I 171H.. check

Can I get a Woo Hoo!! I got my I 171H in the mail today. Well, Mom got it since I am in California this week for work. So exciting.. things are moving along.. that was the last one I was waiting for. I am getting everything else I had to redo ready to go so I should be able to get the Dossier state certified next week. Yeah for me and my baby to be!

Documents.. documents.. documents

I have redone so many docs I dont know what I have completed. Thank goodness that my agency works with a dossier preparing company to help with the specific requirements and check them. When we start this process we dont know what a Letter of Intent is and probably dont have a notary in our circle of friends but, I do now..... And I know now that I need to take the entire dossier to the State department in Phoenix and get it all certified. That scares me! Not because I think there will be problems but because those are precious pieces of paper, painstakingly gathered over months and perfectly prepared. So what do I have to redo you ask?I need to get my Employment letter notarized so need a new one. I am going to take my notary friend to the office and get it done. Maybe I'll take him to lunch after to celebrate!! Check, one more down. Guardianship letter. Check. I got that back from L & L Monday. I needed to get an adjusted homestudy, since I am open to either a boy or a girl. Kyrgyz likes to have a positive male influence when single women adopt boys(thats my brother and possibly a future husband). Check, thats in the mail to me too. Pictures of an empty baby's room. Check, the list is getting smaller.....Thats the last of them except for the I171H.

Russian word for today: YA uSTAla which means 'I'm Tired'(female)
YA uSTAL is the male form.

Adoption groups

I have joined 2 Yahoo groups and am hoping to meet some new friends, share journeys and information and experiences. Its easy to sign up and everyone has been so friendly. I'll put the link on the list. Its comforting to know there are others experiencing the same challenges and same excitement that I am. There are some further on in the process and some just starting.
I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. Kyrgyzstan celebrates its independence August 31.!

Russian for today: na zdaROv'ye which means 'Cheers!'

USCIS... check

Mom and I were able to get our USCIS fingerprints today. Woo hoo! They have some pretty slick fingerprint scanning machines. I asked the technician why the police stations dont have them. We had to use "Goop" to get the black ink off our fingers when we got the FBI fingerprints done. She said they were pretty expensive machines... she wasnt too talkative. Oh well I was in a GREAT mood and still am. Now I wait again... BTW Learning a new language is hard. I have gotten a few books on the Russian language and think that my best bet is the 'Russian at a Glance' that I am referencing. I think its definitely helpful to have a CD or something so you can hear the pronounciation.

Russian for today = SKOL'ka STOit which means 'How much does it cost?'

1 more down

FBI fingerprints are back.. it all looks good so now I just have to get the cover sheets done. Turns out the FBI fingerprints and the USCIS appointment are completely different. I also got an email today from the USCIS with Mom's appointment and document she needs to bring with her. My Agency sent an email to them so I could reschedule and it just so happens that they have Saturday appointments. I responded to the email from USCIS asking if we could come in tomorrow (1 week before the scheduled appt), so i guess we'll see how flexible they are. I can check 1 more doc off the list (the FBI prints).

Russian for today = KAK kraSIva which means 'How Beautiful'

Eco Friendly

I have decided that when my baby comes home I will be using the gDiaper system. They are much more environmentally friendly and not that much more than regular disposable diapers. Did you know that it takes 500 years to degrade a disposable diaper. OMG. Mom is trying to convince me of cloth but I dont know. I like the idea of flushing the 'icky' away. 'Just knock the poop in the toilet and flush it away' she says. Using cloth also has the benefit of 'alerting' the baby that he or she is it may speed up the potty training. She has a bit of time to work on me and let me intvestigate the pros and cons. I will say that Utube has everything you imagine. I saw instructions on the gDiaper as well as some of the cloth alternatives. There is a link to the gDiapers website here on my blog.

I am so happy for Maria and her family. Things will begin again! Yeah!

More later

Russian word for today: pi lyon ka which means Diaper

Redo and resend

Well, I know now that the I600A was received by the USCIS because they sent it back to me. I didnt send in Mom's birth certificate. I keep forgetting requirements for a second adult living in the home. I just assume that since I am adopting as a single woman they only care about me. Not so much,... if another adult is living with you (no matter the relation) include them whenever you do anything. The 'duh' part in this is that, we have everything I should have sent. Mom (she's so smart) had gotten a few certified copies of her birth certificate at the same time we had my Aunt get mine. She figured it couldnt hurt. So we put her birth certificate and a copy of her passport and off it went again. I got another letter from the USCIS with my biometric appointment. I am going to try to reschedule that one so we can both go at the same time.

Things are getting a little more real for me. I had to go around the house and take pictures. One of the pictures required for my dossier is the baby's room. The baby's room is currently our office so we have office furniture in there. I wasnt planning on moving my office quite yet, but an 'office' is not a 'baby's room' so out the office furniture goes. Its ok, It will give me a chance to get it set up again in the new space. I have a crib and stroller picked out but dont want to buy it yet. I will check some of the consignment shops around town and see what I can find. I think having an empty crib would be too much for me. I dont know whether I will be referred a boy or a girl so I dont want to decorate until then.

bye for now. I will keep you posted.