Well, Marina and I just returned from our tour of the bureaucratic offices of the Los Angeles area. We first went to the Norwalk County Clerk's office. They authenticated 14 papers, charged us a pretty penny, and gave us directions to the down town Los Angeles office of the Secretary of State. We parked (for 16 dollars) in front of 300 N Spring instead of in front of 300 S Spring so we had to walk a long way. Marina was amazing with the walking! When we got there and told them we had 15 documents to authenticate, they were about to turn me away. I must have looked like a lunatic because they immediately said "well OK, but next time, if you bring so much, come earlier." What a relief, I thought I was going to lose it. Well they charged me a prettier penny than the County Clerk's office, but at least a great portion of the documents are basically ready to be sent to the Federal Authentication process...where they will charge us the prettiest penny ever!
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Barcelona, Mexico City, California, and Addis Ababa; a family of four.
E-mail us!
imfairygood@gmail.com
About us
Time line
- 04/26/08-Begin travel
- 04/12/08-Made all travel arrangements
- 04/11/08-Granted Custody!!!
- 03/03/07-made the decision to adopt
- 03/21/07-called Heartsent Adoptions to receive a home study application
- 03/19/07-sent information sheet to Gladney Center for Adoptions
- 03/23/07-received Heartsent application
- 03/30/07-information Sheet Received by Gladney
- 04/04/07-turned in Heastsent home study application
- 04/04/07-Spanish Counsulate General-birth certificate
- 04/06/07-information meeting with Heartsent
- 04/09/07-Sent completed I-600A
- 04/11/07-FedExed Application to Gladney
- 04/11/07-Phone Orientation w/ Judy from Gladney
- 04/13/07-received e-mail list of items needed from Gladney
- 04/16/07-FedExed all of 1st, 2nd and most of 3rd groups items to Tonia from Gladney
- 04/16/07-CIS Checks cleared
- 04/18/07-received CIS fingerprint appointment notice
- 04/19/07-Samantha fingerprints at CIS (El Monte)
- 04/25/07-first home study meeting
- 04/27/07-Fernando fingerprints at CIS (El Monte)
- 04/28/07-Heartsent orientation
- 04/28/07-turned in notarized reference letter to Heartsent
- 04/30/07-turned in notarized work verification to Heartsent-Samantha
- 05/02/07-2nd home study meeting
- 05/03/07-Samantha's physical @ Kaiser
- 05/17/07-Fernando's physical @ Kaiser
- 05/18/07-third, and last, home study meeting
- 05/21/07-Fernando picked-up employment letters
- 05/25/07-picked up notarized account verification letters
- 06/01/07-sent FBI request
- 06/04/07-notarized physicals
- 06/04/07-turned in notarized physicals and copy of Fernando's passport to Heartsent
- 06/07/07-Gladney received our signed medicals and last letter of recommendation-application complete
- 06/08/07-had parent letter notarized
- 06/11/07-Heartsent sent off home study to CIS (last week)
- 06/14/07-We received our FBI documents
- 06/15/07-Reveived Heartsent's license, home study apporver's license, and post placement contract
- 06/18/07-notarized FBI paperwork (Samantha)
- 06/18/07-Received renewed passport (Samantha)
- 06/19/07-picked up completed home study
- 06/19/07-received letter from CIS asking for more proof of citizenship (Samantha). FedExed them a copy of new passport
- 06/22/07-Officially Gladney approved!!!
- 06/26/07-Notarized a copy of Samantha's passport and Fernandp's FBI documents
- 06/28/07-Scanned and e-mailed most of the Dossier documents to Gladney
- 07/02/07-Authenticated in the County Clerk's and Secretary of State offices about half of our documents
- 07/05/07-FedExed authentication packet to NY Secretary of State & about half of completed dossier to Gladney
- 07/06/07-Received Samantha's birth certificante. Sent other half of dossier for California authentication
- 07/10/07-Picked-up CIS approval leter, notarized it and authenticated up to the state level
- 07/25/07-sent for NY Authentication- Kings County Clerk
- 08/01/07-Kings County Clerk sent authentication on to the Secretary of State in NY
- 08/08/07-received NY authenticated documents
- 08/22/07-we are officially waiting for a referral
- 09/05/07-found out that our dossier was sent to Ethiopia as of last week; some time, and that "Belay (one of our in-country representatives) confirmed that he received your dossier in Ethiopia."
- 12/18/07-Recieved a picture of our baby
- 01/24/08-Court date scheduled for 02/19/08
- 02/19/08-Courts need more information
- 03/03/08-1 year aniversary since our adoption proces began
- 03/19/08-Judge states our file is incomplete
- 03/26/08-Judge did not go into court
- 03/27/08-Judge states our file continues to be incomplete
- 04/09/08-Made hotel reservations
- 04/10/08-Court for the 5th time (postponed till tomorrow)
Who's reading
Here are some blogs I like to visit
- (Court) Christine
- (Court) Winter in Ethiopia
- (Home again) Babylicious
- (Home) Albertsons
- (Home) Anil & Angie
- (Home) Ashley & Jason
- (Home) Atwoods
- (Home) Baggetts
- (Home) Bauer
- (Home) Breedloves
- (Home) Daileaders
- (Home) David & Robin
- (Home) Drew & Carey
- (Home) Elliotts
- (Home) Eric & Sharon
- (Home) Eric & Tara
- (Home) Ethiopia Mama
- (Home) Faulkners
- (Home) Freys
- (Home) Grace
- (Home) In Flux
- (Home) Kepleys
- (Home) Lydicks
- (Home) Martins
- (Home) Mestas
- (Home) Moak
- (Home) Nick & Sarah Marie
- (Home) Nick & Tessa
- (Home) Pages
- (Home) Roberts
- (Home) Runnions
- (Home) The Biggest Ethiopian Flag on the Block
- (Home) The road to our own
- (Home) Thornes
- (Home) Treats
- (Paper again ) We will bring them home
- (Paper Work again) Clevingers
- (Paperwork) Bottomlys
- (Referral) Bettina
- (Referral) Dunns
- (Referral) Eyes toward Ethiopia
- (Referral) Fournet
- (Referral) Shawn & Jami
- (Waiting) Byars
- (Waiting) Ryan & Meredeth
- An Aussieopian Family
- Swerl
Useful links
Adoption Related Costs
- Gladney Information Sheet-$50
- Heartsent home study application-$200
- 6 certified copies of Fernando's birth certificate-$43.50
- Heartsent home study first half-$1400
- Live Scan (finger prints)Samantha-$67
- CIS-I-600A-$545
- CIS-fingerprinting X2-$140
- Live Scan (finger prints) Fernando-$67
- Gladney Application Request-$300
- Gladney Program Fee-$3000
- Gladney Home Study review fee-$250
- 3 Copies of our marriage certificate-$39
- Heartsent home study second half -$1215
- 3 notarized employment letters-Fernando-$30
- FBI finger prints So. Pasadena PD X2-$7
- FBI Finger print processing X2-$18
- Heartsent post placement fee-$1200
- County Clerk's Authentication of 14 documents-$126
- Secretary of State authentication of 15 documents-$320
- Samantha's birth certificate-
- NY Kings County Clerk-$3
- NY Secretary of State-$10
- State of TX Authentication-$40
- US Dpt of State-2X $7
- Ethiopian Embassy-2X $94
- Gladney Balance-
- Courier-$75
- Total FedEx-
Continuing Education
- Samantha-09/08/07-Welcoming a Sibling
- Samantha-09/08/07-Infant/Child C.P.R
- Samantha & Marina-9/22/07-Heartsent Picnic
1 comment:
{It's Cathy :)} I think about your journey all the time. I am so happy for you and cannot wait to see your new baby. What a joy for you to look forward to. Although I will probalby not look at your site again until school starts, due to life and its way of sidetracking me - along with my ineptitude on the computer - but know that I am hoping the time speeds by and your new little one will be with you soon. God Bless.
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