February 21st, phone call received
On February 21st, 2012, we got the
unexpected call!! Much to our surprise, the adoption agency declared that we
were approximately six months away from traveling to China to pick up our baby
girl. After waiting so long, it seemed nearly impossible to believe! We talked
to Brittany about traveling with us, and of course, she was thrilled and
overjoyed. Justin would stay here at home
with Grandma and Grandpa Mangas in order to be comfortable and keep his daily
routine.
We worked profusely to gather all of
the documents for our home study. We collected our financial statement, birth
certificates, marriage certificate, employment verifications, physicals (for
Joel, Donna, and Brittany), prior tax forms, updated bank letters, criminal
checks and background records. Our friends-Kelly,
Rich, and Melissa wrote wonderful letters for us. We have the most magnificent
friends ever and we feel incredibly blessed. All three friends have adopted beautiful
children too, so their insight has been invaluable!
Even though we tried to gather the
special documents as quickly as possible, it was still a slow process. The
final copy of our home study was submitted to the adoption agency (CCAI) on May
4th, 2012 by our social worker from Adoption Assistance, named Rebecca
Sherrard. She was wonderful, compassionate and very understanding. She worked
hard to update and submit our home study timely.
After the completion of the home
study, we then submitted our I-800 (petition to classify convention adoptee as
an immediate relative). Several weeks
later, we received our approved I-800A and request for fingerprints. We were so excited to be one step closer!!
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