Give me a "P"!! Give me an "A"!! What's that spell?

PRE-APPROVAL IN CHINESE!!!!!!!

Another wonderful milestone has been reached! Our agency got verbal notification that our PA is on it's way! Hopefully we'll have the document in our hands before too long! Tomorrow our remaining 2 documents go to Houston for authentication. Once we get those back we'll be DTC (Dossier to China)!!! From here the timeline looks like:
(All estimates...)
July 11: Get docs from Houston and turn around to agency
July 12: Agency gets docs
July 15: Docs are double checked and sent to China (DTC date)
Aug 5: LID (Log in Date)
Oct 28: (TA) Travel Approval
Nov 25: Leave for China

These are all (hopefully) very conservative figures. It's important to me that we get our little sweetie before her birthday & Christmas. God willing, we will!

Bonnie (on cloud 9)

Found a friend!

Today I found a friend for Charleigh! Her name is... well... it's Charleigh!

Here's a link to her blog!

http://www.charleighchat.blogspot.com

Bonnie

Forgot to mention...

For all those time line watchers, here's our timeline:

3-3-05 - Filed I600A with Atlanta
4-6-05 - Fingerprinted by BCIS
6-4-05 - BCIS received final homestudy
6-14-05 - We received our 171. (6 business days!!! Atlanta ROCKS!!!)

Bonnie

I spy with my little eye...

OUR 171-H!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well Clyde and I had a bet on when our 171 would come... I'm soooo happy to announce I LOST!! Clyde guessed we'd get it on the 20th and I guessed the 27th. We were both wrong (thankfully!) but Clyde was the closest, so he wins!!

This is the last thing we were waiting for! Now it's time to get the homestudy and 171 certified at the county and state levels, then send to Houston for authentication. We are truely in the last leg of the paperchase!

Also.... congratulations to my fantastic boss and his wife on the birth of their son early this morning!!

Bonnie

My Totally Awesome Employer!!!

Not only do I have the best boss ever (who doesn't read this or even know it exists to I'm not trying to smooch the ol' buttocks here...) But my company passed an

ADOPTION ASSISTANCE POLICY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, we were doing the adoption regardless, but my company has officially recognized adoption as a legitimate way to grow your family and has responded with a very generous $5,000 reimbursement for expenses!!!!

How cool is that???? What an awesome day!!!!

Homestudy in Hand!

Well, it's official now! I have a piece of paper I can wield against unruly grandparents!! On Saturday our notarized homestudy arrived in stunningly boring paper envelope. You'd think things like this would arrive in a horse drawn carriage with a juggling act on the side... though I suppose that would only serve to distract you from the REAL event.

Here are the highlights of our homestudy:

1. "The home was clean at the time of the home visit." Page 3. I can hear a chorus of angels as I write this...
2. "[Husband] likes how [wife / me] is not afraid to make the day-to-day decisions." Page 6. Well here's a decision for you sweetheart MOW THE LAWN.
3. "[The parents] appear to be doing a wonderful job raising [our son], who is happy and a well adjusted child." Page 8 HA HA SO THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HAVE PROOF THAT I'M DOING A GOOD JOB! And it's signed, so that has to mean it's official!
4. "[The parents] are a happy, family oriented couple who are raising a happy and well mannered son. Their current family life is full of love and happiness." Page 11 "well mannered???" Well, maybe that day!
5. And finally, "It is with great please that [agency] recommends Bonnie and Clyde for the adoption of a female Asian child, 2 to 4 years in age, from China." Page 11.... Ahhhh music to my ears!

So a copy of this document is off to BCIS... based on this and our fingerprints taken in April they should be able to issue us a 171 fairly quickly. And of course, we have a bet on what day it will come, and secretely I hope Clyde is right!

So long for now-

Bonnie