Here’s a time line of our adoption process. There were times it felt longer and others shorter, but I think it’s fairly decent.
January 19, 2010—Decided to adopt
January –Mailed out application to first agency
March 10—Denied through agency (religious differences)
March 12—New application to new agency (West Sands Adoptions)
March 17—Began home study
March 24—Approved by West Sands Adoptions
June 30—Home study complete
July 1—Mailed dossier (to UT for authentication) & the I-600a to USCIS
July 19—Dossier on its way to D.C. & the Ethiopian Embassy
July 20—Heard back from USCIS (unfortunately, we had to reschedule the time they gave us for fingerprinting)
July 26–Dossier arrived in Ethiopia
September 7–Received USCIS approval/I-171H
September 23–Received referral
December 21–Court date in Ethiopia — first trip
March 28, 2011–Embassy appointment–second trip, baby came home
When you look at it that way, it looks like so much was accomplished in just a little over a year. Can’t wait to see pics.
You really were able to accomplish so much in a very short time period. We are considering adoption still/again and hearing your story very inspirational.