Mini-Update

It's been a while since I've blogged about adoption-related things.  There's just not much going on right now.

Our home study has been approved by both agencies.  YAY!  It should be with SC DSS now.  Once they check it over it will be sent to USCIS (U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services) where it will meet up with our I-800A paperwork.  The I-800A is for use in Hague countries.  Basically, it is our government approving us to bring an orphan into the U.S.  The I-800A takes an average of 3 months to be processed.  In rare cases it can happen in as little as a month, but that is very rare.  It can also take longer than 3 months if they find issues with our paperwork or our home study.  Once we know our home study is on it's way there, we'll start the count.  Praying for a quick processing time!

In the meantime we are re-checking all of our dossier paperwork and making sure it's all complete and correct.  Then it will all be notarized and mailed (or driven) to Columbia for state apostilles.  Our FBI checks will be mailed to DC for a federal apostille.

A look ahead:
- Wait for I-800A approval (1-3 months)
- Send dossier to ****** for translation (takes anywhere from 1-6 weeks)
- Dossier submitted to the MOJ.
- Wait for a referral (2-4 weeks after submission)
- File I800 (usually takes around a week)
- Take first trip to see Miah
- Wait for I800 approval and to receive our Article 5 (around a month)
- Wait for a signature on our Article 5 by Miah's government (2 months?)
- Court Date (a month?)
- Travel 2 (ish) weeks after we pass court.

There's a lot more waiting in there.  And from what I've seen with other families, more delays than we can really plan for.  But there's a least a little taste of what the rest of this process will look like.

Based on my very rough, naive, uneducated assessments, we could pick her up in May.  But it will most likely be June or July.  And, if we meet a lot of delays, possibly even in August or September.

For all of you who have asked "when will you be able to bring her home" to which I reply "we don't know": that's the HONEST truth.  We're not lying to you.  We just really don't have a clue.  It's dependent on many outside forces that we cannot control, so we have no idea how long it will take.  We're doing our part and that's all we can control.

And there you have it.  :)