Continued...
#8. Once the orphanage received the NOC, they filed for guardianship in the local/regional court on July 16th. The guardianship hearing with the judge was on August 24th and the written guardianship order was received on September 5th. At this point, our agency gave us permission to communicate with the orphanage as we made plans for my stay/travels etc.
#9. Once the orphanage had the written guardianship order in hand, they applied for her passport. The passport was issued on October 8th. Yay!!! The final step, or so I thought...
#10. I was supposed to get my clearance to travel at this point, but sometime toward the end of August, my local home study agency indicated that I should really get one more document from the local county courts that essentially is their version of NOC. Guess what, as with everything adoption, another hitch arose. Our medicals and background clearances required for submission to the county courts were expired and needed to be redone. All that took about a month and a half in parallel with the rest of the paperwork going on in Ind*a. That document finally was approved on October 16th. We were never asked for the document anywhere, but it just gave us the peace of mind of having all the documents in place. Honestly, I could easily have been upset that this was allowed to be expired, but then that would not make things right again, so I made a conscious effort to not be mad/annoyed at the situation, and rather got working on it at lightening speed. See what adoption teaches you?!!!
#11. Over the next couple of days, I chalked out my travel plans to and within India and on October 19th booked the flights. Thankfully I had family in Ind*a that helped me to book my domestic tickets within Ind*a.
#12. On October 19th, the agency emailed (and cc-d me) the US embassy for the visa appointment. We requested it such that we could have the medical appointment on Monday Nov 5th; the TB test could be read on Wednesday Nov 7th and I could pick up the confidential packet the same day; and have the visa interview the next day morning, Thursday Nov 8th. Since it was the weekend when the agency sent the email, we received a response on Tuesday October 23rd with a confirmation of my appointment date as we had requested.
#13. I had to take a notarized power of attorney signed by Daddy J, as he was staying back home with Brother J and I was traveling alone. The agency advised us to take it, in case the US embassy asked for it. They did not, but I was glad that I still had it.
#14. I was all set to travel, Finally!!! I left on October 29th and we returned home on Nov 14th.
#8. Once the orphanage received the NOC, they filed for guardianship in the local/regional court on July 16th. The guardianship hearing with the judge was on August 24th and the written guardianship order was received on September 5th. At this point, our agency gave us permission to communicate with the orphanage as we made plans for my stay/travels etc.
#9. Once the orphanage had the written guardianship order in hand, they applied for her passport. The passport was issued on October 8th. Yay!!! The final step, or so I thought...
#10. I was supposed to get my clearance to travel at this point, but sometime toward the end of August, my local home study agency indicated that I should really get one more document from the local county courts that essentially is their version of NOC. Guess what, as with everything adoption, another hitch arose. Our medicals and background clearances required for submission to the county courts were expired and needed to be redone. All that took about a month and a half in parallel with the rest of the paperwork going on in Ind*a. That document finally was approved on October 16th. We were never asked for the document anywhere, but it just gave us the peace of mind of having all the documents in place. Honestly, I could easily have been upset that this was allowed to be expired, but then that would not make things right again, so I made a conscious effort to not be mad/annoyed at the situation, and rather got working on it at lightening speed. See what adoption teaches you?!!!
#11. Over the next couple of days, I chalked out my travel plans to and within India and on October 19th booked the flights. Thankfully I had family in Ind*a that helped me to book my domestic tickets within Ind*a.
#12. On October 19th, the agency emailed (and cc-d me) the US embassy for the visa appointment. We requested it such that we could have the medical appointment on Monday Nov 5th; the TB test could be read on Wednesday Nov 7th and I could pick up the confidential packet the same day; and have the visa interview the next day morning, Thursday Nov 8th. Since it was the weekend when the agency sent the email, we received a response on Tuesday October 23rd with a confirmation of my appointment date as we had requested.
#13. I had to take a notarized power of attorney signed by Daddy J, as he was staying back home with Brother J and I was traveling alone. The agency advised us to take it, in case the US embassy asked for it. They did not, but I was glad that I still had it.
#14. I was all set to travel, Finally!!! I left on October 29th and we returned home on Nov 14th.
It's so good to have this all written down -- when your baby is older and dates/memory is a little hazier, you and she will be glad to have this record of all the details!
ReplyDeleteNancy