Translation Time

I slept well last night for the first night in a week. I was actually waking up having nightmares of incorrect documents and incomplete notaries. Ridiculous I know.

Yesterday mom and I drove back up to Raleigh to get my documents apostilled. I was so nervous they wouldn't be right this time either. Well, first, the notary for the homstudy signed 'ROE' instead of 'Rose' so that document didn't pass. Luckily it was the only document I had two originals for and the second was done correctly. Then, when we went to pick up the documents at 2:30 my Wachovia statement couldn't be authenticated because it was done in Virginia. We raced around Raleigh to a nearby Wachovia bank - I pleaded with the manager in a nervous frenzy to get me a notarized letter asap. I made her so nervous she had to redo the letter 4 separate times. Then, we raced back to the Secretary of State and I pleaded with the lady up front to do one letter on a rush so I didn't have to drive back to Charlotte incomplete for the third day in a row. She did it!

Needless to say, I am thankful, relieved and excited to have another piece of the puzzle in place. My documents arrived safely in Atlanta today for translation into Russian. This should take about 10 days. After that, they'll be returned for me to copy and send everything off to the Consulate in DC! (I hopefully won't have to see them again after this unless they expire).

Side note: I was feeling a little 'whoa is me' with all the frustration and hard work over the last 2 weeks. Then, my friend, Kelly had a baby girl yesterday. I decided I'd rather be pleading with the Secretary of State over paperwork then having contractions and it made me feel a little better:).

Oh the details...

Well yesterday I woke up at 5am to drive to Raleigh to get my dossier apostilled. So exciting.

I got there about 8:30 only to find out I had to turn around and drive back home because my notary didn't use the 'official international stamp'. I hadn't heard anything about this so it was really frustrating.

Anyone adopting reading this... Check with your state apostille on the exact wording you need!!!

I had to run around yesterday redoing about half my dossier. On Monday I'll make the trip to Raleigh again but this time hopefully with more success. I can't wait to get this in the mail.

Up and Down

Well I talked with my agency contact on Friday and she said that Letters of Invitation (to travel) have been coming 60-150 days after the dossier arrives in Kazakhstan. That was exciting.

Then I went online and read a bunch of blogs about how the wait time in Kazakhstan has reportedly been close to 24 months for some families due to the long delay in China (over 2 years) and the fact that Guatemala is now closed to International adoptions.

I can not imagine the strength it will take if this takes 2 years from this point. I'm trying not to think about it and have faith. It's out of my hands. Hopefully... once the dossier arrives in about 2 months we'll get more clarity on how long the actual wait really is.

BIG DAY

So, we received our USCIS approval today (I - 171H)... It's fantastic.

So... the next steps are...
Friday - final notarization of documents
Saturday - Mail all docs off to my agency for review
Next week - Receive approval from my agency. Send all docs to be authenticated in Raleigh.
Then, I send down to Atlanta for Translation into Russian which may take about a month.
After that, off to the Kazakhstan Consulate in DC... then... off to Kazakhstan. My target date to have my Dossier arrive in Kazakhstan is around the end of April.

Kazakhstan Timeline:
10.8.07 - Sent Application
12.10.07 - Homestudy Approval
1.3.08 - Fingerprints Complete
2.13.08 - USCIS APPROVAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4.30.08 - Target date dossier arrives in Kazakhstan

Russian

So I ordered a 'How to speak Russian' CD today. I really don't want to spend 3 weeks in Kazakhstan and have no ability to communicate whatsoever. I think my poor ability to communicate with the Hispanic workers at my job showed me just how frustrating it would be...
We'll see how it goes.

So... USCIS updated their website. I think we might have approval late February on our 1-600A. I'm trying not to think about it too much but I'm super excited to finally get everything shipped off.

Other than that, nothing much new... just waiting:)