S is 13 and growing up fast. He loves to read, especially about aviation history. Tends toward procrastination like his mother.
"Stinkbug"
H is 10 and all boy, but also has a soft side. He loves everything cute: kitties, puppies, babies. He is by nature a consumate collector of "interesting" items and a Lego creator extraordinaire.
"Ladybug"
E is our 7 year old ballerina-fairy princess who loves bugs, playing in puddles, and plans to be an artist. She goes through paper and tape like water.
"Lovebug"
Born Sept 2008, adopted Jan 2009, and home Mar 2009. Loves to dance and read books. Her favorite words are Daddy, Doggy, and the baby sign for "more". She is walking and keeping us very busy!
Court date set - should be the week of 1/12-16. 1/8/09
i600a approved! 12/3/08
Referral received! 11/11/08
Home Study report is COMPLETE! We are ready to turn in our i800. 8/1/08
Our second $$ blessing: enough money to pay over half our first installment of fees - due when we turn in our dossier. 5/30/08
The home study process is complete and we've been approved! Now we just wait for the final report. 5/13/08
Our Home visit was a bit anti-climactic! Very casual and enjoyable conversation. 5/2/08
Our tax refund arrived! How we can pay our agency fee and get the paperwork started. 4/27/08
Found our home study agency. 4/25/08
Our first $$ blessing: enough money to pay the home study and our Immigration application has come in! 4/20/08
Approved to work with Hopscotch! 4/18/08
We've chosen our agency: Hopscotch Adoptions. We feel very comfortable with them and got excellent confirmation that they are our agency when we talked this morning. Now we wait to be approved. 4/ 18/08
Confirmation of the country where we've chose to adoptL: Armenia! 4/16/08
We are a "GO" for the adoption! Kids are very excited and so are we. 4/15/08
Phase 1 Timeline
1. Decide to adopt 4/11/08 2. Decide on country 4/16/08 3. Gather info from agencies 4/08 4. Interview agency 4/18/08 5. Decide on agency 4/18/08 6. Submit application to agency 4/18/08 7. Begin collecting needed documentation for I-800A 8. Submit Agency agreement and fee 4/28/08 9. Seek references for Home Study provider 4/08 10. Interview Home Study providers 4/08 11. Have Home Study provider approved by Agency 4/08 12. Collect needed documentation for Home Study 5/08 13. Complete Home Study 6/08 14. Submit I-600A (application to adopt with Immigration service) 11/08 15. Receive referral!11/08 16. Receive approval from USCIS to bring orphan into US. 17. Submit dossier to Ghana.11/08
Phase 2 Timeline
Because this is a new program, some of the details are still being determined. Thus, this list may be changed or reorderd from time to time.
1. Dossier is sent to Ghana. Dossier documents prepared for court. 2. Child referral is given to family. 3. Social Welfare conducts medical and social investigation on the child to be adopted. Child then becomes legally (rather than informally) available for adoption. 4. Dossier is filed in court and court date is requested. 5. Her passport (Ghanaian) filed for on her behalf. 5. Court date! Either final adoption decree or interim adoption decree is recommended in "favorable opinion". 6. Court process is completed and adoption decree is issued. Child now has our last name and is our daughter! 7. Travel dates are set based on paperwork readiness for US Embassy and US Embassy appointment availability. 8. We travel to Ghana to file our i600, visa interview...and BRING HER HOME!
You can help!
You can support us by making Amazon purchases via this website. (USe the search box above, click on any of the products below, or use hyper-links in the text of posts). We get a small percentage on each purchase you make through links on this blog. THANK YOU!
1 comment:
I love seeing my happy grandchildren. What a beautiful family! L, E, S, and H are lucky children to be in such a wonderful family.
Love you, Gram
Post a Comment