Morningstar Happenings: Adopt China

A moment-by-moment, signature-by-signature timeline of our China adoption journey to WanYing Hope Morningstar.

Phase 1: Decisions

Spring 2010 - Consider bringing another child into our family. Research countries, seek out waiting child programs
Late April 2010 - Telling family and close friends about our decision to adopt
Late April 2010 - Intense agency research and interviews with agencies and parents who have adopted using each agency on our short list
May 3, 2010 - Decided on WACAP and sent in application - paperwork collection begins
May 9, 2010 - Announce our paper pregnancy!

Phase 2: Paperwork

May - Mid-June 2010 - Attempt to get an abuse clearance from Kazakhstan since Jamie "lived" there for 2 months in 2009. After roughly a million attempts, decide that it's the impossible dream.
May 22, 2010 - Copies of birth certificates, marriage licenses sent to Maryland for verification
May 31, 2010 - Verified copies of birth certificates, marriage licenses received from Maryland
July 2, 2010 - Final homestudy interview with Families for Children - homestudy done!
June 7, 2010 - Education hours completed
July 7, 2010 - I-800A application sent to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
August 20, 2010 - I-800A fingerprinting appointment at USCIS (45 days after application)
August 25, 2010 - I-800A pre-approval
(50 days after application, 5 days after fingerprinting)
August 26, 2010 - Send all documents to Utah Lt. Governor office for verification
September 4, 2010 - All verified documents received back from Utah Lt. Governor office
September 4, 2010 - Send all documents to U.S. Department of State and then Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. for authentication (sent via courier who does both authentications)
September 20, 2010 - paper-ready! All documents back from Department of State and the Chinese Embassy! Sent documents to WACAP for them to send to CCAA (Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs)
September 23, 2010 - WACAP sends our dossier to China
September 30, 2010 - Logged In Date (LID) from CCAA indicating that they have received and done initial processing on our paperwork (LID received 10/14)

Phase 3: Pursuit

October 19, 2010 - receive info about Wan Ling and pray, think, research, ask for updates, and seek medical guidance
October 22, 2010 - Submit our Letter of Intent to adopt Wan Ling!
October 27, 2010 - Receive Pre-Approval from China (5 days after Letter of Intent was submitted)
December 9, 2010 - CCAA (China) issues Letter Seeking Confirmation (LSC) (just shy of 7 weeks after Letter of Intent was submitted)
December 17, 2010 - I-800 application received by USCIS (remember, we already got pre-approval) and DS-230 sent to U.S. Consulate in China
December 17, 2010 - we return signed LSC
January 4, 2011 - USCIS issues provisional approval of I-800 (18 days after application was received)
January 14, 2011 - USCIS sends approval to U.S. Consulate in China (received notification on January 19th)
February 7, 2011 - U.S. Consulate issues Article 5 letter for delivery to CCAA (delayed because of Chinese New Year)
February 9, 2011 - we apply for Chinese visas
February 22 - CCAA issues travel approval (13 days after Article 5 was delivered))
February 23 - U.S. Consulate appointment confirmed for 23 March!