Paperwork

Now that we've shared some on how we got here, we'll fill you in on where we are currently in the process. If you notice on the web version, on the right side there is a timeline of major steps accomplished in the process so far. You can see we started this way back in March and took our time on our home study over the summer due to the fact that Asher was still a little squirt. (well, to be honest and a bit of a handful as a baby!) A document was required after completing our home study from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that took some time to receive.

Happy Birthday to me--we sent our USCIS paperwork out

After that got processed, we received a fingerprinting appointment....

Disappointing no black fingers to show for it, but freshly fingerprinted here.

Then, we wrapped up our dossier once our USCIS document was received. A dossier is all the required documents that will be sent to Ethiopia along with our home study which is essentially everything about us, our family, history and current life. Consider adoption like a super extended pregnancy and this paperwork was my baby for a couple of months. So, here you have my 'pregnancy' shot for this one. :)

Our dossier: proof of our entire life on paper

On November 7, our dossier left our hands and was mailed. When the FedEx guy took the envelope Harlyn asked "Is he getting our baby?" :) Obviously the concept of time and what is really going on isn't there yet, but we'll work on it. At least she was ready with open arms right then!