Translated and Waiting for Review

Great news! We are out of translation and now waiting for our documents to be reviewed for our approval for Aran. It is one step closer to getting our little man and we can't wait. We anticipated getting our LOA in the beginning of October, well according to the 50-70 day timeline we've seen. It really could be longer but we are really hoping that is not the case.  After the LOA will be weeks more of paper work but we will be on the final end of this journey.  
We haven't received any new updates on Aran but we hope to send him his birthday package in the beginning of October for his 2nd birthday.  We will send him a care package a b-day cake, we should receive new pictures and an update at that point. We can't wait to see how he's changed!

LID!!!!

We were informed that our Log In Date was August 11th and we couldn't be any happier to see our dossier start to move through the Chinese government. Our next step is to wait for our documents to be translated which could take up to a few weeks, but every step is one closer to bringing our little man home.  We are continuing to complete our renovations on the house and thinking about the Fall, so time should fly between now and the time we go get him-well at least that's what we tell ourselves. 

DTC!!!!!

We are finally DTC and that means our documents are on their way to China! We received all of our paperwork notarized and authenticated by Erie County, NY State, and the Chinese Consulate. Now, we wait for our dossier to have a logged-in date (LID) and the next count down begins. After LID, we wait for translation and review of our papers-this can take anywhere from 50-100 days. Aaron and I are hoping for sooner than later, we want to go and get our little man. It's time to start some fundraising to assist with final cost of bringing him home. 

I797-Approval

It's been a while since we've posted but it's been very busy. We applied for our I800a approval as soon as our homestudy was completed. We sent it in May and waited for our officer. We were assigned an officer in July and received a RFE(request for more evidence) due to the wording of the home study. We quickly sent the required paperwork and received approval and our letter was overnighted to us July 22.
All of our paperwork for our dossier has been notarized, county authenticated, NY state authenticated, and finally at the Chinese Consulate. After it is approved by China, we will send the documents to China (DTC) and wait again.
When the documents go to China, we wait for log-in date, translation/processing, and than approval. It seems that this process is going anywhere from 60-90 days and there is nothing we can do to hurry it up.  Once we are approved and receive our letter of acceptance, we will go to China in about 10-12 weeks. We are thinking it will probably be around December or January-at least we are hoping and praying for that.
Here is Aran's most recent picture and he looks adorable, it's so hard to wait!

Home Study Visit

We had our home study visit today and it went well. We are updating our domestic home study to an international, so I don't believe we will have to do another visit. It would be wonderful if it could be completed by next week and than approved by our agency. I'd like to have our I800a in by May 10th, but it's dependent on everyone else. I have in my head a timeline for this adoption, I just don't want it to take longer than necessary.  It's difficult as we look at Aran's picture and just can't wait to bring him home!  

Police Clearance

Today we went to get our police clearances for the dossier, we weren't sure what we would have to do or how long it would take. We filled out a form at the police department, paid our $10, and hoped to have it mailed to us soon. 

Completing the Home Study

Our medicals are complete and now waiting on the last social worker visit this coming Friday. She has been here before but it still can make you nervous having a stranger evaluate your lives and home. We pray all goes well and our report gets completed swiftly. We are hoping to have our Home Study approved the first week of May and than we can submit our I-800 a. It will be another step closer to bringing Aran home to us.  
We are starting to determine ways to raise funds to assist with this adoption. My husband, Aaron, has been working on making solar lights for planters that are small and easy to place on top for your garden and we have been looking into selling t-shirts to coffee. We know now is the time to be proactive and put our focus into ways to save!