USCIS and Patty's Passport Update Complete!!!!

On Wednesday evening, we missed the FedEx drop by about 5 minutes, so we got the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services - Department of Homeland Security) I-600A (Application for Advanced Processing of Orphan Petition) paperwork shipped.  This requires a notarized completed copy of the home study and copies of our birth certificates and marriage certificate.  But the cool thing (warning,  here's a dorky moment), is that I included a Form G-1145 - E-notification of Application/Acceptance.  So what this means is that when they receive the application, I will get an email/text and then when the application is approved, we will also get an email/text.  I don't know why I'm so excited that the government can email/text, but it seems like light years away from what other countries standards are, so I am thankful and excited for this!  When I called the USCIS Adoption office they were awesome!  Again, I got a live person and he gave me a run down of the process and timeline.  Approximately 90 days and then unless they require further investigation, we should be approved.

My passport expires in March, so I needed an updated ASAP. BUT...I needed the passport for my trip to the Caribbean, I had to wait until I got back and then had time to get some pictures that met the requirements. So I got a that off the in mail yesterday!

We are still working on the dossier paperwork, with the most difficult document to get is a copy of our deed of trust.  Thanks to the Countrywide's demise our mortgage was sold to Bank of America and somehow in the process, our loan documents were lost.  (Wait does this mean we don't have to pay our mortgage anymore?! lol!)  Anyhow, I have a copy of all of the documents BEFORE they were signed and notarized, but not after, so we may have to use an alternate procedure to come up with these documents.

Sledding at Grandma's house on Thanksgiving!

It's snowing like cats and dogs today and Dane and Kevin are measuring everything they can find in the house (it's amazing how a measuring tape can keep a 4 year old excited for so long!).  Another big thing to note is that it's Kevin's 32nd birthday today, Happy Birthday Kevin!