i800a Approved At Last!

Wow oh wow.  Our approval was waiting for us when we returned home late from the wedding last night.  I never imagined the wait would be this long.  It was a simple update, just a Supplement 3 form to our i800a.  No fingerprints were required as ours from the girls have not expired yet.  Easy right?  Apparently nothing in this adoption is easy since everything seems to be taking twice as long as predicted.  Here is the timetable for what was supposed to be quick and easy.




08/28/2013  Supplement 3 to the I800A sent to immigrations
09/04/2013  Receipt notice of Supplement 3 at USCIS
09/16/2013  Supplement 3 on our officer's desk.  She confirmed that she ordered our original file with the i800a to be consolidated with the Supplement 3.  
10/01/2013  Spoke with our officer on the telephone and she looked into what was causing the delay.  Someone for some unknown reason had cancelled her request for the file.
10/08/2013  Received an email from our officer that the original file had finally arrived and she would complete our paperwork that day.
10/16/2013 Called USCIS and was told our paperwork was actually not approved until Friday the 10th.
10/19/2013  Wow, it is here.  52 days.  Unreal.   NINE days to receive it in the mail once it was approved.  We had to have fingerprinting and everything with the girls and it was only 33 days from sending it in to arrival in our mailbox.  Have I ever mentioned that adoptive parents are obsessive about dates? 

So what happens now?  Our placement agency will have the form notarized and then send it (along with the other two documents required to update our dossier) to the embassy in Washington DC.  Once they are authenticated our dossier will finally make its round in China.  I am REALLY glad to get past this step.