Some paperwork updates

I LOVE seeing our status on Reece's Rainbow moving up! We have now moved into the "Dossier complete, awaiting USCIS approval" category! Come on USCIS just get us that golden ticket so we can get our girl!

Last Tuesday we were able to walk in and get our fingerprints done. We had an appointment for March 14 but decided to see if we could do it early and we were able to. So now the fingerprints, our homestudy, and birth certificates are assigned to an officer at USCIS and then the officer will go over everything and approve us for international adoption.

After the fingerprints I headed straight up to the capital to drop off our dossier documents to be apostilled and then I picked them up yesterday! Each step we check off is more and more exciting because it means we are one step closer!

These beauties cost a pretty penny! At $15 per document, for 33 documents, the grand total was $495 just for a pretty gold seal on each paper.....crazy!
We had to send one of our documents to be apostilled in Texas since it was notarized there so we should get that back this week and then we will just be waiting for our "golden ticket" (which from what I have heard really isn't golden and is actually quite plain, but it is called the golden ticket because it means we are good to send the papers to her country)

We have started to have slight panic attacks about all we will have to do to get ready once our travel date comes...they are exciting panic attacks but still, this is such unknown territory we are encountering traveling to another country and leaving our kids behind for over 2 weeks (and that is just the first trip)!

Many people ask about what all the costs cover. Here is a little breakdown of what we have spent so far:

$775 Homestudy

$710 apostilles

$1275 trust deposit

$ 60 vital records (i.e. birth cert. marriage, etc)

$30 state police clearances

$200 medicals and labs

$150 shipping

Total of $3200

So we have really only scratched the service of costs. Total costs are estimated to total between $25.000-$30,000.

Through this crazy paperwork chase I have been on the last few months, I have learned to be assertive. Usually I am fine to wait until someone gets back to me, but when my little girls life is at stake, I am not about to sit around and let people get to things when they feel like it. I have become comfortable in continually checking up on things to make sure they are not forgotten.

So now we wait again.....we wait for the golden ticket!!

Dear USCIS,

PLEASE send us our golden ticket SOON!!!

With love,

Kareen's mom and dad