Important adoption errands today!

After work I went here:

and made deposits, so I could write a big check to:

 so that we could finally mail in our I800 forms to the National Benefits Center. Yippee!  

Doesn't sound so exciting, I know, but it gets us through one more hoop in this process. I hadn't ever heard of NBC (except the TV network) before we got into this adoption process.  The NBC has to approve our immigrating Ivelina into the country as a U.S. citizen before we actually go get her. 

This is the summer of immigration for us!  Here's what we can expect:

1. In a couple of weeks, we should receive a letter of receipt from the NBC.
2. Then, a couple of weeks after that, NBC will assign us a biometric appointment.  Sounds fancy, but it's just electronic fingerprints.  (Yes, MORE fingerprints!)  The bad part is that we anticipate having to drive a couple of hours to get to our "local" NBC fingerprinting location.  Bleh... but we do hope and pray that these are our last fingerprints.
3. A couple of weeks after we get fingerprinted, we should receive the golden, coveted, *expensive* NBC approval letter.  Bulgaria has to have this letter of approval before they can officially match us with Miss Ivelina. 
4. Then, the letter must be translated and we wait on our official match and first travel dates.

Our case worker suggested that the NBC had been moving quite quickly lately with her cases, so we pray they will continue moving as quickly as possible for us too.

Everyone asks about our timeline: "When do you think you will get to bring her home?"  We do not know exactly, but it is possible that we could travel once in early-mid fall and for the second time toward the end of this year.  Wouldn't it be a dream to have our daughter home for Christmas?  So, yeah, forms, fingerprints, and approval letters don't sound nearly as exciting as painting her room or buying children's furniture, but these mundane things must happen in order to reach the finish line of this adoption.

Hope you enjoyed the update!  If you have any questions, please leave a comment below!

Thanks for reading,

~Shelly