Where We're At

Saturday we got our BIG "binder" in. This is a very important part of the journey and one we have been waiting on for a long time. "The Binder" has every piece of information we wanted to know about the adoption journey, everything we need to do step by step, what to expect in the next 9-12 months and every stat and everything we need to know about the Democratic Republic of Congo (did you know French is the "official" language (although they speak Lingala, Kikongo, Tshiluba and Swahili) and you only pass items with your right eye because the left hand is only used for personal hygiene?!?!).

I spent all day Saturday during feeding times and nap times reading the binder and stayed up super late Saturday. It made me beyond anxious to get our little baby! Here are the steps:

• Obtain 3 copies of all of our Vital Statistic Documents
• Complete our USCIS (Department of Immigration/Homeland Security) I600A and I864 documents (These are requests for our child to become a US citizen and showing that we can support this child). **Done but can't be send off until we have our completed home study. Once we send it off and they approve, they will send us a letter with a time and date to show up at the USCIS office in Amarillo for fingerprints**
• Start immunizations immediately. It takes 7 months to get all required vaccines. Here's our list:
• Yellow Fever
• Typhoid
• Meningitis
• Polio
• Hep A
• Hep B
• Tetanus
• Schedule our home study **Done**
• Get a passport **Done**
• Set up a filing system with 14 different labels **Done**
• Set up a FedEx account **Done**
• Complete our TEN hours of education **working on that every day during nap and every evening. I graduated 3 years ago, I'm not suppose to sit through any more lectures!!!**
• Complete our dossier. This is the most important document we will ever complete because it's what is sent to Congo and they will match us with our baby based off of the information submitted.

All of our documents and referral letters (thank you so much to those who took the time to fill out the referrals for us) are into Deborah, our social workers office and case is ready to be started. We get our first vaccine and meet with Deborah for our first office visit next Thursday! After that she will come to our home the following week and visit with us for FOUR hours and tour the home! We will then wait about 2 months for her to approve us then work on our Dossier. From there it will take about 2-3 months for our child to come home!!!! We are getting so much closer! Everything has been tedious but moving so smoothly. Continue to pray the rest of the process goes just as well!