up, up and away!!

As we speak, my dossier is on its way to China! Yippee!!
 What a lot to be thankful for this year! Many many thanks to all of you who have helped to fund Garrett's adoption thus far! Bringing Garrett home would be impossible without your help.

last night!

It was so wonderful to get home from work last night and see that envelope from Homeland Security sitting on the counter!!!  I got my I800A approval! Yippee!

 So, I quickly made a date with the notary for this morning and took a quick break at work in order to get it notarized.  I was so excited to be able to use my lunch break to wire the money, get the cashier's check and send everything off to be certified, authenticated, then all off to China! You can imagine the horror I felt when as I was out the door for the lunch break, noticed that my keys were no where to be found- locked in the car with all of my paperwork!  AAAAGGGGG! The roadside assistance finally came, and I dashed off. Money wired, cashier's check in hand, off to the Fed Ex when I realized I left the notarized I800A approval back at work!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes- can you believe it?!
So I raced back to work, ran down the hall, grabbed the document, raced back to the Fed Ex- shipped it all off, and finally my hands stopped shaking! 
But, when I came home, I had an email from the adoption agency with new wiring instructions- the account in China to which I wired the money is no longer in use!!! So, I am hoping it just doesn't go through and I can re-wire it to the right spot tomorrow, or better yet, that it is actually still operational and it just goes through to the right spot!
But, I have to say- it is such a humungous relief to have that dossier sent off, and now to await the next approval! A step ahead!!!!! happy happy happy!

and now for the revised itemized expense list :

Itemized expenses

PAID  $2,000- placing adoption agency fee 

PAID  $500- initial China waiting child program coordinator fee

PAID  $2,400-home study

PAID  $78- fingerprinting at local police dept.

PAID  $1,112- notary fees, certified documents, fundraiser printing costs, fundraiser venue rental, postage, Hague education requirement classes, medical clearance, passport renewal

PAID $805- USCIS

PAID $78- Sheriff’s letter of good conduct

PAID $2,300-balance of China waiting child program fee

PAID $762- courier fee, certification of documents by State Dept. and authentication by Chinese Consulate and Fed Ex ($350+$198+$180+$34)

PAID $755- fee to China Center of Adoption Affairs at time of dossier submission ($525+$150+$80)

Total Paid: $ 10,790

Left to pay:

$2,100- post-placement fee

$6,500- government fees in China

$140-visa

$5,000- travel expenses for necessary 2 week stay in China for Jenn and for Garrett’s flight home

Total left to pay: $13,740

Estimated Grand Total of Expenses: $24,530

Wish List Travel for Granny and Alma to join me- $7,000 (not included in grand total or total left to raise)

Current savings balance: $8,237             

Total funds raised so far: $12,322

Total left to raise to bring Garrett home: $5,503

:)

My previous Chip In expired when I had to get an extension to turn in all my paperwork- so I created a new one with the latest goal for those who find that an easy way to donate

Creeping Along!

I tallied up the fundraising efforts tonight and am happy to say that I only need to raise $6,200 more in order to finish up the adoption paperwork and pay the fees and go and bring Garrett home!  I haven't yet heard back from any grants, but did find another that I will be sending in an application for ASAP!


Other than thinking about fundraising, I am trying to stay sane in the midst of waiting for this first of several approvals to come! Instead of the estimated 2-3 weeks wait time, I am now in the 6th week of waiting for the initial I800A approval.  It is frustrating beyond frustrating knowing that Garrett is still hanging at the orphanage while we miss out on first his babyhood, and now his toddlerhood.  I so had my hopes set on bringing him home this Christmas, but the process is moving much slower that I had anticipated. Thank goodness I was able to get an extension for turning in paperwork to China!  The entire process is certainly a lesson in patience and in letting go of control (kind of like the average labor and delivery- only much much longer!).  If I was unemployed, I would drop everything, and go live in the orphanage and help out the nannies until I could bring Garrett home! One good thing is that I have more time to raise the necessary funds.


Thank you so much for all of your continued good wishes-we never would have come this far were it not for such positive thinking from all of you and for all of the generous donations towards our efforts! 

Hurry and Wait!

Arrgghhh! the wait for the I800A approval is starting to drive me batty!  It is over a week overdue, so I left a message with the immigration officer assigned to me, and hope to hear from him TODAY! 
Last night, I had a dream that I was at work and got the travel approval to go to China to pick Garrett up- it was great! In my dream, I was telling everyone I was on my way to go get him, and I was getting a ton of faxed pages of a Chinese school book that I had to study to learn to speak Chinese before going!!
I just can't wait for the day that the travel approval actually comes- all this waiting.....