ADOPTION TIMELINE

01/20/11 - Placed a call about adoption (after 1 yr. 5 mo wait)

01/21/11 - Applied to adopt 2 children from Ug*nda

02/03/11 - First Homestudy Visit (God's birthday gift :) to me)

02/03/11 - Application complete, wait for 2 referrals begins

02/08/11 - Finger Prints mailed to FBI for background check
                  All 5 medical exams/reports complete & notarized

02/10/11 - 2nd Homestudy Appt. (individual interviews hr+ each)

02/16/11 - Accepted the referrals of our 2 children!!!!
                  I have now seen the faces my heart has longed for.

02/18/11 - GBI fingerprints completed for background check.

02/25/11 - Signed contract with our Ug*ndan Attorney

02/28/11 - 3rd & Final Homestudy Visit & Home Inspection

03/23/11 - Homestudy COMPLETE!! 4 notarized copies in hand.

03/25/11 - Overnighted I-600A form to USCIS w/copy of HStudy.

03/30/11 - USCIS acceptance confirmation received by text/email.

04/11/11 - USCIS appointment card for biometrics received by mail.

04/13/11- USCIS prints (biometrics) completed in Charleston, SC
             
05/13/11- USCIS assigned our file to an Officer!! (13's my new #)

05/20/11- USCIS approval granted. (it took 54 days not 75, yea!) Our children can now immigrate to the United States.

05/27/11 - UG attorney filed our case in court.  Waiting for a court date. This day is our daughter Nuluu's birthday.

05/31/11- Sometime over Memorial Weekend, our USCIS approval arrived in the mail. So yes it can take a full 7-10 days.

06/13/11- Felt an unbearable prompt to fast regarding our court date.

06/16/11 - Discouraged...when there was no news.
06/17/11- Early morning hours, husband wakes to read the following email from our attorney:

I was at the Court yesterday and your matter has been fixed for hearing on the 1st day of July, at 2:30pm; Thank you for your prayers!! Kindly make your travel arrangements in time, and we hope you can be in Uganda at least three days prior to your court date so that we can meet before court.

6/19/11 - Drove our only 3 kids at the time, 5 hrs to grandparents' home.

6/22/11 - Boarded a plane in Atlanta, bound for London and then onto Entebbe, Uganda.

6/24/11 - Arrive Entebbe Uganda to see our children for the 2nd time.   It was just a few weeks shy of being 1 year since the last time we'd been with them (never knowing at the time they would ever be our son and daughter)

7/1/11 - Initial court date.  A long day of waiting, each case is unique.  After supper time, we were released, and told we wouldn't make it before our Judge that night...and fortunately told to return the following Monday on the 4th of July.  (Independence Day no less ;)

7/4/11 - No time of day was given...we arrive mid morning.  At about 6pm that evening we are granted permission to present our case to the Judge.  We spend a few hours with the Judge, He is tough, He asks the hard and painful but greatly needed questions.  It is late, it is finished....we have no idea the outcome...resting in the knowledge that it is ALL out of our hands.  We are at peace...this is God's story, His plan.  We are so mercifully told to return just one week later.  He could have said 3 weeks, totally His discretion.

7/11/11 - This time it is me (not we, hubbie returned home to work after 2 weeks) and the kids who appear before the Judge for his ruling.  We are given a positive verbal ruling granting us Legal Guardianship of Nuluu and Fred. 

7/13/11 - Judge signs our written court ruling.  I'm sitting at the Embassy at closing time, as a boda boda delivers this document which allows our Visa interview to take place at this moment.

7/15-11 - Finally receive the LG orders signed by Judge.  These are also required for US Visas to be issued.  This paper makes it to the Embassy with only minutes to spare before we would have to wait another week to depart.

7-16-11 - We depart from the Entebbe airport, bound for home.

7-18-11 -  We arrive in ATL and unite as a family of 7 for the first time.  This day is my and Jeremy's 13th (there's #13 again) Anniversary!!!!!

12-8-11 - US adoption of Nuluu and Fred is finalized at our local courthouse.