Along The Road: Golden Ticket

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Golden Ticket

It's here!

The Golden Ticket

adoption lingo for

USCIS immigration approval

stating that we have the

right to bring Elisha home!

Now...

we just need the invitation to travel.

(In case you are wondering, the actual approval is a completely nondescript sheet of white paper. Nothing fancy about it.)

2 comments:

Jaclyn M said...: Woohooo Yippeee!!!!! So excited!!! Soon my friend... Very soon!!; September 21, 2011 at 9:49 PM
Jamie said...: We got great news today too. I'm doing a happy dance for you!; September 22, 2011 at 2:47 AM

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Following God's Call Seldom Comes Free

Who can put a price on the life of a child? She is priceless, but these are the costs to get her into our family.

Anticipated adoption cost total: $40000 (estimated)

Actual expense breakdown:

Homestudy application #1: $250 (cancelled with agency) PAID

Homestudy #2: $4250 (all fees due upfront) PAID

RR Love Offering & Application: $275 PAID

Adoption agency application: $350 PAID

Agency Fee 1 of 3 (due upfront): $1500 PAID

Adoption 101 Class (6 hours required by state): $130 PAID

State/FBI Fingerprints: $120 PAID

FBI Reprints (due to "missing" prints): $102 PAID

Agency Fee 2 of 3: $2000 PAID

USCIS application: $890 PAID

Extra Copies of official documents (certificates, etc.): est. $500 (IN PROCESS- PAID UP TO DATE NEEDS)

TRAVEL TIME!!

All grant monies are now accessible to our family to help with costs from here on out.

TRIP #1

Plane tickets (Trip #1) for two: $1665 PAID

Visas (Trip #1) for two: $775 PAID

TRIP 1 EXPENSES (PAID WHILE TRAVELING):
Agency/Facilitator Fees: $9000
Lodging Costs: $650
Transportation: $1100
Food: $300
Medicals: $500
TOTAL COSTS FOR TRIP #1:$13,990

UPON RETURN:
Updated paperwork (including updating documents, expired fingerprints, courier costs, etc.) $350

TRIP 2 EXPENSES: paid during trip

Flights/Transportation: $1900 r/t flights

Our visas: $975

Adoption Fees (Due to Agency): $4000

Lodging: $650 + Club Carlson (Radisson) points for two nights- Thank you Walters' family for your generous point donation!

In-country flight and train transport: $850

Food: $200

TOTAL FOR TRIP #2: $8575

FINAL TRIP EXPENSES (Paid before or during travels)

Flights for two adults: $2050

Elisha's flight home: $900

Medicals, Embassy, paperwork expenses: $750

Train/Transportation expenses: $1200

Lodging: $1300

Food: $400 (estimated)

Donations & Gifts: $500 Thank you to those who donated to our book fundraiser. We were able to donate more than 20 books to the children of the orphanage.

Misc. Expenses: $100 (estimated)

TOTAL FINAL TRIP EXPENSES: $7200

TOTAL OF ELISHA'S ADOPTION $42900

VALUE OF ELISHA'S ADOPTION: Priceless

OUR ADOPTION TIMELINE

November 29th, 2010- Sarah saw "Taylah" on RR and knew she was staring at her daughter.

February 2011- Contacted RR to officially commit to Taylah (aka Elisha.)

March 2011- Paid Homestudy Agency #1 (5th); Accepted by MOE in her region; Accepted by adoption agency; initial fingerprinting and DCFS licensing underway.

April 2011- Dropped Homestudy Agency #1

May 2011- Paid for with Homestudy Agency #2 to start process (10th.)

June 2011- FINALLY, Homestudy in progress! Expedited process with a great agency led to a finished product in a short amount of time.

July 2011- Homestudy mailed to state (5th); Received state approval (27th.)

August 2011- Submitted I600a application (14th); Received biometrics appt letter (24th); walk-in fingerprints done (25th); began gathering court documents (25th)

September 2011- Recieved USCIS approval; so close to traveling!! but then... a delay... our region decides to require additional information from a previous family.

October 2011- Still waiting for news...

November 2011- BLESSED to receive a grant for the remainder of our adoption needs! Received our travel date! (7th); MET ELISHA!! (29th)

December 2011- Needed court documents updated before submission; court documents submitted.

January 2012- Trip #2; court on January 27th, 2012. The judge rules in our favor and Elizaveta (RR "Taylah") becomes Elisha White!

February 24th- Return for our final trip.

February 29th- Elisha says goodbye to the place she has lived for four full years. She is with her Mommy and Daddy forever!

MARCH 3rd 2012- Elisha is a U.S. citizen and home forever!!

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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Golden Ticket

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