Just getiing started

Well, we are 3/4 done with the "paper pregnancy" or better known as the great paper chase. We have had to do things like getting criminal records, child abuse histories, physicals, divorce decrees (from previous marriages) and marriage certificates. We also had to be finger printed. It took us almost 4 months to get this all together and that's only the half of it ! During all of that we had to have a "home study" done also, which consisted of 4 visits from a Social worker that specializes in adoption. We both had to write our life stories to tell about how we grew up and what we did while growing up. She interviewed all of us individually and asked questions to make certain that we are fit to adopt. She then has to turn around and basically write a book about us. This book is called a Dossier. When that's done we will have to take all of the above paper work and book, have them all notarized, then take them to the department of state to be certified then mail them off to the Chinese consulate in NY to have certified. Whew, I had no idea about the amount of paper work that needed to be done for this. When we get our dossier back from NY then we can mail it off to our adoption agency who is "Chinese Children Adoption International". Who from now on will be known as CCAI. Once they receive the dossier they will translate it into Chinese then mail it off to China. Once China receives it they log it in to their system, then Gary and I will have about a 15 to 18 month wait until we go to China to get her.
I'm hoping to have the dossier in China by the end of February. I'm also hoping the wait time get shorter. Just this past June it was only 9 months.