Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The Long Wait

We received an email some weeks ago from the president of our adoption agency talking about the importance of patience in an adoption. I found his words to truly resonate since I am a self-proclaimed anti-patient person. Right now is too slow, I needed it five minutes ago. So, this adoption process has really tested me. Now Mark on the other hand, the pace is understandable to him. A true case of the tortoise and the hare.

Well, as I get the daily "bings" of new emails coming in from our Yahoo adoption group, it is a joy to see so many families advancing. They post their time line and I'm amazed how fast some have zipped by, while others have put in what seems to be a life sentence. This past February marked two years since we began this process. Here is our time line:

Submit IFS Application – February 2009
Homestudy – November 2009
I-800A approval – January 2010
Received referral -- February 2010
Accepted referral -- March 2010
I-800 approved – April 2010
Article 5 – July 2010
NOC – December 2010
Verbal guardianship -- February 28, 2011
Written guardianship -- ??
Medical exam -- ??
Visa -- ??
Travel -- ??

And we continue to wait....So, the moral of the story is that if you are considering international adoption, you must be willing to ride it out.

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