The documents keep coming in and the file is getting large! The mail brought my birth certificate and our marriage license. I got the kitties to the vet and their papers are filed. My autobiography is done, and Ethan's is getting there. We have been getting a couple of our online classes completed each day, and those certificates are being added also. Today we've gotten one class done already, and hope to pop off the three remaining Hague class requirements this evening.
If you aren't familiar with the Hague Convention, in a nutshell, "The process for adopting a child from another country (intercountry
adoption) changed in some significant ways with the U.S. ratification of
the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in
Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Convention). The Convention went
into effect in the United States on April 1, 2008. The Convention is
designed to protect the best interests of children and prevent the
abduction, sale, and trafficking of children. In this country, the U.S.
Department of State has overall responsibility for implementing the
Hague Convention, although the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS) within the Department of Homeland Security also plays a
significant role." ( see: http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/hague.cfm)
One big need we have right now is for Ethan and Ruth to get a physical. We are having trouble finding a doctor who can get them in quickly. To further complicate matters, the physician's signature has to be notarized on Ethan's form for China. We do have a plan to accomplish this in Lafayette (if we have to) at the end of the month, but that delays things. If anyone knows of a notary that we could hire to go to - Urgent Care perhaps? - for physicals, let me know.
In our "free time" today we are getting ready for the fire safety inspection that will hopefully happen on Monday. One question... does anyone know where we put the fire safety ladder when we moved to Ohio???
