I600A

*(This was written November 14 but not posted until today)*

November 14, 2012 we finally picked up our completed and notarized homestudy. Holy hallelujah. Those that know me well know I am not necessarily a patient person so it was torture to wait 3.5 months to get this process finished. It's likely I'm going to need a lot of prayers in the months waiting to go pick up our children. It was even more torturous knowing that it was done the 13th but their notary was out of the office that afternoon so we couldn't pick it up. I had actually dressed the girls and myself up and was planning to mail it after picking E up from school. Instead I had to fight back the bitterness at waiting yet another day. See, I told you....patience is not my thing ;)

But my husband was able to express mail (he knows how to keep me happy & deal with impatience - good man) our precious envelope of information. It will arrive in Texas by 3pm November 15th. When they start processing it he will receive a text message and I will receive an e-mail. Even the fine folks at USCIS know how to soothe us anxious and impatient adoptive parents. For a short while at least.

So, now what? What does it actually mean to have submitted our I600A?

In a couple weeks we hope to receive a notification of an appointment for our biometrics. That's a big fancy word to say we'll be headed to Des Moines to have our fingerprints done. Once they run those and determine we're not criminals or extreme menaces to society they'll issue our approval. The I600A is an advanced processing of an orphan petition. This will give us 'permission and approval' to adopt. Later, after we have received a referral, gone through the court process and are ready for the US Embassy in Kinshasa to do their thing we'll file an I600 which is a petition to classify an orphan as an immediate relative. That will give us permission to bring them HOME to the United States as our children.

The I-171H is what we'll receive from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service when our I600A is approved. That will be the last piece of our dossier and will mean we are officially paper ready to receive a referral. Yay!

I know that was a lot of 'technical' jargon and numbers and letters and it may not make a ton of sense - I'm still trying to completely understand every single step myself. But the short of it is this is really good news. It's a big, big positive step forward.

Now, pray our approval comes back FAST. Like under 6 weeks fast. I want our approval letter for my Christmas present. How awesome would THAT be?!?