I kept this timeline journal during our wait to bring Lia home. SO glad the wait is almost over...
January 27, 2012: Lance had just returned from a mission
trip in the Dominican Republic and the subject of adopting again came up. I immediately thought of sweet Lia!! We
both started to pray and ask God to lead the way.
February 14, 2012: After much prayer, Lance sent me this
text “Let’s do it! She needs a home and we have the means. God commands
it! Love ya!” I emailed her adoption agency right
away to let them know that we were her parentsJ Happy Valentine’s Day!!!
February 15, 2012: We did the paperwork necessary to receive
pre-approval.
February 16, 2012: We overnighted our paperwork to the
adoption agency Bringing Hope to Children/Heartsent Adoptions.
February 17, 2012: Our paperwork safely arrived to the
agency. It will be translated and
on its’ way to China sometime next week.
February 23, 2012:
Our pre-approval paperwork was sent to China. Hopefully we will hear something from China next week.
February 29, 2012:
We got our official Pre-approval notice from China to adopt LiaJ
March 14, 2012:
Got some new pictures of Lia! She is so “pretty in pinkJ”
She knows she has a family! Thanks Lori!!!
March 19, 2012:
We got some updated information about Lia from our agency. She is a tiny little thing…only 57 lbs
and 4’3”. She is in 2nd
grade, likes school and is very happy that she is being adopted.
March 28, 2012:
We received the most precious video clips of our little Lia today. They were taken a couple years ago at
camp sponsored by an agency here in the US. She is so tiny, with the sweetest little voice. She says her name, holds up her fingers
to show how old she is…10;) She also repeats back some American words that they
ask her to try saying. We even
have a video of her drawing a butterfly. She is quite a good little artistJ
We are SO thankful for these precious little glimpses of our girl.
March 29, 2012:
We had our adoption medical exams this morning with Dr. Darr and also a
home study meeting with our social worker Allison Rorick from Lutheran Social
Services in the evening. We are
working together on getting all our stuff done for our home study report.
Hopeful to be completed by mid May.
April 18, 2012:
We had our last home study meeting with Allison today.
April 23, 2012:
We finished our 10 hour online education coarse called “Because They
Waited” by the Heart of the Matters Seminars. We also finished our book reports
for an additional 2 hours of education.
May 3, 2012: We
received an update and a couple new pictures of our BEAUTIFUL girl. We also learned that she needs
glasses. We had some made for her
and will be taking them to China with us when we travelJ
May 4, 2012: We
walked most of our dossier into the Secretary of States office to be State
Sealed. Three of our documents needed some corrections.
May 9, 2012:
Sent in our corrected dossier documents back to the Secretary of State’s
office to be sealed.
May 11, 2012:
Received our home study draft from Allison @ Lutheran Social Services.
May 21, 2012:
Sent most of our State Sealed dossier documents to Bringing Hope to
Children for review.
May 23, 2012:
Dick from Bringing Hope to Children called to let me know that our
medical reports needed to be redone and that he also needed some additional
pictures of the inside of our house.
May 24, 2012:
Had our medical reports redone and notarized. I also sent them (along with our home study) back to the
Secretary of States office to be State Sealed again.
May 24, 2012:
Received our finished home study and sent it along with our I800A
application to the USCIS.
May 30, 2012:
Received documents back from Secretary of States office.
June 1, 2012:
Realized I forgot to send copies of our birth certificates and marriage
license with our I800A applicationL CRAP!!!
June 2, 2012:
Sent additional documents to the USCIS and also sent some more dossier
document off to Bringing Hope to Children for review. Hopefully just need one last document (fingerprint approval
letter…I797) to complete our dossierJ
June 4, 2012:
Got a receipt in the mail from the USCIS.
June 5, 2012:
Sent checks to Dick at Bringing Hope to Children so that he could get
our Dossier (minus the I797 approval) off to the State Department, Chinese
Embassy and our marriage certificate to the Jamaican Embassy. Then he will expedite our last document
when we get it.
June 8, 2012:
Got our fingerprint appointment letter in the mail. We are scheduled to
have them done on June 25th at noon. But…we are going to try walking in early on June 14th
to get then doneJ
June 14, 2012: Got our fingerprinting done at the Michigan
City USCIS office.
June 22, 2012:
Received a couple video clips of Lia dancingJ
SO cute!!
July 12, 2012: Instead of the I797 approval, we got an RFE
(Request for Further Evidence) in the mail from the USCISL The good news is…we have finally been
assigned an officer. But the bad new is…more paperwork has to be sent in before
we can be approved.
July 13, 2012:
Sent the RFE paperwork via UPS to the USCIS to arrive first thing Monday
morning July 16th. Hopefully, we can now be approved quickly and
have our I797 in hand by the end of next week.
July 19, 2012:
We received our I797 via USP today from the USCIS. I made a copy and had it notarized. SO
relieved to finally have this last needed document in handJ
July 20, 2012:
I made a quick trip to the Secretary of States office, in Indianapolis
to have our I797 document sealed and then sent it UPS to our advocate agency to
arrive on Monday morning.
July 20, 2012:
Gifts to China with Love send a package to Lia from us<3 I sure hope
she gets it and that she likes the backpack, books, journal, snacks, etc…
July 23, 2012:
Dick at Bringing Hope to Children overnighted our I797 to our courier
Laura Morrison in Washington DC so that she could take it to the Department of
State and also to be authenticated at the Chinese Embassy. Yes…each of our
dossier documents have to follow this same path. CRAZY!!!
July 31, 2012:
Dossier to China!!! Now to pray for a quick LID (Log in Date) so that we
can start counting the days waiting for LOA (Letter of Acceptance)…the next big
step;)
August 3, 2012:
Our Dossier arrived via FedEx safely to China.
August 20, 2012:
We got an email from our agency that our dossier was logged-in at the
CCCWA (Chinese Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption) on August 6th…so,
we are on day 14 of the wait for LOA.
October 10, 2012:
We have our LOA (Letter Seeking Confirmation)…on Day #67!!!
One big step closer to our girlJ
October 15, 2012:
Our I-800 paperwork arrived at the USCIS lockbox in Texas.
October 25, 2012:
We were approved by the USCIS to adopt Lia. We got an email from our
officer and we should have the actual approval in had soonJ
October 27, 2012:
Got an email from the National Visa Center with our Guz#. We should have
our approval letter soon.
November 1, 2012:
We got our PDF approval from the National Visa Center and forwarded it
to Heartsent (our adoption agency).
November 6, 2012:
We got our passports back from the Chinese Embassy in Chicago via
There’s Always Hope (our courier) this morning…with Visa’s attached.
November 7, 2012:
Our Article 5 paperwork dropped off at by our China representative.
November 23, 2012: Our Article 5 paperwork was picked up by
our China rep and sent to the CCCWA.
We are now officially waiting for Travel Approval.
December 7, 2012: We got our Travel Approval from China
today!!! Time to start booking appointments, hotel and flights. SO excited!!!
December 10, 2012: We got our Consulate Appt. (Jan. 15th)
and we also booked our flights to China. We leave Jan. 3rd!!! We are coming Lia<3
.jpg)
