Happy I-171H day!

We received our immigration clearance last night after 2 months of waiting for it to clear.

What does that mean? It means that after our referral, and after we have passed court in Ethiopia, that when we are ready to go to the US Embassy to have our child's immigration settled, that they will say "Ah yes... Erin Sibley... I have you in the system approved for (insert child's name here)" and they just do it :-)

So the fingerprinting and background checking have already been completed so our child will enter the United States fully known to Homeland Security.

Since I have the time due to Lucas taking a power nap.. I think today is a great day to explain some random points of this adoption process- both for some of our new friends, and also for old friends and family that watched us go through this 2-3 years ago.

REFERRAL PROCESS

For Colombia friends: We still go off of I600, but now you can't apply until after Homestudy is complete.. but you have to have a full clearance before you can be submitted to court- hence why getting it in 2 months was good for us. Referrals are more steady- as our office does closer to 150 referrals across the nation per year from Ethiopia. Referral information is similar in terms of what you get at the time of referral.

Once you accept referral, they take those signed referral papers and submit them to the Ethiopia government.. where you are eventually assigned a court date (Sentencia) 1-2 months later

TRIP 1- COURT

For you Colombia families.. Trip one is basically showing up for Sentencia. We aren't being grilled or anything by the judge, we are just there to say "Yes, we are us, and that is our baby, and we want it!" Think of it like a Bienstar interview. Once you testify for the judge, your time is complete. Our case may not necessarily clear that day- as sometimes another random paper peace is missing calling to revisit the case in a week or so. It's totally normal and nothing to freak out about. The first court trip is a new requirement (that has changed since we started this process). It is to ensure that no agencies are able to lie about the condition and age of our child prior to the baby becoming ours. This is a great way to ensure the children are being processed correctly, it just costs us some more money. But we get more time seeing our baby earlier in the process and more pictures!

TRIP 2- Once your case passes court (sentencia) the baby is yours. At that time, all of those documents get submitted to the US Embassy.. but the Embassy in Ethiopia is a lot busier with babies so you have to wait for a visa appointment. This is usually about 6-8 weeks after they get all your papers from the court. Then they call and say "Hey Erin, be here about a month from now for the Embassy". At that time, I come back and do the running around that we do in Colombia post sentencia.


ALL THAT BEING SAID...

So we are waiting patiently for our referral :-) At that time, we will let you know gender and age and health. We are unable to post any photos of our child on our blog, facebook, or any other public place until after we come home. This is the Ethiopian governments way of protecting their children from exploitation.

Unlike with Lucas, you will just have to be in suspense until baby comes home ;-)

We are enjoying this blessing of a time of waiting. Would I love a referral today? Yes. But this needs to be God's timing in His way. He has our baby in his hands at this moment.. and we can't wait for some news!