This morning Jer and I had a doctor appointment to get our vaccinations started for travel, since the HepA series is 6 months in between shots. In addition to the HepA, we got the dTap and a prescription for typhoid. Africa here we come!
Today we also got our monthly update from AGCI. We are #74 on the waitlist for January! Hoping to see some good jumps on the waitlist this spring!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
January 4, 2011
I was given 3 bags overflowing with size 2T little girls clothes/shoes today from a friend whose daughter has outgrown them. It was like Christmas! So strange though to walk into the house with pink and even stranger to hang a few of them up in the closet. Though still a ways a way, I was picturing our daughter in them, thinking about her and longing to meet her.
December 30, 2010
Jer and I headed up to Naperville for our USCIS fingerprinting today! We were up at 4:30 am and on the road by 5:15 am. Amazingly we arrived for our 8:00 am appointment and were finished by 8:10 am! While the office looked a lot like any other government facility, the efficiency and friendliness of the employees was surprising!
Ironically after arriving back home we had received an email from our case manager from AGCI stating the following:
"The Ethiopian government is now requiring a family’s Favorable Determination Letter (FDL) to be included in the authenticated dossier. For those new to this term, this is your family’s immigration pre-approval issued by USCIS and instructions for obtaining this document are in Section 6 of the dossier packet. As you know, until now families have been able to complete their dossier, move to the official waiting stage, and work to obtain immigration pre-approval during the wait. However, effective January 1, 2011, families whose dossier has not been submitted to AGCI for review will be required to obtain immigration pre-approval through the I-600A process prior to dossier submission. Many other agencies working in Ethiopia have been requiring this already and AGCI previously worked under this model. In the overall scheme of your adoption process, we are not anticipating it will change your wait time."
So thankfully this should not effect our waitlist status. Our FDL is due to arrive within 3 months. Once that is sent off to AGCI we will be ready to receive a referral!
Ironically after arriving back home we had received an email from our case manager from AGCI stating the following:
"The Ethiopian government is now requiring a family’s Favorable Determination Letter (FDL) to be included in the authenticated dossier. For those new to this term, this is your family’s immigration pre-approval issued by USCIS and instructions for obtaining this document are in Section 6 of the dossier packet. As you know, until now families have been able to complete their dossier, move to the official waiting stage, and work to obtain immigration pre-approval during the wait. However, effective January 1, 2011, families whose dossier has not been submitted to AGCI for review will be required to obtain immigration pre-approval through the I-600A process prior to dossier submission. Many other agencies working in Ethiopia have been requiring this already and AGCI previously worked under this model. In the overall scheme of your adoption process, we are not anticipating it will change your wait time."
So thankfully this should not effect our waitlist status. Our FDL is due to arrive within 3 months. Once that is sent off to AGCI we will be ready to receive a referral!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
December 25, 2010
A very merry Christmas! We feel so blessed with our amazing circle of family and friends. What a gift they will be to our daughter! We think of next Christmas and how our family could be hanging another stocking out for Santa!
December 16, 2010
Really frustrated this week! We were due to have our last fingerprinting appointment with the USCIS on December 21, which is the kids last day of school before break. We weren't sure how that would work out as our appointment was set for 8am in Naperville (2 1/2 hours away) and how childcare could be arranged. We were assured via our agency that we could request another time, so I mailed off a form December 1st. When I still hadn't heard back this week, I began making many phone calls to government offices and sent several urgent emails. I finally heard back today that our new date was set. Phew!
December 10, 2010
Gavin requested to sleep downstairs tonight in his new room. In one quick moment Emmett climbed into the bottom bunk where his big brother once resided and promptly said,"my bed!" I tucked Gavin into bed, solo for the first time in three years as Emmett joined Keaton for their first slumber as bunk mates. With that I walked by the empty nursery and knew it was no longer Emmett's. It now waits for another sibling to take his place!
December 8, 2010
We just received our December update and we are #80 on the girl wait list! While this is not as big of a move from our last update, it is still bringing us closer to our daughter.
In this waiting time we have been working on preparing Gavin's room downstairs. With a fresh coat of paint, furniture arranged, and a Star Wars theme for the decor-our eldest is getting excited for a room to call his own!
In this waiting time we have been working on preparing Gavin's room downstairs. With a fresh coat of paint, furniture arranged, and a Star Wars theme for the decor-our eldest is getting excited for a room to call his own!
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