Get inked.

When adopting a child you and your family are submitted for evaluation by DFACS, a licensed social worker AND you also have to undergo background checks which are performed by local police, state and federal bureau agencies. Then there's the Mother of ALL background checks: The one that is conducted by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS"). This final step will get you the coveted Holy Grail of adoption documents: the I-171H (or I-797). You cannot leave home without it!
For our Ethiopian adoption we were fingerprinted on January 24, 2006 and did not get our I-171 until March 24, 2006. Brian and I were fingerprinted this morning at 9:00 a.m. for this current adoption. Word on the street is they are processing applications faster now. So, let the countdown begin....

Oh, brother...

Proof that possession is 9/10th of the law:

Little Brother: Mama, Mama. Come here!

(.... leads Mama by the hand from the family room into his bedroom)

Little Brother: Mama, MY clock!

Mama: Where did you get this clock?

Little Brother: Mimi's room.

Mama: Well... if you took the clock from Mimi's room doesn't that make it Mimi's clock?

Little Brother: MY clock in MY room!

Happy Diwali

Tonight in India they begin a five day celebration called Diwali, a national holiday also known as the "Festival of Lights." During this time, homes in India are decorated as plentiful as you might see Christian homes adorned to mark the Christmas holiday. For Hindu's this holiday recalls King Rama’s return from a 14 year exile in the forests. When he was allowed to return, people set out rows of lights to welcome him back. The larger meaning for the lights is the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil. Diwali is celebrated much as the American Thanksgiving and is enjoyed by people of all faiths. It is a time of great joy with an emphasis on family and charity.

Everything looks great, but...

Our agency just realized that they inadvertently forgot to include one key document in the referral package they sent to us. They emailed this to us this morning for signature/notary but my husband is out of town on business and does not return until tomorrow night which means we cannot put a signature to this document for a Notary to witness until Monday. Just the very thought of having to tack on a full week longer that our little girl has to be away from us makes me just want to cry... oh wait, I already am.



Update: Because our agency is the bestest agency EVER they are shipping the dossier and referral acceptance papers to India today as promised and will ship the last document they forgot to send us separately next week so that our processing is not unduly delayed.

FedEx delivers the goods!

Our dossier was received at our agency's office in Michigan at 11:08 a.m. Thank you Mr. FedEx Man! Since our agency never called us we are going with the theory of no news is good news and everything we sent was in order. That being said, our dossier is expected to be shipped by DHL tomorrow to India.

It's out of Our hands (...and in His)

Finally! The documents have all been returned to us from various state officials and are ALL appropriately signed, notarized, certified, apostilled, organized and are now set for delivery via FedEx along with our acceptance papers for Subhalakshmi. Now our "work" is done and here's what will happen next:
Central Adoption Resource Authority ("CARA") will receive our dossier (after it is translated). They will review it and, if they have no objection to our family, CARA will issue a No Objection Certificate ("NOC") and then the Court is petitioned to issue an order of guardianship. After that, we get the invitation to travel and bring our sweet little girl home!
This process will take anywhere from 6-8 months. Please continue to pray for our family, most especially for patience during the waiting process and for the peace that comes when there is full acceptance that God is in control.

The Dusty Paper Trail

Preparing a dossier is different for every country. When we were preparing the dossier for Ethiopia I thought it was the most complicated process EVER. Then we began the paper trail for our India dossier and realized how naive we had been all along.
EVERY single document has to be notarized. Then the notary stamp on each document has to be certified in five different counties. THEN it ALL has to be apostilled by the Secretary of State. This same process we did in our home state also had to be done in New York (where I was born, one reference letter); in South Carolina (one reference letter); Florida (where my husband was born); and Tennessee (where we married).
We also had to sign (and have notarized) five copies of a 4x6 photo of us. Um, care to know how long it takes for the notary stamp's ink to dry on photo paper? IT DOESN'T!
But wait, there's more: we also had to take pictures of every single room in our house (except for bathrooms). Needless to say, our house is "Grandma" clean right now. We even bought a new comforter for our bedroom (as our last comforter was "air drying" on our back porch and I kinda forgot it out there. Then it rained and the comforter plunged into a puddle of muddy water. Nice!)
But as of tomorrow all of this is behind us when all these documents and photos go off to our agency to be processed in India. You thought this was the hard part? Nah... compared to the wait that begins tomorrow, this was all a piece of cake. I guess this is kinda like what my mom told me about labor, "once it's over, you forget the pain..."

What's in a name?

Our daughter's name means beauty and good fortune. Well, trust us, she sure is beautiful and we are feeling very fortunate so I think it is a fitting name. Even more interesting is that her given name ends with "mi" and as many of you know, our son has been referring to his sister as Mimi since we first told him he was going to have a sister -- long before we knew who she was or what name she had.
We received our referral for this adorable 5 1/2 year old girl on November 1, 2007, the first day of National Adoption Month. In our hearts we accepted this referral as soon as we got the call but we told them officially on November 5th. Our dossier and referral packet was shipped via FedEx to our agency on November 6th for next day delivery. Then everything will be sent to India on November 8th and a travel invitation is (expected) to be issued within 6-8 months.
"Mimi" is a already a central figure in our family even though she is not home yet. Once she is home her life will be shared with equal billing along with the rest of our family on our main blog, No Small Feat. However, as our process is still underway and to respect India restrictions, I created this private website and invite you all come here for updates on our adoption in India as well as to learn more about the wonderful culture of India and the area of Orissa, where our daughter waits for us.