Next Steps

For those of you not familiar with the adoption process, here is brief overview of the next steps in the process.

Immigration sent their approval for me to bring a child into the country. It goes out today via FedEx. I hope it arrives tomorrow. On Monday it will go to the Wisconsin Secretary of State for authentication and then next week I will take it to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago. I hope to be able to take it down on Tuesday and pick it up on Friday but that will depend on the delivery of the actual document yet this week.

After I get it back from the Consulate, it will go to my agency and they will send it to China. China will review it all at that point.

While all of this is happening, Gladney, my adoption agency, is working on finding a child for me. Once they have found a child that will be a potential match, I will review her file and if I approve the match, her file and my documents will be matched together. If China approves, it takes about 10 more weeks to finish up the last of the approvals and I would head to China. The very earliest would be late fall but it all depends on when the match is made.

Please keep praying for the matching process and for the finances needed in these steps of the process.