After a couple of slight twists and turns finalizing my home study, it is complete! I am so thankful for my wonderful social worker who put in long hours and worked when she was very sick to get it done. My I-800a application has been filed and received, and I should receive my fingerprint appointment date sometime this week! Martha (my roommate) and I both have to be fingerprinted (any adult over 18 living in the house has to be), so we are hoping that the date and time are convenient to the teacher life. But we will see. My other documents are being sealed at the State Department and Embassy this week, and should be back next week! So basically...I am done with paperwork and am now twiddling my thumbs. (It's driving me crazy. A friend warned me that this was a very unsettling feeling and she was right.) Once the documents come back, they'll go to my agency for review and to wait for the other two documents (home study, I-800a approval). Once those come and go through the certification/sealing process, then they go to my agency, and then everything goes to China. {I feel like I've explained this before. But that's where I am in the process. After everything goes to China, I will get a log-in date (LID) and then will be waiting for my LOA (Letter of Approval). That will likely take two to three months, and then it will be another two to three months to travel. I am still thinking October is a good prediction of when I will travel, but it's tough to say.}
Fundraising/Financial Stuff:
As I mentioned in a previous post, I was the recipient of a very generous Rosalynn's Hope grant. This was an incredible gift in that it covers my last two agency fees, as well as a fee to the Chinese government to process the adoption. The end of the puzzle fundraiser, the knitting fundraiser from my sweet niece Jenna, and the beginning of the envelope fundraiser (as well as my savings, of course!) covered my home study and USCIS fee (for I-800a application fee and fingerprint fee). So of course, that leaves the question "What's left?"
The biggest fee left is the orphanage fee, which will be paid at travel time to the orphanage where Ella has been registered since she was a day old. It is basically a childrearing fee, and it goes toward helping other babies who are still in the orphanage. That is around $5700. The other fees are for traveling in country (we will travel from Beijing to the capital of Ella's province to Guangzhou, where the U.S. Consulate is located), fees to finalize her adoption, and post-adoption services (follow ups with the social worker, and with the agency, which is required by China and is great for Ella and for me!). They add up to about $8,000 (more or less). My hope and prayer is that 200 Red Envelopes for Ella continues to do well! It has been really wonderful so far, and I am hoping that it will continue to be a way for friends to support Ella's adoption. I am also saving as much as possible and am applying for another big grant (the deadline is by the end of April). I am hoping that I will qualify for that grant, which would make a big dent in what is left!
Also, the Photo Mini-Session Event held by Wild Honey Photography has been moved to April! Because of our wintery winter, it was decided that holding off until it would probably be warmer was the best idea. Contact information is still the same though, and is on the picture!
The biggest blessing of all is that every time something has been due or I've needed the money for a fee, it has been provided for. It's kind of unexplainable. But people will say, "Oh, the money just shows up!" And it's true!
I'm so thankful for the generosity of friends (and strangers!) who have chosen to be a part of bringing Ella home.
congrats!!!!
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