05 January 2010

Almost There!!!!!

We are fingerprinted!!!! I planned to take a picture of us with our blackened fingers outside the local USCIS office......that's about all I can do to make fingerprinting exciting, but the office threw me a curveball. Our fingerprints were digitally taken! I didn't ask to have them taken the old fashioned way for the sake of our picture. I don't want to slow this final step! After almost 17 years in the Navy, I know my background is clean; now we just wait to see what's in Alicia's closet.

We are so close to the end of the paperchase we can taste it! We now wait for the all-important I-171H Form from USCIS once they complete our background check. We will easily wrap up the few remaining items before that form arrives. As soon as we get it, we'll mail our Dossier to America World (our agency). America World will thoroughly review it, walk it over to the State Department for certification, and then ship it to their folks in Ethiopia who begin the beaurocratic process with the Ethiopian government. Surprisingly, America World only takes about a week to get the Dossier to Ethiopia after receiving it. The date of Dossier to Ethiopia (DTE) is the next significant milestone. Then the waiting really begins.


We had a great Christmas with family in Florida, and we wonder how different our next Christmas will be. There is a small chance we will have our son by then. Even though we expect to be DTE by the end of the month, the Ethiopian government shuts down for vacation from mid-August to October. That vacation period makes our chances "small." The silver lining about waiting is we can distract ourselves with moving to San Diego!

2 comments:

  1. Hello! I followed the link to your blog off of the AWAA site. I was so excited for you when I read this posting, because we are in the exact same spot in our adoption process. We finally got fingerprinted last Thurs. and are waiting on that to turn in our dossier. So, I get your excitement-- it feels like such an accomplishment to have made it to the USCIS office! Do you know how long it usually takes to receive the approval? Congrats to you-- maybe we'll see you in Ethiopia! My email is barram3158@comcast.net
    God Bless,
    Karley (Barram)

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  2. Dear Alicia & David,

    I was so glad to get your Christmas card and learn the news of your adoption plans! Please know that you are both on my prayer list as you move through this exciting adventure.
    I hope to see your lucky son at Crescent Beach in the near future!

    Warmly, Amy (Spurrier) Moody
    mathisfunandgood@bellsouth.net

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