We got word December 16th that Shaina had received her passport- just one day shy of the 1 year anniversary of us getting her official referral!
Now Shaina has permission to leave Haiti. She still, however, needs permission to enter the US, aka, a visa!
Tuesday her file will be submitted to the US Embassy. At that point our adoption is pretty much complete on the Haitian end and in US hands for the remainder of the process. Our file and Shaina's dossier will be reviewed and in about 4 weeks we should receive an email approval of our i600a (form we filed years ago that gives us permission to adopt). 24 hours later we should get notice of her visa appointment, scheduled about a week later. During that week Shaina will get her medical exam and blood work done. The creche director will take her to the visa appointment and usually the visa is issued that day. A few days later our creche director will go back to Haitian social services to pick up an exit letter (without it Shaina can't leave the country with us). And then.... we get to bring her HOME! The process from here out should take about 4-6 weeks. That means we should be bringing her home at the end of January, beginning of February!!! We were told not to book travel until the visa is printed but I went ahead and got some quotes just so I would have an idea of the costs.
We have two more fundraisers we will start next week. One is a Fill the Freezer event where we are asking people to make freezer meals we can stock our new freezer with to make life a little easier the first month home. The next will be a Tag the Bag fundraiser to actually help raise the remaining funds we need to bring Shaina home. We still have a payment to our agency and travel costs.
Thanks for your prayers friends! Keep them coming that the rest of this process will be smooth and QUICK!
Bondye Bon
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