Fingerprinted today!

We mailed our I600 to BCIS on April 4, 2006 and, at the suggestion of our friends Tina and Scott (Hui Hui's Mom and Dad), we sent along a photo of Madeline and a special request that our I171 be expedited. I felt a little bit uncomfortable doing this since our child isn't more important than anyone else's but figured that it sure couldn't hurt.

The result? It HELPED........ tremendously!

We got our fingerprint appointment just five days after they received our request! Even before the home study was received! Now, if only the 171 can come in such good time too!

We were fingerprinted today. It's such a clean and happy process at our local Service Support Center. It's much different than most of my experiences with fingerprinting since I used to be a Deputy Sheriff in a large Southern California County.

First of all, back when I was getting my hands dirty, we didn't have the fancy LiveScan machines. We had the antique method of print cards and black ink. Trust me, the people I printed were not the sort of people you'd want to hold hands with -- but that's just what I had to do. It was pretty darn grim! I'm sure my fellow adoptive mom, Kat, would agree!

Our agency has a deadline of the 5th of the month if our dossier is to be sent to China the following month. Dossiers are only sent ONCE per month so making the deadline is pretty important! Cross your fingers that we get our 171 in the next two weeks. It can happen since some of our local friends (like Kristin and Frederick) managed to do it in less time than that!

If our dossier goes to China in June, we can expect TA about two months later. That puts us in a really good position to travel in September if our agency has a group traveling then. Otherwise, we're looking at travel after the October Guangzhou Trade Fair.

We're optimistic that we'll have Maddy home by Christmas though! Fun times ahead for our family! Stay tuned!! :)