The I-800 paperwork is ready!

Today I completed our I-800 paperwork which will eventually go to the US Customs and Immigration Services.  I can hear all of my friends from the adoption world chuckling right now.  They are laughing because they know I won't need this paperwork for several months.  My closest friends won't be surprised at all that it is complete.  They've seen how overly organized I can be.  One trip through my closet and they quickly notice how all the t-shirts are together, and all the sweatshirts are together, and within each section, the shirts are organized by color (in order of the rainbow of course!)  In my pantry, the cans all face forward.  Vegetables are together and soups are together.  Some joker (aka my dear husband) recently placed a can of stewed tomatoes in the bean section!  And yes, I spent part of last weekend re-alphabetizing my spices.   Anyway, you get the idea!  I thrive on organization!  So the I-800 is complete, in case there is a miracle and our LOA comes sooner than expected!  Unfortunately, we probably won't see it until mid-July or later.  But just in case-- I am prepared!

Her name isn't Wang!

     Throughout this lengthy adoption process, my dear husband has referred to our future child as Wang.  (Lovely isn't it??)  Apparently there is a character in Caddyshack named Wang who must be terribly endearing since Shawn nicknamed our future child after him.  We decided to wait until we were matched with a specific child to decide on a "forever" name.   After many arguments discussions, we have finally decided on a real name!!!
     Our daughter's Chinese name is Chen but in her language (Teochow), Chen is pronounced "Tan".   I'm guessing this pronunciation would be pretty confusing to most Americans.  We considered keeping that as her middle name but couldn't decide if we'd say Chen or Tan.  During some extensive baby name research, I discovered that the American equivalent of the name Chen is Grace.  The literal meaning of Chen is Grace of God.  So Grace seemed like the perfect middle name.
     Our next step was to find a first name.  We wanted to avoid anything with embarrassing initials, and tried to stay away from any name that one of us associated with another person.  We practiced saying the names out loud to see how they sounded.  Ashley practiced writing the names and even drew the monograms for the initials to see which monogram looked better.  After an analysis of approximately 3 million names, we have decided to name her Harper Grace.  Harper means brave and pleasant.  After all she's been through, we are pretty confident she is brave.  And we are hoping she is pleasant!  Harper will be the perfect first name.  That is unless she marries someone with the last name of Harper.  Then she would become Harper Harper which sounds really funny.  But we'll cross that bridge if we come to it!  We hope she loves her new name!  We can't wait to come get you Harper Grace Scott!!!

The China Adoption Process..............

We are so excited to announce our upcoming adoption!!  Many people assume that since we are now matched with a specific child, we will be able to travel to China soon and pick her up.  Unfortunately, that's not the way the China adoption process works.  Here is an overview of what we've already done, and the steps that remain to be completed before we can bring her home.  (Note to my friends from the adoption community:  stop reading now.  You will find this post incredibly boring!)

In September 2011, we began our home study.  We met with a social worker on four different occasions.  We had to submit tons of paperwork including criminal background checks, financial documents, letters of reference from friends and family, employment verification letters, birth certificates,  our marriage certificate,  physical exams from our doctors, copies of our passports,  our latest tax returns, proof that our insurance will cover our new child and even proof of vaccinations for our dogs.  We also completed 12 hours of education about parenting a special needs child.

After completing the home study, we were able to submit our I-800A.  This document is submitted to the US Customs and Immigration Services to determine if they feel we are suitable candidates to adopt a child from a foreign country.  We were fingerprinted at the USCIS office in Kansas City.  Because our daughter, Ashley, is an adult, she was fingerprinted too.  Our I-800 was approved in January 2012.

Next, we had to get all of our documents certified by the Secretary of State.  Fortunately, there is an office in Kansas City, so we were able to walk in with our documents.  Unfortunately, one of our notaries did not correctly notarize 3 of our documents, so they were rejected.  After redoing those documents and making the trip back to the Secretary of State office, we were finally certified.

The next step was to send all of our documents to the Chinese Embassy in Chicago to be authenticated.

After authentication was completed, we compiled all of the required documents and forwarded them to our adoption agency.  This group of documents is called a dossier.  Our dossier was sent to China on February 24, 2012.  We were officially logged into the China adoption program on March 1, 2012.

The next step was to wait to be matched with a specific child. On May 7, 2012, we were matched with a 16 month old girl named Chen.  She is absolutely precious and we fell immediately in love with her!!

Today, we received Pre-approval from the Chinese Government to adopt her.  Following PA, we will begin the wait for our Letter Of Acceptance.  The Chinese Government will evaluate all of our documents and determine if we are suitable to adopt this specific child.  Currently, it is taking around 100 days for the LOA approvals.  We are praying for a fast approval. 

After LOA, we are allowed to submit the I-800.  This is an immigration form that will classify Chen as our immediate relative.  This should takes 3 weeks to process.
 
After the I-800 approval, the National Visa Center will be notified.  The NVC will notify the US Consulate of our approval.  This will take 2 weeks.

Next, our agency will forward the NVC approval to the US Consulate in China.  After 2-3 weeks, the US Consulate will issue an Article 5 pre-approving Chen for an immigrant visa.

After the Chinese Government receives our Article 5, they will grant us Travel Approval.  This will take 2-4 weeks.

After we have travel approval, we can request an appointment at the  Consulate for the actual adoption.  Once the appointment is set, we can make our travel arrangements and go pick her up!!  If we are really lucky, we will be able to travel in September to pick her up.  Realistically, it will likely be October or November.

After we bring her home, we are required to complete 6 more visits with the social worker.

Introducing ..........

With patience and love, we wait for our baby girl.

                          With excitement and joy, we announce her to the world.

Ashley doesn't mind that she'll have to share the throne...

                                  she's very excited to have a sister of her own!
                                        Introducing our new little princess...

We are so excited to announce that we have plans to adopt Chen Chao Ji who is waiting for us in in China.  She was born in January of 2011 and is now 16 months old.