Wrapping Up the US Paperwork

Our US paperwork is nearing completion!  We took a day trip to Des Moines on December 8 for our fingerprinting at the US Customs & Immigration Services (USCIS) office.  We hit a minor roadblock there, but two hours later the fingerprinting was complete and we were on our way.  Surprisingly, the approval came through only three days later!  It is definitely not typical to go through so quickly.

Once we get this final piece of paper in the mail -- our I-800A -- it will be authenticated, certified, and combined with all of the other documents we completed over the past few months (physical exam reports, homestudy, employment verification, background checks, etc).  This stack of papers makes up our Dossier. 

People keep asking when we're going to go get her.  The short answer: We expect to travel to China sometime between April-June 2016.  The longer answer of what's left:

• I-800A approval is authenticated at the state level
• I-800A gets certified by the Chinese Consulate in Houston
• Dossier shipped to China
• Dossier translated in China
• Dossier moves from translation to "in review"
• Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from China
• We go back to USCIS for a final I-800 paperwork step
• Travel Approval (TA) received from China
• We coordinate our travel and fly out!

Another adopting couple is in China getting their son from little sister's orphanage this week.  They took the time to send some pictures of her yesterday!  This is the first time we've seen her without her trademark hairclip.  Isn't she great?