Dossier To China!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All the paperwork is finished and bound for China.   I told Robbie earlier in the week it that would be a wonderful present for me on his birthday for this to happen.  After a pretty hectic week of finding out I forgot to send some paperwork  and a missing blood test for Jeff - God is good and faithful yet again to still get this on its way. 



Never so happy to see Hillary Clinton's Signature

On Friday we received all our dossier documents fully authenicated by the Secretary of State Clinton and the embassy of China from our courier in Washington DC.  It has taken 6 months of paper chasing to finally get to this spot and I am sure everyone is happy that they don't have to hear about it anymore.  It is now all off to our agency for critical review and translation before it goes to CHINA! 

First Parade of the Season

Keeping Busy! While we wait...

Dave & Jeff

Yum - Bacon cooked out of the back of a pick-up truck when it's 90+ degrees outside. 

I have a very good husband

Ro & Dev off the trail to Lyon's Falls at Mohican

Ro is his new football equipment with Leland

Visiting the USS COD submarine with my Dad, Ro & Jeff

Sub Mess Hall

 Aboard the Mather Steam Ship

We had an opening ceremonies party for the Olympics with our family. 

Adopting Boys

Immigration Approval Received!!

This past weekend we were camping at Mohican.  Saturday morning we received a message from the campground office that we had received some important mail at home.  We borrowed a cell phone that had service and got the news from Jeff's mom that we had received our long awaited I-797 approval (to be able to adopt a child from the Peoples Republic of China).  It was the last document we needed to gather before it all gets sealed and sent off to China!!

The paper chase isn't over yet, but should be soon!  We came back a little early from camping so Jeff and I could go get all our documents notarized and certified.  It was a blessing that Jeff had the day off.  We started off in Cuyahoga Falls with the notary and then to Akron.  It was there that we noticed our homestudy was actually signed in Cuyhoga County (Cleveland).  No problem - we headed there for one more certification.  When we got to Cleveland, we found out that even though it was signed in Cuyahoga County, it was signed by a notary from Lorain County.  Off to Elyria!  I am happy to report that we are completely certified at (ALL) the county levels!!  Columbus here we come!!

July update

We just had our biometric fingerprints done for USCIS aka US citizenship and immigration services yesterday. (I just had to look that up to see what USCIS stood for) Hope to have the first round of immigration approval soon.

Jeff and I got to our immigration appointment 40 minutes early and since it's a federal building that wouldn't let us go up early until all the employees arrived. We enjoyed people watching in the lobby of the federal building. It was like a mega episode of What Not to Wear for Federal Employees. I can only imagine the diversity of offices in the building but there were employees in everything from sweatpants & flip flops to Sunglasses (indoor) & uniforms to suits & tennis shoes.

Sorry if you are reading my blog to get any deep insights - I hope those will be in the near future;) Waiting is a bummer sometimes, so it's nice to have your mind wonder and stop thinking of the wait and the what ifs. It's such a weird feeling to miss someone you don't even know yet or know a thing about.