Pookie in Polka Dots!!!
November 21, 2004
November 15, 2004
Waiting for Sophie
We have created this web journal to document and share our journey to adopt our baby girl from China. As we are most certain that she has already been born, we have decided to name her Sophie and have been busy writing a journal to her and filling up her closet with pretty dresses. From the very beginning of this process, you have given us your support and encouragement; and for that we are very grateful.
Many of you have inquired about the progress we have made, and therefore we are sending you this update. There are three major steps in the initial adoption process which are interrelated: (1) file an application with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service to bring a foreign adopted orphan into the US, (2) complete the "homestudy" wherein a qualified social services agency examines us as individuals and as a couple to determine our worthiness as parents, and (3) gather, prepare, certify, notarize and authenticate almost a million documents.
We began the adoption process on July 21st, 2004; many call this phase "paperchasing" or the "paper pregnancy." Soonafter, we began the homestudy process which involves: tons of paperwork; several interviews and visits with the social worker; extensive medical testing/evaluations; local police record clearances; fingerprinting by several non-communicating government agencies; writing individual autobiographies; attending adoption workshops, etc. The agency also required 4 letters of reference. (We are so thankful for the beautiful letters we received from Pam Alch, Lisa Coons, Shana's mom, and Michael's parents.) We received a favorable homestudy report on August 31st, and we hand delivered our dossier of documents to our agency in Monterey Park, U.S. Asian Affairs (USAA). We received approval from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (Dept. of Homeland Security) on October 6th. USAA translated everything and sent our dossier to China on October 8th, so our ever-important "DTC" (Dossier to China) month is October!
If the current pattern holds, sometime in April we should receive a "referral" consisting of a photo of the baby China has matched with us along with information on her estimated birth date and a medical report. We should expect to travel to China about two months later to complete the adoption process and bring her home! This has been, and will continue to be, a demanding and rewarding process. When we receive our referral, we will share the excitement with you by posting her pictures here! Then, when we are in China, we will write daily to keep you updated, and we will also post pictures as we are finally united with our new daughter!
We can't tell you how excited we are and how very much we miss and love our little Sophie already! We know that she will be so blessed to have the love of her 3 big sisters, her big brother, all her amazing grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends! But mostly, we can't wait to have her in our arms. :)
Many of you have inquired about the progress we have made, and therefore we are sending you this update. There are three major steps in the initial adoption process which are interrelated: (1) file an application with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service to bring a foreign adopted orphan into the US, (2) complete the "homestudy" wherein a qualified social services agency examines us as individuals and as a couple to determine our worthiness as parents, and (3) gather, prepare, certify, notarize and authenticate almost a million documents.
We began the adoption process on July 21st, 2004; many call this phase "paperchasing" or the "paper pregnancy." Soonafter, we began the homestudy process which involves: tons of paperwork; several interviews and visits with the social worker; extensive medical testing/evaluations; local police record clearances; fingerprinting by several non-communicating government agencies; writing individual autobiographies; attending adoption workshops, etc. The agency also required 4 letters of reference. (We are so thankful for the beautiful letters we received from Pam Alch, Lisa Coons, Shana's mom, and Michael's parents.) We received a favorable homestudy report on August 31st, and we hand delivered our dossier of documents to our agency in Monterey Park, U.S. Asian Affairs (USAA). We received approval from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (Dept. of Homeland Security) on October 6th. USAA translated everything and sent our dossier to China on October 8th, so our ever-important "DTC" (Dossier to China) month is October!
If the current pattern holds, sometime in April we should receive a "referral" consisting of a photo of the baby China has matched with us along with information on her estimated birth date and a medical report. We should expect to travel to China about two months later to complete the adoption process and bring her home! This has been, and will continue to be, a demanding and rewarding process. When we receive our referral, we will share the excitement with you by posting her pictures here! Then, when we are in China, we will write daily to keep you updated, and we will also post pictures as we are finally united with our new daughter!
We can't tell you how excited we are and how very much we miss and love our little Sophie already! We know that she will be so blessed to have the love of her 3 big sisters, her big brother, all her amazing grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends! But mostly, we can't wait to have her in our arms. :)
November 03, 2004
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