In the Army we have a common phrase which describes life in the Army: "Hurry Up and Wait". Adoption is just like that because we work as hard and as fast as we can and then we wait. Work and wait, work and wait.
May 2005 - We knew that God had a special child he intended for our family
January 2010 - We felt God telling us it was time, so we began researching adoption programs and adoption agencies.
Feb 18, 2010 - Selected Children's House International adoption agency and contacted a social worker to find out about the International Home Study process.
Feb 19, 2010 - Began the paperwork process of the home study. We couldn't do much because Lauren was still deployed but we completed the required online adoption classes as well as the background questionairre which resulted in over 40 typed pages of answers.
May 20, 2010 - Changed social workers because ours retired.
July 22, 2010 - Lauren arrived home from deployment. Yay!
July 29, 2010 - Social worker conducted our individual interviews.
Aug 10, 2010 - Contacted a family that was just getting back from Ethiopia with their new little boy.
Sept 2, 2010 - Completed the application process for the Ethiopia program
Sept 8, 2010 - Social worker received the three reference letters from friends and family
Sept 9, 2010 - Social worker conducted home inspection and couple interview.
Sept 10, 2010 - Accepted into Children's House International Ethiopia program and of course, more paperwork assigned.
Sept 11, 2010 - Mailed in our passport renewal applications and fees.
Sept 20, 2010 - Began working on the dossier while we finished up the home study
Sept 25, 2010 - Home visit #3 with social worker
Oct 20, 2010 - Home visit #4 with social worker
Oct 30, 2010 - All home visits and documents completed for home study. Just waiting for our social worker to finish typing it up so it can be submitted to Children's House for review and approval.
Dec 11, 2010 - Finally!! Our social worker finished typing up our home study and submitted it for approval.
Dec 14, 2010 - We received 5 copies of our approved home study.
Dec 17, 2010 - Submitted our I-600A application along with copy of home study, and $890 fee to USCIS.
Dec 22, 2010 - USCIS received our application and mailed out a notice of receipt.
Dec 30, 2020 - Received our notice of biometrics appointment. It was scheduled for Jan 25, 2011 at 10 am down in Salt Lake City (about 1 hr 45 minutes from our home). We were scheduled to move to Georgia with the Army on January 24, so we had to push that back a day.
Jan 24, 2011 - Packed up our house in a Penske truck and cleaned all night long.
Jan 25, 2011 - Woke up at 6 am to clean roads, at 8 am when we were supposed to leave there was 6 inches of snow on the road. We didn't arrive to our appointment until 1:30 pm ... 3 1/2 hours late. They were very kind and allowed us to get fingerprinted anyway.
Jan 29, 2011 - Arrived in Georgia. Matt reported for duty at Ft. Benning, GA.
Feb 12, 2011 - Received our 171-H (I-600A) approval. Hooray!!
Mar 02, 2011 - Finally found an agency willing to do our home study update and for only $800!
Mar 13, 2011 - Social worker performed interviews and home inspection.
Apr 25, 2011 - Received 3 copies of our new, updated home study.
May 09, 2011 - Mailed in new homestudy, copy of old homestudy, and update request to USCIS.
May 27, 2011 - Notarized remaining dossier documents. Had the affidavit of dossier and power of attorney authenticated at the county level. Sent it off to be authenticated by the GA Secretary of State.
June 3, 2011 - Received the Authenticated documents back in the mail.
June 4, 2011 - Mailed the original dossier to Assistant Stork to be authenticated by the U.S. Department of State as well as the Embassy of Ethiopia. Mailed notarized dossier copies to our adoption agency.
June 9, 2011 - Fully authenticated dossier and notarized copies are on their way to Ethiopia!!
June 14, 2011 - Our dossier arrived in Ethiopia and is now undergoing translation to Amharic!
September 15, 2011 - The Army moves us to Fort Stewart, GA
March 9, 2012 - Re-fingerprinted for 171-H renewal
March 21, 2012 - Daddy deploys to Afghanistan for 9 months
July 23, 2012 - Changed child preferences to boy or girl between the age of newborn and 2 1/2 years old, potentially with sibling boy or girl up to age 4. Can be HIV+
