Finally, our homestudy is done!

Now, we wait for our agency to review it.  If it needs any revisions, the homestudy agency will have to do them and then send it back to the agency again.  When it passes inspection, we will submit the I-800A form to USCIS to get approved to bring an internationally adopted child into the U.S.  Since we are adopting under the Hague treaty, Therese will automatically become a citizen when she enters the U.S.  I know I complain a lot about the tons of extra hoops the Hague treaty adds to the process, and the fact that it adds about a month to the process at the very end--which will drive me CRAZY--but the automatic citizenship is a good thing.  So, we submit the I-800A, our homestudy, a large fee, and some other documents, and then we wait again.  Then they will send us an appointment to go get fingerprinted at our local USCIS office.  They will have the FBI run our fingerprints.  After they confirm we are not serial killers or some other types who should not get to adopt children, we will wait again for our approval.  It takes about 3 months.  I should be better at this, having ridden the international adoption rollercoaster before, but I'm not good at waiting.   For now, I'm celebrating that we have made one more step toward bringing home our little girl.