Sunday, November 9, 2014

Making progress

It goes without saying that adopting takes great patience. It's now been one year exactly from the very first time I thought about adopting internationally to where I am today. For me time has flown by, but for others it seems like it's not going fast enough. I'll be the first to say I wish I could fly right on out to China today and pick up my daughter, but the truth of the matter is a lot goes into bringing foreign born children into the U.S.A legally. I did however get one step further this week!  My homestudy is officially done! It's really been done for a few weeks now, but proof reading and editing takes awhile I guess. Anyway, I received the official copy which means I am able to send my immigration paperwork to homeland security.  This paperwork is very important, because it gives the approval for my daughter to enter this country and become a US citizen. My adoption will not be allowed to move forward without this approval. Throughout the adoption process, myself and families who are also going through the adoption process stay connected through various networks of social media. You become friends with the common interest in adopting and ultimate goal of bringing your children home. Through my new found friends the timeline of immigration approval stands at around 60 days. That just means, on average of those who've already gotten their immigration approval, it's taken 60 days. So I'll be counting down my 60 days starting tomorrow, because that's when I estimated the paperwork would arrive at the office of homeland security. Now in the meantime I have tons of things I can be doing.  Having an approved homestudy opens up a lot of doors. I can now apply for grants and loans specifically to bring my daughter home. I kind of equate it to trudging up a steep hill and now I've reached the summit. I'll be sitting awhile up here on the summit, but at least I'm not climbing the hill. So in these 60 days of waiting, I'll apply for some grants and finish finalizing paperwork that needs to be submitted to China with my approval. That's where we're at now. To be continued....

Homestudy approved!

Mailing immigration paperwork