In June of 2004, two years after receiving Michelle in China, we began working on our second adoption. The paperchase, as the adoption community calls the dealing of great amounts of red tape, began on June 14th. Here is a brief summary of that timeline:

Paperchase Timeline
6/14/2004 - Sent our application to our agency, CCAI
6/22/2004 - Application was approved and received from CCAI
6/25/2004 - Mailed USCIS our application for foreign adoption (I-600A)
7/7/2004 - First meeting of three with Social Worker - required for our homestudy
7/20/2004 - Appointment at USCIS for fingerprinting - FBI clearance
8/19/2004 - Completed homestudy arrives at USCIS

In the meantime, we gathered the rest of our documents: police clearances, birth certificates, employment and financial statements, medical forms, etc. We had them notarized, certified, and authenticated by the Chinese Consulate in Houston, then shipped to our agency in Colorado.

9/9/2004 - We received the I-171H from USCIS and express mailed to Tallahassee for certification by the Secretary of State
9/20/2004 - Express mailed I-171H to Houston for authentication by the Chinese Consulate.
9/25/2004 - CCAI received our I-171H from Houston and our dossier was complete!
10/04/2004 - CCAI mailed our dossier to the CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) in Beijing. DTC!
10/14/2004 - Our dossier was logged in at CCAA. We have a LID!

Our dossier is in the Matching Room! This means that CCAA is going to find our daughter and match her with our dossier, we are almost there! The latest rumor is that the September dtc folks will receive their referrals next week (3/15/05-3//19/05) We are hoping that most of September is sent, and then we will be next sometime in April!

We are busy homeschooling the kids.
We started our soap business in November to help save for the big adoption expenses coming up.
We meet other families who are also waiting, and Mary started another Yahoo Groups list this time.