Received the important I171H

Last night I noticed an important piece of mail sitting on our countertop before bedtime and realized that our I71H form had arrived!!  We were super excited that we received it back in exactly one week after getting our fingerprints done.  I didn't really know how long it would take but since this whole adoption is a big waiting game I always just tell myself it's going to take an extra long time for everything.  So it was great to have it one week later.  I did not have everything prepared to ship out so today I spent some time at Fedex/Kinko's making 3 copies of each of our documents and then putting them all in the appropriate order.  I think the guys at Kinkos thought I was nuts because I was carefully manually coping all docs rather feeding them quickly thru the tray. :)  I really hope that I did everything correctly, but I could only look at each paper so many times before I just had to have faith that I did it right.  Anyway, I am super excited to have everything done and out of my hands!  We now have to wait for the Agency in Virginia to receive and review them and send them to Ethiopia.  We are in the last step before being on the official 'waiting' list!!

Fingerprints are done!!

Well, today was our Biometrics appt at the USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services).  I am happy to have it over with as a few people have said to be careful that you don't get any cuts on your fingers beforehand...otherwise you might have to reschedule.  Jason did burn his finger last night, so there was a second where I was a little worried, but it wasn't bad and we got thru today with flying colors!  There always has to be a little drama I guess! :)  So now we are just waiting to get a form mailed back to us.  As soon as I have that form all of our paperwork and a few copies will be mailed off and we will be on the official 'waiting' list.  I will be so excited to get all of this paperwork out of my hands!
Also last weekend I went to a Christian Adoption conference in Atlanta with my friend Cindy.  There were around 250 mothers or mothers to-be there from around the US and I would say the majority of them did/were adopting from Ethiopia!  I learned a few things and it was nice to make some more friends with adoptive moms.

Getting Closer!

I received great news when I grabbed our mail tonight!  We received our fingerprint appointments...they are on Feb 11th.  Almost as great news is that Jason is in town that day so we don't have to worry about him having to change around his schedule or airfare.  After that we will wait to receive our I-171H form from USCIS (Immigration).  That is the last piece of paperwork that we are waiting for!  A little impatience is starting to set in. :)

Pictures from Christmas

Here's some pictures from our time in Iowa.  You can see how distinguished Lupe looks in the top picture.  Then below you can see a devotional book that I received from my Mom, titled "Heavenly Humor for the Dog Lover's Soul".  Lupe got to it before I did and she must not have liked what she saw in the Chapter titled, "Obedience School Dropout".  How funny is that!?! - Maybe she is smarter than we think! :)  Sorry Mom...and Happy Birthday!





Received and Mailed

We finally received our final Home Study Report on Dec, 30th.  It wasn't actually slow mail, just slow being mailed. :)  I am just happy that it wasn't lost.  Anyway, our documents to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services have been mailed and in 2 to 6 weeks (lets hope for two) we should receive word back to go get our fingerprinting done.  That will be our last step before being able to mail off our pile of paperwork to get approved by the country of Ethiopia.  Yea!!
We have realized that it is possible that now or in the next few months, our to-be little boy could be born.  Please pray for him and his birth parents and their tough decision ahead.

Love you guys, Janna

Slow Mail

Well, I thought I would have mailed off our next document to the USCIS by now, but we have not received our final home study report yet.  I asked for them to mail it to our family's address in Iowa but it has not shown up.  I'm hoping that we receive it before we leave or that it is in our mailbox in Florida.  Those documents have about every detail about our lives in there, so I hope they are not lost in the mail.  I did tell a few family members in Newton that we had received them, but when I went to open the package they were resumes being sent to Jason.  My darn husband also requested some mail be sent to Marshalltown!! :)  Let's hope it miraculously shows up in the mail tomorrow!

Background Checks Done

I received a great surprise yesterday that our Texas background checks were completed and our Home Study report is in the final stages.  I approved the 17 page report and now I just have to wait for them to sign it and then they are going to mail it to us.  Another step almost completed!