Timeline

Ah! The Timeline. All adoptive parents love these!
5/1/2011 - Decided it was just about time to adopt again.
5/2/2011 - We saw Joy’s face!
5/3/2011 - Applied to adoption agency, CHI
5/4/2011 - Our pre-request (LOI) to adopt Joy went to China
5/9/2011 - Received Pre-Approval (PA) from China to start the adoption
5/12/2011 - Applied to and Retained the homestudy agency
5/17/2011 - Social Worker assigned to our family
5/20/2011 - MD State & FBI fingerprints by CJIS
5/21/2011 --- 1st of 3 Homestudy Visits with Social Worker
6/10/2011 - mailed all our documents to our homestudy agency. We are still waiting on the various state clearances to come back.
6/28/2011 --- 2nd of 3 Social Worker visit
6/29/2011 --- 3rd & Final Social Worker visit
7/24/2011 - Received rough draft of homestudy to review
8/10/2011 - Final Clearance form received at our Homestudy agency. (although they waited a week to tell us)

8/26/2011 - HOMESTUDY IS IN HAND!!! It was signed and notarized today and we picked it up in person today. ~ Also, mailed to USCIS today after picking it up from the agency.

8/29/2011 - Homestudy and I800A arrived at USCIS
9/15/2011 - Rcv'd fingerprint appt for 10/7
9/16/2011 - Walked into USCIS for fingerprints
9/21/2011 - Had rest of dossier Certified at the SOS
9/23/2011 - Took Certified dossier to China Embassy for authentication
11/7/2011 - Received request for more info from USCIS
11/8/2011 - USCIS retracted request, homestudy is fine
11/9/2011 - 73 days of waiting for USCIS approval
11/14/2011 - USCIS 797 APPROVAL ARRIVED!!! aprv'd on 11/8
11/16/2011 - 797 is authenticated and Dossier is off to CHI
11/17/2011 - CHI sent our dossier to be translated to Chinese
11/22/2011 - (DTC)DOSSIER was MAILED to CHINA
11/28/2011 - Dossier arrived in China
12/2/2011 - LID (Log in Date) - (notified 1/10/12)
2/8/2012 - Letter Seeking Confirmation at CHI(formal referral) (68 days)
2/10/2012 - Rcv'd LSC from agency, mailed I800 to USCIS (Fri)
2/13/2012 - FedEx deliver of LSC/i800 at USCIS (Mon)
2/27/2012 - Rcv'd 800 back for lack of signature, resent
2/28/2102 - New Rcpt Date by USCIS (notified via email 3/1)
3/8/2012 - i800/NBC Approval to classify Joy as immediate relative for US Citizenship
3/16/2012 - NVC emailed our 800approval to US Embassy in China
3/22/2012 - Paperwork dropped off at US Embassy in China
4/5/2012 - US Consulate approval (Article 5) picked up
4/12/2012 - TRAVEL APPROVAL
4/14/2012 - Consulate Appt set for 5/8
4/15/2012 - purchased airline tickets


Next Steps:

4/25 Leave for Shaanxi, Xi'an, China
4/27 Gotcha Day
4/28 Adoption Day
5/4 Get Joy's Chinese Passport & leave for Guangzhou
5/5 Medical Exam
5/8 Consulate Appointment
5/9 Joy's Visa issued
5/10 Fly home with JOY!