Hey, sorry it's been so long since I posted. It has been a very crazy six weeks. We hit a whole bunch of snags, which got kinda discouraging at times, but we've pushed our way through and things are starting to untangle.
So far we have gathered our marriage certificate, birth certificates for all of us, two different medical certificates, employment and income letters, five (yes, five each!) police reports, passport photos, copies of the photo/signature page of our pasports, seven letters of reference, and more. We've completed two separate education workbooks and read countless articles and books. And we've sent our advanced application for USCIS clearance to allow us to adopt and bring an orphan into the country.
Our Michigan documents have been notarized and state certified and are waiting to be sent for authentication at the Vietnamese embassy or consulate. I had sent a batch of our IL documents to the secretary of state, only to have everything returned uncertified because one of the notaries is using a stamp that has his name different from what he was certified under (he left his middle initial off the stamp -- can you believe it?!). We now have to redo those four documents and have a new notary sign them before we send everything in again. That should be done this weekend. Then when those are returned (in about two weeks), we can send what we have so far to the consulate to be authenticated.
Our home study agency just sent our official home study to USCIS last night. That is the last document they need in order to review our application. If we are cleared, they will send us an I-171H form which we then must have notarized, certified, and authenticated. The Chicago Field Office of USCIS is running at about 9 weeks for turn-around time, so we should receive our I-171H the beginning of May. The HS agency and placement agency are working together now to make sure that the copy of the HS that goes into our dossier has all of the information that Vietnam requires. Hopefully, we will have that official copy sometime next week (and then IT is off to be certified and authenticated, too).
Meanwhile, as we wait for those documents to come our way, we will be concentrating on gathering the things that don't need to go through the certification/authentication process. These include photos of our home and family, an official application for adoption from Vietnam, a commitment of periodical reports form (once we adopt from Vietnam we must send the Vietnamese officials reports on the child every six months for the first three years and then every year until they are 18), and a confirmation letter (this is a petition to the People's Committee and the International Adoption Department (IAD) in Vietnam to approve our adoption of the child that is refered to us). There are also occassional changes to the documents required, and we may need to redo some or add additional ones before we're done.
Whew! Still with me?
So all of this has to be gathered together and sent to our placement agency no later than June 1 in order for it to get to the IAD in Vietnam before the six month deadline. What happens if it doesn't make it before the six months expires on our documents? We have to redo them, which means more time and money. The worst will be redoing the medical certificates because we have to have all these blood tests done, and I'm sure our insurance will not pay for them a second time. The cost for our blood tests was $1,000. I really, really don't want to have to redo that!
Yeah, I know, it's all pretty confusing. You should see the Excel spreadsheets I have going to try to keep track of it all! :) We are pushing it to be able have everything together by the deadline. Please think good thoughts for us that the delays are over for now and we make it!
On a fun note, Grandma and Grandpa Mikkola will be here for the weekend, which means Date Night for John and I on Saturday! We are going to take the train into the city and have dinner at Le Colonial, an "up-scale French-Vietnamese restaurant which vividly recaptures the beauty, romance and spirit of French colonial Southeast Asia from the 1920s" (from their website). We saw a local food show on cable one night and a Vietnamese guy was saying it was his favorite restaurant and had authetic Vietnamese cuisine, so we're really excited to go try it out. Plus, Mommy gets to dress up for a night! Wow! I may even put on makeup! Jack and Ethan probably won't recognize me with contacts in, clean hair, and a nice outfit. LOL
Well, it's getting late so I'll end here. I'll try not to go so long before the next post. Thanks for all of your support!
Christine
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