Department of Homeland Security Trip

Today was a big day for us. David and I went to the Department of Homeland Security office in downtown Milwaukee. We went to be fingerprinted so they can run an FBI background check on us. If all goes well with the background check, we get a form for the dossier and then we are almost ready to send things to China. It should take a few weeks to get that form back.

I wish I had something exciting to tell about the trip, but it was really easy and quick. I picked David up at work at 10:15 and we headed downtown. The office was really easy to find; grey, non-descript government office building. I got a parking spot right across the street so we went in and even got through the metal detector just fine. They took us right away and we were on our way to lunch by 11:10. Here is the highlight, we ate at Cubanitos. It is a Cuban restaurant on Milwaukee Ave. The restaurant is very yummy and we highly recommend it.

The exciting part was how they took our finger prints. They scanned them into the computer, no old fashioned ink. It was sort of like being in a CSI lab, but no attractive workers or fancy rooms.

The next step for us is the authentication step. I am not sure what Debbie, our authenticator, does in this step, but I know it costs $1000. We will keep you all posted. Thanks for all the cell phones, print cartridges, and yard sale donations, keep them coming!

Longer?!

I just talked to the director at Brightside, which is now Homeland, our international agency. (She called to check on things, they are so nice there)She said China is taking longer with their referals. In the past it had been about 10 months from the time you sent in your dossier to when you got your referal (the picture of your daughter). Now it is take a year or longer. She said China does not want to be seen as a third world country that can't take care of its children, so they are slowing down. Plus they don't want to be the country that adopts the most babies out (which they currently are). So you ask, why not switch countries? All the countries take about this long, China was just moving a bit faster before. The only countries that may be a bit faster are some African countries. So for now, we will "stay the course" with China. In the big picture, it does not really matter, a few more months, if in the end we have our daughter home, that is all that matters.

Just thought I would share that update with you all. Wednesday we go to be fingerprinted by the FBI! I will be sure to post about that.

Rummage Sale Success

Our rummage sale was a big success. We raised $500. Now that may not seem like much, but it was about 45 degrees and rainy the two days we had the sale. We thought that we were pretty successful. We are planning to have another one in August. We will post the date as soon as we decide on one. Hopefully in August we will have better weather. We want to thank everyone for generosity in donating items and for buying items.

Where we are now

We made a big step and sent paper work to the INS. They will look at the homestudy and our application to bring an orphan into the country (as they put it). Then they will set a date for us to be fingerprinted by the FBI and send us a form back that we are approved by the Department of Homeland Security to bring an orphan into the country. It should take a few weeks. Above is a picture of Sam holding the envelope before we sent it in to the Milwaukee Sub Office.