77 days in the wilderness

There are several wilderness periods in an adoption. Where you "hurry up and wait" and then wait more and more and more. One of those wilderness periods is your wait for your USCIS (Homeland Security) Approval to arrive in the form of a documented numbered I797. Our wait was 77 days. But, it arrived and this wilderness period is OVER!!!

OUR DOSSIER IS COMPLETE!!!!!

After 6 months of paperchasing.


We took it all to the County Clerk:

Then to the Secretary of State in Annapolis:


Then to the Department of State in Washington, DC:


And finally the Chinese Embassy:



OUR PAPERCHASE IS OVER!!!!

The Fantastic FedEx man shipped it all off to our adoption agency: