Fingerprints complete!!!

I still cannot believe I am writing this! On Friday in the mail, we rec'd notice to go get our fingerprints taken at any time Tues.-Sat. at the Northwest office!!! Well, it being Friday night, do you think we would wait one more second until our next opportunity...no sir! We were up bright and early the next day...of course we got lost but still made it there by 9:30...there was NO ONE there at all...we were the only ones really in the room! Everyone was so pleasant and we were out of there in 20 minutes for both me and Joe! Crossing fingers that the I 171 comes as soon as possible, we have heard Houston is very fast with this :)
Also, as of today January 31st...we have all of our documents back, completely authenticated and verified by all SOS's and Chinese Consulates, so now all we need is the I-171H and then we are DTC!!!!
Hopefully we will hear something soon!

Waiting...Fingerprints

Well, I have been trying to keep myself busy waiting for a response from USCIS about our fingerprints...it is hard though :( Everytime I go to the store I always find something for our new little girl or for travel or whatever. I figure if I buy a little at a time, we won't be spending a ton when she arrives! Our I600A was rec'd at Houston USCIS on January 21st so it hasn't been that long and I really should "expect" anything yet, but I can't help myself!
As soon as we are DTC we will begin the process of creating her bedroom, which I am sure will take a while. We have chosen a Butterfly and Chinese decor. My friend Cricket put together a puzzle that is a giant fan with chinese scenery all over and it is actually the shape of a fan. This will be the focal point of the room. The documents for TX go to the consulate today and then that is finished. WE are also still waiting for our NJ docs to come back from the NY Consulate..hopefully soon!
Till the next time!

FCC Houston Meeting!

Today ,Jan 22nd, we went to the FCC Houston Waiting Families meeting. It was held at St. Thomas University at 10 am. We almost got lost...again!!!
There were quite a few children there who were back home already and they were absolutely darling! We took Spencer and he was happy to play with all the little girls...he is quite the ladies man ;)
We listened to advice from the other parents on their trip, traveling, what the kids will be like when they get home, meds to take, all the stuff we were interested in. It was a nice meeting, there were quite a few families there. I was able to talk a bit to Nancy S.( sorry forget the sp?) who is the main person for Houston FCC chapter, she was wonderful to speak to. We started talking about the upcoming Chinese New Year which I can hardley wait for. She mentioned almost everyone dresses up for the occasion in Chinese dress so...hmmm..."Joe, can we go to Chinatown today???" :) I was able to get a beautiful Magenta colored Chinese dress. Man, I need to lose a few pounds...those dresses are SMALL in the hips, but I got one that I will get tailored a bit so that it doesn't split it down the middle if I sit down..could you imagine if that happened at the party????
A lovely day today...AND we also got our receipt back from USCIS that they rec'd our I 600A!!! Whoooppeeeee!

Timeline so far...

November:
18 th- Ordered Vital records from Illinois and New Jersey on a whim that we may start soon!!!

December:

6 th- Brought application to Harrahs
7 th - APPROVED!!!!
8 th - Picked up first package from Harrahs
Got passport pics done
Bought corn huskers lotion
9 th - Applied for passports
10 th - brought completed papers back to Harrahs
15 th - First call from Social Worker and rec'd HS documents(30 pages) to be completed via email
17 th - Applied for new SS card :( lost mine
21 st - First payment to agency
Spoke to Dossier consultant( and have DAILY ever since!!!)
27 th - Rec'd passports
29 th - Home vist done/paperwork completed, only one visit for our SW :) Waiting for Final draft to be sent
31 st - All docs started to be sent out for authentication and verification

during the month of December, we completed TX and NJ criminal checks, obtained all the kids documents we needed, all of our docs that started arriving, financial statement, doctor appointments which carried over into January, as well as the employment verification, etc etc

January:
3 rd - Illinois doc sent to SOS
5 th - Doc back from Illinois SOS!!!
6 th - Illinois doc sent to Consulate
10 th - Physicals and TB tests completed
Rec'd first draft of the HS
NJ Vitals sent to SOS in Trenton
12 th - NJ vitals back from SOS ( one doc was not authenticated as the registrar was no longer there :( )
13 th - NJ Childabuse clearance done(this was a nightmare!!! )
Have all Vital records now, all documents are in our dossier consultants hands
17 th - Doc back from Illinois consulate
New Marriage license re-sent to Trenton SOS
18 th - Final HS documents mailed to us from SW( 4 notarized copies)
19 th - marriage doc back from NJ SOS
All NJ Docs sent to NY consulate
20 th - All Houston Docs sent to Austin SOS( almost didn't happen, there was a problem with paperwork, Stephanie the superwoman came to the rescue again!)
MAILED COMPLETED I-600A WITH COMPLETED HOMESTUDY TO HOUSTON USCIS SENT CERTIFIED MAIL
22 nd - Houston USCIS HAS our paperwork , rec'd return receipt!!!
COME ON FINGERPRINTING APPOINTMENTS!!!
28 th - Fingerprint appointment notice...we were shocked to say the least that is came so fast!!!! 29 th - Fingerprints done at the Northwest Freeway location in Houston- we were in and out in 20 minutes, on a SATURDAY!!!
COME ON I-171H !!!!!!!!!
31 st - All NY consulate docs are back!!!!
At this time ALL of our authentications and verifications are complete ( except for the I 171 of course)

February
2nd - Completed dossier arrives at Harrahs
3rd - I-171H arrives!!!! WHEEEEEEE!!!! I-171 faxed to Stephanie for authenications and verification
4th - I-171H sent Fedex to Austin SOS
Pictures for dossier are made prettier with background paper and also passport pics delivered to Harrahs
8th - Drove to Austin SOS to PICK UP docs
( have to wait until Monday for Stephanie to bring to Houston Consulate - CNY is this
week) :(
14th - Houston Consulate papers hand delivered and completed!
15th - Completed papers arrive at Harrahs to complete dossier.
18th - DTC - YIPPPPEEEE!!!!! Second Payment to Harrahs
28th - LID ( LOG IN DATE) China now knows who we are !!!
AND THE WAIT BEGINS.... 6 -8 MONTHS AND COUNTING!
So as far as the paperchase goes we began on Dec 7th 2004 with the acceptance of our application to Harrahs, and DTC on February 18th 2005.. LID on Feb 28th, 2005
FAST FORWARD:
October
REFERRALS!!! - October 3rd, call came in at 12:24 pm by Stephanie. Cricket documented the whole conversation and the trip to Harrahs to see our baby. Video will be put together at some point for all to enjoy! Got first glimpse of Sydney Marie Qian Xin Yan from Qianjiang Municipality, Chongqing.

November- Waiting on TA's(Travel Approval) to arrive to request Consulate Appointment and travel schedule....will update as soon as I know!


From Application to DTC ...That is 2 months, 1 week and 4 days...WOW!!! I truly believe God allowed us to go so fast because there is a little girl who really needs us sooner than later! We are extremely fortunate that we have gotten through this stage so fast as I know there are some who do the chase for 5-8 months prior to DTC. Wishing all those folks who are doing the chase that it be speedy and that you don't encounter many bumps in the road!
From LID to Referral - 7 months and 5 days

Rogers Family History

Well...Here we are...My first post!

My name is Anne Marie Rogers(32) and my husband is Joe(34) and we live in Spring, Texas. We have two biological boys named Kyle (12) and Spencer(4). Joe and I have been married for a little over 5 years now!

We just moved to Spring in August of 2004 from NJ and what a change! We absolutely love it here and are so happy we came. Our house is huge and MUCH less expensive than what we had in NJ. The weather is great here, we like it warm so this suits us just fine. Compared to FREEZING winters that never end with snow and ice ...you get the picture...no thanks, you can have it! I do miss my friends and family though, but I am sure we will visit as often as possible.

We have always talked about having a girl, but we were never dealt those cards as far as kids go. We were blessed with two healthy wonderful boys.

Joe and I have talked about adoption at many times, but we finally decided to go for it on December 6th 2004...I was thrilled! We talked about many different options but came to the conclusion that China was just right for us and our daughter was out there...somewhere.

We signed with Harrahs Family Services http://www.hfsadopt.com/ on December 6th and were approved on December 7th. We were thrilled to say the least on how responsive they are at Harrahs...we highly recommend them if you are looking into adoption from China and want the best service going.

Prior to this I had gone ahead and ordered some of our Vital statistic forms, which will have proven to be the best thing I could have done at the time.