We began our journey on July 17, 2003 when we sent in
our application to Great Wall China Adoptions. It was recieved on the 18th which was a Friday and we recieved
a call on Monday the 21st that we were approved.
We contacted Florida Home Studies and Adoption to begin our home study since
GWCA is in Texas and we are in Florida. We met with our Social Worker (SW) on August 6th to go over
paper work, sign a bunch of stuff and of course make a payment. Any other time we would have been extremely nervous
but since it was 0830 in the morning and Tony and I dont really start to function until after noon (yes I know that
will change!), we were more tired than nervous and I'm quite sure we babbled our way through the meeting!
With our 1st meeting out of the way, the 2nd one came up quick (with China you need 4 meetings). We
had a seminar down in Miami on Saturday August 9th. It was for around 8 hours and we loved it.
We never realized the issues that we faced by adopting a child or baby that has been abandoned and institutionalized. The
information was a bit scary but after we had lunch and was able to properly process the information, we were not
discouraged one bit. I really think that some children whether biological or adopted can have issues, but by being
aware of the issues that may arise, I believe we are better prepared to create an emotionally healthy environment for our
child.
By now our SW has received our three letters of reference. We were told that the letters
are usually the last thing to get done so I made sure I lit some fires and got them done early. We've got such
great friends and family.
August 13, 2003....Tony and I completed our physical exams.
During this time we also ordered our documents from Vital Check. We ordered Tony's and my
birth certificates, our marriage certificate and Tony's divorce decree that was needed for the home study. Even if you
have all of these, I would recommend that you order at least two copies of each (other than the divorce decree if applicable).
We had all of our certificates but when our SW looked at them, they were all wrong. So if you have the
extra money, save some time and go ahead and order them.
August 19, 2003....We did our Gardianship Statement for FHS&A.
August 20, 2003....we sent in our I600a to BCIS.
August 26, 2003.....sent off our contract to GWCA and the initial fee.
September 02, 2003....we picked up our phsical exam paper work from our Doctor's
office.
September 10. 2003.....we had our SW at the house for our home study. She basically
asked about our childhood, our relationship with our parents and siblings, how we were punished, our education and what we
did in school, what our views were on child rearing and disipline, our relationship and how we resolve disputes, what our
strenghts and weaknesses are and basically just the information that is in the adoption manual. Tony and I tend
to come across as kinda odd but our SW thougth we were quite normal and we were told before she left that she was going to
approve us for adoption.
September 11, 2003...we recived a letter from the BCIS, they needed our tax return
from last year and also our social security numbers since our home study was not sent in with our application. After
numerous attempts of contacting the BCIS office, I finially got through to a voice mail where I left the SSN and a few days
later recieved our Fingerprinting Notice letters.
September 16, 2003....Finally received our employment letters from American Airlines.
They had a major problem with making a statement of the future of the company, I guess I should be worried!
September 18, 2003....We went to the City of Hollywood and received our local background
checks. That took about 10 minutes and the woman was very kind and only charged us for one.
September 25, 2003....sent off passports (take your birth certificates with you).
We did not expedite the passports since we are still waiting for BCIS, we decided to just save the money.
September 26, 2003....this may be confusing for those of you that are just getting
started or have not adopted so bear with me. We sent Tony's birth certificate to the Maryland Secretary of
State to be certified and mine to Indiana. When adopting from China you must have your documents certified by the
Secretary of State of the state that notarized the certifcate. Your documents cannot be apostilled which is just something
they put on your documents, certified is an additional paper with the state seal that certifies the document
is true and signed by the Secretary of State. We recieved Tony's certified birth certificate within a
week and mine the next week. Our marriage license had already been certified when we ordered it from
Vital Check.
October 2, 2003....we went to be fingerprinted. Took mayber 10 minutes.
October 7, 2003.....Home Study is done!!!!!!!!
Wow, our SW is great!!!! Make sure you proof read your homestudy, the SW's are only human and most are extremely busy.
Mistakes that get by you may cause problems later on.
October 10, 2003....Wow! We received our passports today. We didnt even
expedite them, that must be a record...two weeks.
October 23, 2003.....Nothing new. We're still waiting for our I171h from BCIS
and also two documents that we sent to the Dept. of State since they eventually have to go to the Consulate in DC.
November 1, 2003.....We finially received our two documents that we had sent to the
Department of State in Washington. They've been gone for almost a month and we started to worry that they were lost.
Still waiting for our I171h.
December 12, 2003.....Tony had to redo his fingerprints. INS finially called
to let us know the had not received them.
January 28, 2004......Our I-171h is processed.......
February 13, 2004......Had to retake our physicals since the Houston Consulate would
not accept them if they were close to six months old.
March 2, 2004.....Had to redo the Local Police Background checks.
March 17, 2004.....Sent 1 document to Chicago Consulate, 2 documents to DC and 10
documents to Houston.
March 23, 2004......DC and Houston send completed documents back.
March 25, 2004.....Chicago sends completed document.
April 5, 2004......Sent completed Dossier to GWCA in TX to be reviewed and sent to
China.
April 9, 2004.......Our adoption agency, Great Wall China Adoptions has sent
our dossier to China today. We'll be notified of our log-in date which is our official DTC date.
April 15, 2004.....Our official Log-in-Date. We
are so excited to be at this point, our dossier has been logged in with the CCAA, and we are one step closer.
May 26, 2004......Our dossier has moved from the translation stage into the review
room which is where all the documents are checked over and any problems will be addressed.
October 14, 2004.....Our referral is here!!!! Abbi called today
at 1550 to introduce me to my daughter, I called Tony at work and later emailed her photo's to a friends laptop so Tony
could see them. We are so in love with this child. Please go to the referral section of our site and meet our daughter,
Raelin Tonee Kuhn.
October 19, 2004.....We
have received our referral packet today. It includes the photo's that were already emailed to us, her medical and developemental
records, personal info such as where she was found and how she came to the orphanage. Also included is the referral
acceptance forms that need to be filled out and sent back asap. We'll complete ours tonight and FedEx them tomorrow.
November 10, 2004.....We
have received our travel approval from CCAA. We are just waiting on our consulate date to know when we are leaving.
November 15, 2004....Woo Hoooooo! We have our travel dates. We'll be leaving
December 5th for Beijing, after two days we'll travel to Nanning to be united with our daughter Raelin. About 5 days
later we'll fly to Guangzhou where we have a consulate appointment at 0900 on December 15th. We'll fly home on the 16th
or 17th.
