We couldn't be happier today- because after 70 days(which is WAY longer than we had expected it would take- and actually if you go by their receipt date it was technically 66 days) we finally received this envelope:
In it contained ONE piece of paper stating that the Department of Homeland Security has approved our home study and we may proceed with our adoption of a little girl from China! YAY!!!!!!
We were at a complete standstill until this arrived. So now what?
Well, now we put a copy of this in with 12 other important documents(birth certificates, marriage certificate, police clearances, our home study, employment verification letters, ect.) and mail it to Bismarck to the office of the Secretary of State. After they look over it and "Seal" the documents, then it will all get mailed back to us and we will send it off to a service that will walk it to the Embassy in Washington DC to be certified there. THEN it will be sent back to us AGAIN and we will add a few things like pictures of our family and reference letters and then mail it all to our placing agency in CA. From there it will go to China!!!
And then we can finally wait for a match.
Paperwork, paperwork, wait, wait, wait... it can be crazy, frustrating, and stressful but it will all pay off in the end- and we'll probably forget how bananas this year was. Like childbirth, right? :)
Stay tuned... we'll keep you posted. More good things to come!!
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