Operation: A Year Later

We are in the waiting period now (still #8), which is a little strange that we have nothing to fill out or work on right now.  Our next step is either get a match.  Dossier (pronounced:  Doe/ce/ay) is a French word meaning collection of papers...What went into this Dossier that is waiting to be translated as we speak?

Here's a list of all the things we had to do for the Home Study (done locally) and the Dossier:
References:  2 from family members, 2 from friends, 2 from co-workers.
Medicals:  2 medical checks (for home study and dossier) on each of us which consisted of 5 vials of blood, TB tests, eye exam, quick hearing check, & urine samples.
Police Background checks:  Locally (2x with notary) and in several counties in Ohio.
Fingerprints:  Locally AND Federally (for USCIS...New Orleans)
Vital Records- Birth Certificates, Marriage License
Application Letter- A letter to the Republic of China asking permission to adopt.
Financial Statement- Lists all of our assets/liabilities and net worth
Passports:  I needed a new one (it had expired), and Bob needed one.
Home Study: This alone took 5 months.  It is a 16 page document that lists everything about us and our families.
Life Study:  50 questions about each of us
i797-  Approval by the US immigration saying yes we can adopt and details about age, etc.
Photographs:  Passport Photos, Inside of house, outside of house, her room, pictures of us together
Adoption Parenting Classes:  12 hours of classes where we learned about the culture/history of China, attachment, etc.  These classes even taught us what to say when we get asked strange questions.  This is the part I wish I'd remember better (took classes in May).  That's why I have Bob-gle (Google for Jen's).

Now most of this stuff had to be notarized, then sent off to the state to make sure the notarization was legit.  THEN, we had to sent it off to our China Consulate in Houston (NY for Ohio paperwork) to get it authenticated.  They checked to make sure it wasn't too old and no staples were removed, etc.

I tell this story just to have a little history for our child.  Many of these papers were needed regardless of adopting domestically or internationally.

Sometimes God's plan is a little different than what you originally had, but China is where our daughter is.  We just are overjoyed and eager to see her face.  As Bob said, this is an exciting part...how will we get the call, what we be doing, etc.  It is our journey/Operation of how we became a family of 3.  Now we know it will happen in HIS time, but we've been very patient...it's been a year...we are READY to see our little girl's face.