Creeping steadily along

Alrighty, so our homestudy is done but the finalization part is what we've been waiting on.  Our social worker had to submit it to our agency. Agency then finalizes it. I'm not sure what this means but I know the end result will be an envelope arriving at our home with 2 notarized copies along with our I-800A application packet.  I couldn't stand the wait so I sent a very polite message to the woman at the agency who handles these things.  I played the I'm so dumb and nice and ass kissing that you can't help but respond kindly card.  It worked!  I got a quick reply saying we normally need 2 weeks and we just got yours on the 6th .. BUT .. I'll finish it up and have it out to you in the next day or two. Voila!  For all I know it was ready and waiting, but I feel a tad bit victorious.

And she also emailed the packet for the I-800A application.  It was so intimidating to see the little attachment at the bottom of the email. I finally downloaded it and saved it to our computer but I haven't had the balls to look at it. It's the next big hurdle and it's in our hands. Eek!  The I-800A is a big freaking deal.


Purpose of Form:
For adjudicating the eligibility and suitability of the applicant(s) to adopt a child who habitually resides in a Hague Adoption Convention Country.
Number of Pages:
Form:  9; Instructions:  11; Supplement 1:  2; Supplement 2:  1; Supplement 3:  4

We can't make a mistakes on it or the USCIS will reject, yes REJECT, our application.  Wouldn't that totally suck!  I think you can rectify it if this happens, but still, it sounds so much scarier if you think you either get 1. approved or 2. rejected.  


My mom is coming to visit for the long weekend so hopefully having her here for entertainment will give us some time to focus on completing the I-800A.  We've been told the approval process takes couple of months from the time it's submitted. We have to send it in along with one of the notarized copies of the homestudy.  (The other copy will go with our dossier to China.)  Sometime after it is received, USCIS will set up a fingerprinting appointment for us and will send us a letter to let us know when and where the appointment will be. This is a little overkill because we already had Live Scan fingerprinting done. Those digital fingerprints go through the Department of Justice and FBI for background check clearances... so it seems a little redundant to have to do it again.  But they say jump, we jump!  So we'll do another round of prints then wait for our approval which is another lettered, numbered name of a document.  Once we get that, we're ready to send our dossier to China.  Also known as the DTC.  


Short and sweet.  Love to all.