and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him
and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6
So, it's been a while since my last blog post. Here's the latest and greatest from our journey to Sam. On March 12, I went to our agency and got all the documents notarized, then went to the Fulton County clerk's office, and then to the Secretary of State to the "The Great Seal." And it is great, by the way. Then I sent ALL that stuff to the Chinese Consulate in Houston because that's the one that we have to use. I had to send it to a courier because the consulate doesn't accept mail, of course. So it had to be walked in:)
Also on March 12, the USCIS (Immigration Services) received our application to adopt a child internationally (I800a). Then we waited for the fingerprint appointment letter, which came on March 25th. We didn't wait for our appointment, we walked in to get our fingerprints done on the 26th.
It worked out perfectly because I was off that day and Fred was not traveling or really busy with work that day. We had to go to the Department of Homeland Security off Collier Rd. in Atlanta. So funny because our first home when we were newlyweds was literally a quarter mile from this building. Cross Creek Condos, ahh, those were the days:) I said to Fred, "Who would have ever thought 13 years ago when we were living there that we'd be back here at this point in our lives to walk into this inconspicuous building and have our fingerprints scanned into the Govt.'s database because we are adopting a little boy from China." NO WAY if you had told me that 13 years ago would I have believed you. Isn't life interesting? Isn't God amazing?
So, the documents came back from Houston with pretty Chinese stickers on them and we took our entire dossier, except for the I800a approval (still waiting on) to our agency so they could start reviewing it. So ALL we are waiting on is the US Govt. to assign an immigration officer to our case so he/she can "rubber stamp" our application and send us the coveted 797 approval. Just one piece of paper stands between us sending our dossier to China so we can get "logged in" and start the China waiting game:) Come on USCIS!! We need to bring our boy home!
We are very grateful he is in such a wonderful place. They are taking care of him and I know he is loved. That makes it a little easier to endure the wait.
He even gets yummy cookies!
This is a picture of him from last September (10 mos.)
when he left the first foster care center to move to where he is now. So sad:( But look at those cheeks! (And no car seats in China I guess)
Some pictures from a few months ago I think.
Until next time... when we will have our last document! Hopefully soon!!!
