Fingerprinting with the USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) is done! Dossier is passed in! Now we're awaiting three pieces of news: the approval from USCIS (2-3 weeks from last Friday), which we then forward to Wide Horizons 2) an "Everything looks great on your dossier!"-phone-call from Wide Horizons (which we will hopefully get this week) and 3) a call from Wide Horizons telling us we are finally on the official waiting list. (Could we be on by the end of April? We hope so!)
So life is looking up! We may be done with all the paperwork and running around for at least one year. (You have to update your homestudy and fingerprints/USCIS approval after one year.) We are amazed that we are at the cusp of the waiting stage (12-18 months).
We can now turn our attention back to our "normal lives" and play catch-up. To all the people who have had birthdays come and go this year without a card from us, please know we are getting our act together and are turning our newly gained adoption-paperwork-organization-skills back to our regular lives. We are also looking around the house and laughing because it is a disaster. It's been hard keeping up with the cleaning, yardwork, garden etc, when your future child/ren are depending on you to get forms A, B, and C ready, stamped, and passed in. The house is looking at us with a irritated expression, asking, "Remember me?" :)
As well, we've been taking a long hard look at our finances and cutting WAY back on things, selling stuff, etc. so that we are more in-the-groove for raising children, paying for possible daycare, etc. (Kelly -- you inspired us with your saving-money blog the other month! It's incredible what a few small changes will do for one's budget.) I've adjusted my work hours to avoid traffic so less time is spent commuting, thus giving our future children more parent time. (I now leave for work at 6 am and make it to work in just 1/2 an hour, and leave work at 3:20 and the commute is surprisingly also about 1/2 an hour. This is better than the one-hour-each-way commute I had before. An interesting side benefit is that all the people that drive during my new commute time are nice and very un-Boston-driver-y. Makes for a much calmer ride!) In a nutshell, it's nice to have our weekends (and weekdays) back. Oh -- and Ryan's just finishing up the taxes. Yay! Bless that man.
Hope everyone's enjoying the amazing/interesting weather!
~Katrina
5 comments:
Hi Katrina,
From fingerprints to approval in the mail: 9 days. When we amended our homestudy and re-submitted it, I think it took only 7 days. MA moves very fast! So, you should get it any day now!! Congrats on finally getting on the official "wait list."
Amy
Yay for getting over these hurdles! It is amazing how much time it takes up, getting all of the paperwork in order. I remember that feeling of returning to life as regularly scheduled - and it feels good! I should do an update about our cost-savings efforts - they definitely seem to be paying off (pun intended)! It sounds like you're making some good changes as well. I love that you're adjusting your commute - that will be so helpful to everyone!
Congrats on being so close to "The Wait". We're right behind ya :)
Congrats on being almost officially waiting!
Amy -- that's great news! Everyone should check out their blog -- they just got some delicious news of their own! (There's a link on the home page on the right. Ethiopian adoption journey.) Kelly -- can hardly wait to see that update. We're blown away by how the small changes we've made are reaping huge benefits. And yes, I'm VERY excited to have the paperwork done for a while. Hard to believe a baby will result from a pile of papers and stamps. :) Holli-- Oh I DO hope we end up traveling to get our babies together! Liz--We're all going to lean heavily on your advice when it's our turn. Prepare yourself! :)
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