Adoption

ALL 3 video's from our journey are at the bottom of the blog:
Our journey
Meeting them for the first time
Arriving HOME!

Our Adoption Announcement!

• July 2, 2011 - Arrived home - a family of 8 together at LAST!
• June 15, 2011 - Passed court - they are OURS!
• May 2, 2011 - Referral for 2 boys!
• April 1, 2011 - Received our approval!!! (dated Feb 22, 2011)
• Sept 17, 2010 - Found out we are #71 "in line" in Rwanda
• Aug 27, 2010 - Found out news the Rwanda is suspending adoptions to become a "Hague" country. Dossiers in country already will still be processed "as usual."
• May 27, 2010 - DTR - dossier arrives in Rwanda!
• April 26, 2010 - Handed over our dossier to AWAA
• April 25, 2010 - Put together our dossier!!! It's complete!
• April 24, 2010 - Received all documents authenticated!!! spent the afternoon copying everything!
• April 21, 2010 - FedExed the rest of the documents to Richmond for authentication
• April 16, 2010 - Trip to Richmond for authentication - 16 of 22 documents signed off
• April 13, 2010 - Received I171-H approval!!!
• April 9 and 12, 2010 - redo physical forms
• April 5, 2010 - email USCIS asking about our approval
• Feb 26, 2010 - Mailed addendum to home study to USCIS
• Feb 23, 2010 - Received letter requesting addendum to home study from USCIS
• Jan 25, 2010 - Fingerprinting for USCIS done!
• Dec 17, 2009 - I600A and homestudy mailed to USCIS
• Nov 20, 2009 - Homestudy complete!
• Nov 17, 2009 - 3rd Homestudy meeting
• Nov 9, 2009 - 2nd Homestudy meeting
• Nov 6, 2009 - all paperwork done for homestudy
• Oct 5, 2009 - 1st Homestudy meeting
• Sept 17, 2009 - after completing Hague training online and submitting initial agreements and fees, officially accepted into the Rwanda program through AWAA
• Sept 13, 2009 - told our families we are adopting
• Aug 25, 2009 - Officially approved to adopt through AWAA
• Aug 16, 2009 - told our kids we are adopting
• Aug 11, 2009 - Mail application to AWAA - to adopt from 2 children from Rwanda between the ages of 12 months and 5 years
• July 10, 2009 - Meet with America World Adoption Association
• April 2009 - Decide to adopt!!! Start researching agencies and countries