Monday, January 31, 2011

...and, Tracking the I-600A

Well folks... seems you get two posts in one day!

I just arrived home to find 4 letters from the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). I expected the first one - the I-797C, Notice of Action - saying, "Hey, we received your application and you're now in the queue." The second letter was just a receipt itemizing the fees we paid. Okay - so that's nice to have for our 2011 taxes.

What I didn't expect where the next two letters - the ones informing us our second round of fingerprints is scheduled for February 24th. Their language ("capture your biometrics") sounds cooler :) I figured these letters would be a week or two away but here they are!

We have to drive all the way over to St. Paul so they can capture our biometrics. Don't they know we're just across the river and would go tomorrow if they'd let us in!?! I'll ask our adoption social worker if it's possible to push it up a bit but I don't want to mess up the orderly process they seem to have going at the USCIS. So far they've done right by us and they best way to avoid trouble might just be to follow instructions and show up when told.

And in case anyone has any lingering doubts about us - we've now been fingerprinted and background checked by nearly everyone that matters... MN Dept of Human Services, FBI, USCIS/DHS. I guess we're missing Interpol...

Tracking the Dossier

FYI - If you've visited the site before, you'll notice a small change... I moved the Timeline to a separate page instead of making you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the Home page. Check out the navigation bar at the top of the blog.

I've been trying not to obsess about tracking the Dossier that's on its way to the RMI and been pretty good so far. I saw that as of Friday, it'd made its way to Guam and since we were told it could be there for 1-2 weeks, I didn't much think about checking over the weekend or even today. So, imagine my surprise when I went to get the date (from Friday) to update the timeline and the tracking says that the Dossier is "out for delivery" in Majuro, RMI! I'm waiting until the tracking updates with a "delivered" message just to make sure it's not some trick-of-tracking foolishness practiced by DHL but maybe, just maybe, it's moving a bit faster than originally expected.

Don't have an update on the I-600A (the immigration paperwork) but I did add a countdown to the top of the Timeline... it basically shows the conservative 12-week estimate for that approval. It would sure be nice if things moved more quickly there too.

So - while we wait, anything specific y'all would like to hear about? Info on Majuro and the RMI? Info on adoption? Post a few comments so I know you're reading and let me know what you want to hear. HAHA - that might be your last opportunity to provide direction on my ramblings so you may want to take advantage of it.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Welcome Friends :)

I was going to wait to invite everyone to this blog until I'd written more - but like a naughty kid at Christmas, I couldn't resist opening the package early.  Welcome to our blog!

So many of you have asked how it's going and seem genuinely interested in hearing the newest but I know I forget something each time I tell the story. Certainly keep asking as it's always fun to talk about but for all the details or when you (or I) don't have time to relay the entire story, check here for all the info.

I promise to do my best to try to keep posts going... is that like "fixin' to get ready to..."?  Well, you know what I mean :)

Monday, January 24, 2011

Progress... then waiting...

A quick note to let you all know that we received word today that our Dossier has been sent to the RMI. We were given a tracking number - probably not a good sign for my productivity at work - and a warning that the paperwork makes a long stop in Guam so not to get worried if it appears to sit there for a while. They anticipate the journey to take between 1-2 weeks.

As I've mentioned to many of you before, we've also made contact with some of the other families in the program. One has just returned from the RMI with their daughter (so, SO adorable) and the other is waiting like us. Today, we were put in touch with one other family who travelled about a year ago (I think). Haven't actually spoken with them yet but I'm looking forward to it!

Will try to write more in the next couple of days...

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Up and running... finally!

So, if you know me - and if you're reading this blog, you most likely do - you know that while I don't shy away from sharing my opinion, blogging is just not my thing. Nevertheless, I've been promising many of you that I'd start one to keep you updated on our progress in the Republic of the Marshall Islands Adoption Program and as a way to stay connected when we travel to the RMI... here goes :)

First, a few notes about our story before the RMI program...

Early in 2009, Jeff and I began talking about adopting and after a lot of thought, we decided to move forward. We contacted the adoption agency (LSS) in June and entered the Domestic Infant Open Adoption Program. By the end of July, we were home study approved and ready to adopt... just needed someone to pick us.

We decided to try for an adoption match by doing our own outreach - which means we decided not to go into the book which could have made things earlier but certainly more expensive. Instead, the idea is to network... reaching out to your friends, relatives, and coworkers and hoping that someone knows someone who knows someone (you get the idea) who might be making an adoption plan for their child. It's a great idea for some - and much less expensive - but for us, the non-social butterflies we are, we didn't really get anywhere with it.

Which brings us to the RMI program...

We first heard about the RMI program from our domestic adoption social worker. The Marshall Islands had only allowed adoptions in the US through one agency from around 2002 through 2009. In 2010 they began working with LSS on a temporary basis. While LSS and the RMI worked to establish a permanent program, they decided to offer a pilot program to 5 LSS families. We placed our names on a waiting list for when the program was approved and opened up for more families.

In November 2010, we received an email from the RMI adoption social worker asking if we'd be interested in joining the pilot program. Apparently one of the 5 families had to withdraw for personal reasons. While very sad for that family, it meant that we were off and running to push through our paperwork as fast as possible. We said yes and the paperwork began.

I've tried to reconstruct our timeline below and will continue to add to it as things progress. We're officially in a waiting period and until we hear more, I'll try to blog a bit about what we've learned so far, how we expect things to happen, and how we're preparing for our stay in the RMI.

More soon!