Letter from Citibank comes...and it is WRONG! Another hour on the phone requesting a corrected letter. (note to self...change banks, it is HELL every time we need something from them).

Citibank leaves a message that they need more information for the Consulate letter. They have a phone number with an extension that the folks at Citibank claims doesn't actually exist! Grrr. I beg and plead with a supervisor who tells me he will put in a new request and have it expedited.

While Everyone Else Is Xmas Shopping

We are jumping through paper hoops. The days leading up to Christmas looked something like this:

Monday 12/18 - Find an agency called FingerPrintTech in Santa Monica and get Livescan fingerprints done from California DOJ

Tuesday 12/19 - arrive at Immigration Dept in downtown LA at 9 AM to file I-600A - while there I meet 2 couples who are going on year 2 of waiting (!). They are both there to refile paperwork as it expires after 18 months...all of the fees ahve to be paid a second time; Bob's passport is expiring 1/07 - drop off paperwork for renewel passport office; head to get livescan fingerprints done for FBI (wait 3 hours while they fix the computer); order consulate letters from the bank; so to Santa Monica police dept for clearance letter, and are told that we have to go to LA Sherriff's office.

Wednesday 12/20 - Go to LA Sherriff's office in West Hollywood and meet an officer who is very helpful. Turns out she was adopted! Paperwork will take 24 hours.

Thursday 12/21 - We go for physicals (both China and the agency needs different reports); we pick up paperwork fro the Sheriff's office...and we take a red eye to St. Augustine for the holidays.

Bal Jagat Holiday Party

We decided to go to the Bal Jagat Holiday Party in Lakewood to meet with other adoptive families. Alex wanted to see all of the little kids. He is very sxcited about having a MeiMei (little sister in Chinese). When we arrive Hemlata pulls us aside. She received a call from U.S. Asian Affairs telling her that new restrictions on Chinese adoption would be going into effect May 1, 2007. Among the new rules, no one over age 50. She says that if we have our paperwork in Beijing by April, we will be fine.

We meet a couple at the party who are there for the second year without a child. They are hoping to get a referral soon...2 years!

We get home and I immediately go into overdrive on the paperwork. Now the clock is ticking.

Rumours...

There is a rumour going around the the cyber world of blogs that China is about to change their eligibility rules so that no one over 50 can adopt. Bob is 52. Apparently there was a meeting on Dec 8 in China were new ' proposed" restrictions were announced becuase of the backlog in applications, and because the Chinese government is hoping that people will beging to adopt domestically. Nothing shows up on the official Chinese government site though.

Paper...

Our application is officially accepted. It comes back to us with a booklet of everything we need to do for the agency, for China and for U.S. Immigration. Wow, there is a lot of paperwork that needs to be done and collected! Birth and marriage certificate in triplicate have already been ordered.

Step One

Bob and I drove down to Long Beach with meet with Hemlata from Bal Jagat. After researching on the internet, Bal Jagat is the agency we chose. We could only find glowing comments about Hemlata. Plus she was one of only a handful of agencies directly authorized by China, and in addition to being an adoption agency, Hemlata helps support foster care facitilies and schools in various countries.

Our interview went well and we left an application (which was filled out and mailed later that day). The paperchase begins.