.

Things are going smooth

I have such a good feeling about our adoption today. Things just seem to be falling into place with our paperwork, and we are less than a week into it. I have read stories about families having trouble with the simplest things, like getting their doctor to write a letter attesting to their health. I dropped off our medical forms today and requested a letter from the kids' pediatrician ... I had all of them back in my hands within hours ... amazing! I think God is definitely on our side! :)

The Paper Chase Begins

We have completed the application for adoption, the home study application and the financial statement to send off to our agency, Cradle of Hope. Now the real fun begins ... paperwork, paperwork, paperwork!