Timeline

My real life friend Anya asked in the comments section in my "How Much?" post (and forgive me for not linking to this, I am posting from home and therefore do not have the instructions that Susan over at Persimmon&Pink sent to me on how to do links), what our expected timeline is at this point.

So, I am going to put my entire timeline (actual to this point) and expected (from today forward). (Some dates I didn't write down, so, they are estimated).

December 27, 2005 - received information packs from two agencies

Early January, 2006 - decided to go with our agency because of their reputation for ethical adoptions and their history (to the best of my knowledge they are the oldest working international adoption agency in the US). (Also, all three social service agencies I spoke to recommended them.)

Early January, 2006 - sent appliation to our agency and gathered paperwork for homestudy

Late January, 2006/Early Febuary, 2006 - found the waiting child, C~H~Dung on our agency's waiting child web site, filled out application for that child

February, 2006 - first meeting with social worker for homestudy

February 23, 2006 - learned that we had not been matched to C~H~Dung, hearts broken

March, 2006 - further visits with social worker for homestudy

April 11, 2006 - homestudy approved by agency

April 11, 2006 - I600A application sent to USCIS office in Cleveland

April to June, 2006 - agency sends the files of several children, Tam, Tung, JianXi, Tram, and Yen. Our hearts break with each file. We halfheartedly decide we will move forward with Tram, a 16 month old with a mild medical condition we feel we can handle. (We just don't feel like we can keep looking at files and continuing to say "no".)

June 14, 2006 - I call our agency's waiting child program to ask more questions about Tram, when, for reasons I don't entirely understand, instead of asking about Tram, I say, "what happened to waiting child G05-XYZ?" (A child who had been on their website since December 2005, we had asked about her several times, but, each time, other families were interested in her, and after our experience with C~H~ Dung, we didn't feel like we could handle competing with another family.) Our agency tells us that, in fact, all three of the other interested families have decided they wanted younger children, and she (agency representative) had been meaning to call me about her, but, she was under the impression we were seriously considering Tram. The hair on my arms and the back of my neck stands up. I have feeling of something hugely important happening. Agency overnights us the file of the G05-XYZ.

June 15, 2006 - we fall in love with the child whose photo we had been looking at on line for five months.

June 19, 2006 - we are officially matched to N~T~B~Lan, our little girl.

June 22, 2006 - finally receive request to come to Cleveland for USCIS fingerprinting

June 27, 2006 - go to Cleveland for fingerprinting

Early July, 2006 - receive I171-H form from the USCIS, favorable approval to adopt an orphan overseas

July, 2006 - gather dossier documents, take many many aspirin

July 25, 2006 - send dossier to agency

August 1, 2006 - agency sends dossier to Vietnamese Embassy in Washington D.C.

estimates from this point on:

September 1 to September 14, 2006 - agency will receive our dossier back from embassy, and send to their office in Vietnam for translation.

September 14 (earliest possible) to September 28 (hopefully latest possible) - document finishes tranlation

September 21 (earliest possible) to October 12 (hopefully latest possible) - our family dossier should be approved by the central government Vietnamese officials, and provincial officials will begin review of Lan's dossier

November 21 (earliest possible) to January 20 (hopefully latest possible) Da Nang provinicial authorities will approve Lan's dossier and approve us for travel

December 21 (earliest possible) to Feb 20 (hopefully latest possible) - travel to get Lan and bring her home.

Obviously roadblocks and red tape can rear their ugly heads at any time. So, in all honest, this is what I am hoping for. The best I can hope for is to have our daughter home in early January (and please somebody tell me, can I claim the tax exemption for her if I adopt her the last week of December but don't bring her home until January???) I am desperately hoping to have her home by March 1. If I don't, I think I will need some serious Valium.

LM