ASAP... Sit and Wait

Today we drove up to Berthoud for the required Pre-Arrival meeting at our adoption agency. It was a long and rainy drive, as the weather here has not been beautiful for the past few days, but we made it. When we walked in the door, we were pleasantly surprised to be handed the Legal Paperwork for J! Totally worth the drive! The letter requesting state approval was sent off in today's mail as well, so that should be back in a week to 10 days.

The meeting itself was a discussion of what is happening paperwork wise on both the US side and the Korea side in preparation for each baby to receive travel clearance. The timelines I posted here in an earlier post remain the same, although sometimes the Legals take even longer- up to three months. (Three weeks looks good now in retrospect!) In the world of international adoption, the paperwork process is dependent on many different agencies. Each step has to be done ASAP as you get to it, but then you sit and wait around for the next step. So that is the new mantra: ASAP... Sit and Wait.

During the meeting, we also reviewed what to expect when your baby gets home. We originally discussed the topic during our Core Training, but it was good to hear a refresher. Finally, we had a visit by a family whose son just came home 5 weeks ago. After the meeting, C and I went to a local coffee shop with C & K, and S & L, the same two couples we shared a lunch table with at the picnic. It was good to get to know everyone a bit more and take a nice break.

We're hoping for a quick turn around time on the State letter and then to receive the invitation to be fingerprinted before September 5, as C will be gone on business for two weeks straight after that. Back to the Sit and Wait part!