We're Approved!!!! We're Approved!!!

Today, we received the coveted and last piece of paperwork, the I-171H, stating we have been approved to adopt a child internationally. It took exactly 47 days - but who's counting??!!

Now, we must guard this document with our lives!!! The original must be hand carried to China in order to get us in the door, so to speak. This document will be copied 6 or 8 times and the copies must be notarized as being authentic photocopies of the original. I will get this done in lightning fast time and will overnight the copies to Great Wall. I will include the other last pieces of our dossier: Family Photos, Home Study Attachments, our final contract fee and the China registration and wiring fee. With any luck, the package will be there by Tuesday, January 17th, 2006. Great Wall still must have the I-171H photocopy and notarial statement sent for Certification (Secretary of State) and Authentication (Chinese Consulate) before the entire dossier can be sent to China. Maybe they can get a swift turnaround on this part???!!! Once the whole set of documents from our dossier has been sent off to China, we will know our Date-To-China (DTC) date. Then it is logged in at the Consulate in Guangzhou, China and a month or so later, we will know our Log-In-Date (LID). From there, wait, wait, wait......