One year ago, on March 12, we received a call from our adoption agency with the date we were to appear in court to finalize the adoption of our daughter. Less than 24 hours later (yes, less than 24 HOURS LATER!), Big Papa and I boarded a plane headed to London, where we would stay […]
USCIS
Now serving ticket H-16: Spending the day at the Office of Immigration
“Now serving ticket H-5 at counter number 11” says the electronic voice over the loudspeaker. Then we hear a ringing ping, like a finger tapping on a crystal goblet. “Now serving ticket H-6 at counter number 11.” Big Papa and I are at the Office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS. We are trying […]
Crime and punishment
“Now serving ticket number H1 at counter 11.” “Now serving ticket number H2 at counter 11.” Big Papa and I were tickets number H21 and H22 respectively as we sat in the waiting room at the Tukwila, Washington office of U.S. Office of Immigration. We’d received our appointments (Big Papa at 8:00 and me at […]
Why aren’t you adopting from Haiti?
If I had a $10 for every time someone has asked me recently why we aren’t adopting from Haiti, I could probably fund the update to our home study (more on this in an upcoming post). Here’s the thing, even if we wanted to adopt from Haiti, we can’t. In the wake of the disaster […]
Deja vu
On November 11, 2008, Big Papa and I submitted our “I-800A,” a form to USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) requesting approval to adopt internationally. As part of that process, we had to have our fingerprints to run a criminal background check and obtain FBI clearance. Our approval, called the I-797C, was received on January […]
Walk a mile in my shoes
A year ago, at the end of May, Big Papa and I started our adoption journey. I suppose the exact anniversary date is a bit hazy. It’s a bit like trying to pin down when a romantic relationship started. First date? First kiss? Everyone seems to have their own unique way to define when “it” […]
A Fork in the Road
Adoption is not for the faint of heart. Navigating the twists and turns that you expect to encounter sounds relatively straight-forward at the onset. You figure you’ll gather this form and that form, find a few people to say nice things about you, get some fingerprints, pay a few fees, wait awhile and, voila, parenthood. […]