The Gift of Unanswered Prayers: Jun 12, 2010

Saturday, June 12, 2010

We're Here!

After a 10.5 hour road trip (including 4 stops and one wrong turn) we are here in Newark NJ. ChallieJayne is on her way here (Via Frankfurt, Germany, which is so appropriate since my Mom's family was from Germany) as of this posting! Her flight is scheduled to arrive at 3:40PM.

During her stop over in Frankfurt, she was able to spend some time with another family from our agency, and she will be sending some pics. It was nice to wake up to a Facebook update from her today confirming she is on the way!

We are about to become a family of FOUR!!! in a few hours.

More later!

(The view from our hotel room)

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About Our Blog..........

This blog is a resurrection of sorts. The original began in 2005 as our "Red Thread Blog" as a way to keep family and friends updated about the progress while we (im)patiently waited to bring our oldest daughter home from China. She was finally home on May 20, 2006, and that blog was retired in 2008. When the Red Thread Blog was retired, this one was born. We originally created it to keep family & friends updated on our journey to adopt our youngest daughter from Ethiopia. Once she was home on June 13, 2010, the entries became sporadic. The demands of two kiddos, one of which was a 3 year old who didn't speak English and was quite ill), a full-time career, a home, life in general, put this on the back burner.

Now, we're back. I plan to use this as a place to share stories about our family; daily happenings; things that affect us as a family on a daily basis. Parenting. Adoption. Race. Politics. Whatever is on my mind. I might (most likely will) rant sometimes. Welcome, enjoy!

Adoption Process Timeline-CJayne

02/04/2011: Congratulations New United States Citizen! ChallieJayne Received her Certificate of Citizenship!! ALL OF THE "HAVE TO'S ARE F-I-N-I-S-H-E-D!!!!!!
12/02/10: Last Post-Placement Visit
11/12/10: Notification from USCIS that COC application was received
11/07/10: Applied for Certificate of Citizenship
10/22/10: Received ChallieJayne's delayed Registration of Foreign Birth
10/04/10: Court Date for Delayed Registration of Foreign Birth
09/19/10: Applied for Delayed Registration of Foreign Birth
09/12/10:2nd Post-Placement Visit
07/19/10: ChallieJayne Received her "Green Card"
06/29/10: 1st Post-Placement Visit
06/12/10: Forever Family Day!
06/11/10: Left for our trip to New Jersey to bring ChallieJayne HOME!
06/02/10: Found out ChallieJayne will be escorted to Newark NJ on June 12th!!!
05/25/10: Found out ChallieJayne's embassy appointment is set for 06/02/10!
05/10/10: Received the official I-600 in the mail (it's actually called the I-797). but it is the approval to adopt!! STILL waiting for ChallieJaynes Embassy Date!
04/28/10:USCIS informed our agency that the additional documentation was acceptatble. Waiting for written approval of the I-600.....
04/22/10: Received notice from USCIS-they need more info to process the I-600
03/22/2010: Found out the I-600 was being sent to Immigration-waiting for an EMBASSY DATE!
03/11/2010: Received updated Immigration Approval from USCIS
03/04/2010: Received Challie's Ethiopian Birth Certificate
02/01/10: PASSED COURT!
01/29/10: Found out court was re-scheduled again.....now 02/01/10
01/07/10: Found out court re-scheduled for 01/14/10
01/06/10: First court date
12/24/09: Found out our court date is January 6th!!!
12/02/09: Court date requested
11/22/09: Referral paperwork returned to agency!!
11/16/09: ACCEPTED REFERRAL!!!
11/02/09: Received referral
10/22/09: Homestudy update
05/26/09: Officially changed our preference to a girl
05/01/09: Officially back on the waiting list
03/18/09: Adoption application on hold
03/13/09: Officially back on the waiting list
3/12/09: Made decision to decline referral :O(
3/10/09: Signed referral documents sent back to agency
3/9/09: Referral package received!
3/5/09: REFERRAL! We have a SON!
01/12/09: Found out we were *REALLY* DTE 11/14/08
12/05/08: RECEIVED I-171H!!!!
11/19/08: USCIS fingerprint appointment
11/14/08: Received e-mail from Placing Agency-Dossier sent to Ethiopia 11/13/08!!!
11/13/08: Received USCIS fingerprint appointment
11/07/08: Received letter & receipt from USCIS-application/homestudy received & fingerprint appointment is pending
10/28/08: Notarized Homestudy was sent from Homestudy Agency to Placing Agency & to USCIS
10/24/08: Received phone call from Placing Agency-Homestudy was approved. Now we wait for the dossier to be sent to Ethiopia!
10/22/08: Final draft of Homestudy by Homestudy Agency/sent to Placing Agency
10/02/08: Second Homestudy appointment
9/10/08: First Homestudy appointment
8/28/08: Found out we needed to complete additional 2 hours of supplemental education for Homestudy Agency (since we are open to adopting an older child). We completed "Adopting the Older Child"
8/28/08: Received "Expectant Parents Preparation Binder" from Homestudy agency
8/27/08: Scheduled visits with our Homestudy Agency's Social Worker
8/24/08: Completed 1.5 hours of supplemental education for Homestudy Agency (since we are adopting trans-racially we completed "Conspicuous Families")
8/22/08: Received Placing Agency dossier packet-started working on obtaining required documents
8/22/08: Completed Hague education DVD's/submitted tests (needed for both Placing & Homestudy Agencies)
8/14/08: Returned homestudy update application and fees (was ready to do sooner but unable to access docs from agency website for completion)
8/8/08: Received acceptance letter/homestudy update packet from Homestudy Agency-started obtaining required documents
8/6/08: Started 10 hour Hague education DVD's/tests
8/6/08: Fed-Ex'd application to Homestudy Agency for homestudy
8/5/08: Received acceptance letter/packet from Placing Agency
7/16/08: Mailed application to Placing Agency