The 3-Month Form

We received our official home study approval packet in the mail last weekend!!  This is what we were waiting on to be able to mail the next form... our I-800A.  This is sent to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for "Determination of Suitability of a Child from a Convention Country" (basically, to be sure we are qualified to adopt internationally).  Once we receive approval from the USCIS, our entire dossier will be complete and we can notarize each document, state certify them, and have them sealed by the Chinese consulate in Chicago... and then SEND IT ALL TO CHINA!!

I was under the impression we could have the paperwork in China by Christmas... but unfortunately when I looked further into it I found that the USCIS typically takes around 3 months to approve your form.  It could be anywhere from 10-20 weeks!  So that's putting us closer to Feb/March for approval, and then a couple weeks to finish the dossier and mail it.  We could still be "Matched" with a child during that time, but we have a higher chance of a match after our papers are logged into China's system.  It sort of feels like a set-back to me, just because my expectations were a little off.  But then again, even in the beginning I knew this process could easily take 2 years, so we aren't doing too bad in the long run!

As always, I have to remind myself that everything will happen in God's perfect timing!

This week's round of paperwork!