Well that's how I feel about the e-mail we got today from WHFC.
Here it is:
Congratulations! Your dossier is complete! It will now be sent to Russia , where it will be translated and submitted to a regional Ministry of Education. We expect you to wait approximately 5-9 months for a referral, though timeframes are constantly changing. Please keep in touch by contacting us every 8 weeks or so for an update on your status during your wait.
We have lots to do in the meantime to get ready to go to Russia for that 1st trip but at least we know this step is done and now we can move on to things that should be more fun and exciting!!! I feel like I'm walking on cloud nine.... I just want to go out and buy stuff for kids!!!!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
On it's way....
Well, we have finally finished collecting and notarizing dossier documents and I am EXCITED to report our dossier is on it's way to Waltham, MA to Wide Horizon for Children!!! Next stop RUSSIA!!!!
So what does that mean.... well... we have become an "OFFICIAL" waiting family and once our dossier goes to Russia it will be translated, stamped, approved and then sent to one of the 8 regions that our agency is currently working with. Once a sibling group becomes available and is a match for our preference (2 children between 0 -4) we will get THE PHONE CALL from our agency saying we've been matched.
This phone call is most likely 4 - 9 months away but could come sooner or later than that.
For those who have wondered what our dossier looks like..here it is!! There are 3 copies, 1 for us, 1 for WHFC and the orignals for Russia!!! Look at all that paperwork.
So what does that mean.... well... we have become an "OFFICIAL" waiting family and once our dossier goes to Russia it will be translated, stamped, approved and then sent to one of the 8 regions that our agency is currently working with. Once a sibling group becomes available and is a match for our preference (2 children between 0 -4) we will get THE PHONE CALL from our agency saying we've been matched.
This phone call is most likely 4 - 9 months away but could come sooner or later than that.
For those who have wondered what our dossier looks like..here it is!! There are 3 copies, 1 for us, 1 for WHFC and the orignals for Russia!!! Look at all that paperwork.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Next Step.... complete the dossier
Now that we have our CIS approval we are just about finished with our dossier! Just to update everyone, we sent our dossier to Wide Horizon on Friday, September 26th to have them review everything we had done so far in case anything needed to be redone.
We got word today from Tiana that everything looks good and there were only two minor things, one which will need to be Apostilled and one that does not.
1. 2 copies of the Social Worker's license: Jennifer's license expired on 10/1/08 so we will need to include a new license in your dossier. I will work on getting a copy of her new license and notarize it before sending it out to you. You will then need to have it Apostilled. (Just waiting to hear back from Tiana on if we should get it Apostilled in NY or MA - for those who remember - Massachusetts changed their policy for copies of documents.
2. The photos of us and our house were great. We just need to send a new photo of our Living Room because when I took the picutre we had the dry sink in the room with the wine and other alcohol. If you remember Russia doesn't like to see any alcohol in pictures - no biggie here (at least I hope) I have other pictures of the room. Tiana said I can send this picture in with our remaining paperwork and she will replace the old with a new one.
So looks like we are just about done... fingers crossed, salt over the shoulder or whatever your favorite superstition is... we will have everything completed and begin our "official" wait in the next week or so!!!
We got word today from Tiana that everything looks good and there were only two minor things, one which will need to be Apostilled and one that does not.
1. 2 copies of the Social Worker's license: Jennifer's license expired on 10/1/08 so we will need to include a new license in your dossier. I will work on getting a copy of her new license and notarize it before sending it out to you. You will then need to have it Apostilled. (Just waiting to hear back from Tiana on if we should get it Apostilled in NY or MA - for those who remember - Massachusetts changed their policy for copies of documents.
2. The photos of us and our house were great. We just need to send a new photo of our Living Room because when I took the picutre we had the dry sink in the room with the wine and other alcohol. If you remember Russia doesn't like to see any alcohol in pictures - no biggie here (at least I hope) I have other pictures of the room. Tiana said I can send this picture in with our remaining paperwork and she will replace the old with a new one.
So looks like we are just about done... fingers crossed, salt over the shoulder or whatever your favorite superstition is... we will have everything completed and begin our "official" wait in the next week or so!!!
FINALLY!!!!
Our Citizenship & Immigration approval has finally arrived!! It came in the mail on Saturday, October 4th!!! It took EXACTLY 8 weeks from the day they received our application to the day they signed the approval form and put it in the mail!!! This is the final piece of documentation we need to complete our dossier for Russia and make us an "official" waiting family!!!
I have to admit.... the form itself was a little disappointing. I mean we have been waiting FOREVER to get this and get our dossier completed.... I thought it would look different, be bigger.... heck at this point it should have come with balloons or something to announce it was here in the mailbox but we do finally have it and can get it notarized, county sealed, apostilled and then sent off to our agency to complete the dossier process!!!
I have to admit.... the form itself was a little disappointing. I mean we have been waiting FOREVER to get this and get our dossier completed.... I thought it would look different, be bigger.... heck at this point it should have come with balloons or something to announce it was here in the mailbox but we do finally have it and can get it notarized, county sealed, apostilled and then sent off to our agency to complete the dossier process!!!
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