Names

We have selected the names for our baby and I wanted to share them with you.

The Girl Names Are:
Sayuri, which means little lilly

Emiko which means blessed and beautiful child.

The Boy Names Are:
Matsu, which means pine, (a Japanese symbol of celebration)

Akio, which means bright boy

We love these names and will be happy with any that are used!

More Evidence

We received a letter in the mail yesterday from USCIS requesting more evidence regarding our criminal history and an itemized list of our monthly expenditures. When we applied for permission to adopt the first time, they requested further evidence regarding our criminal history. (which is odd, because neither one of us have a criminal history!) but they did not request anything else. I just wonder, what makes them ask these questions? However, Carolyn is taking care of it as soon as possible. So, hopefully it will not set us back to much!

Homestudy Finalized

As of September 18, USCIS has our completed application to bring a foreign child into the United States. They have our application, our fingerprints and our notarized home study. Many thanks to Carolyn for accomplishing the task of updating our home study so quickly. I was looking over back over Kaori's timeline and it took 2.5 months to finalize the home study. This time it took 1.5 months. So, we are ahead of schedule! Also, for Kaori's I600-A, we submitted in June and did not receive our approval until November! I hope it does not as long this time as it did last time. We received a form in the mail that said the processing time for the application is 8 weeks. We submitted on August 12th, so that puts us at October 7th if they hold true to the 8 week timeline. That is not far away at all! We still have a lot to do!

We had a fun time at JapanFest. We learned that Fukuoka, (where Kaori was born ) and Atlanta are sister cities! That is really cool. We enjoyed the entertainment, crafts, displays, Sapporo and Bubble Tea!

JapanFest

This weekend we are going to JapanFest in Atlanta. I am very excited to see what all it has to offer. I am hoping to pick up a few things for the new baby! Maybe something for the nursery or an outfit. I am sure Kaori will see lots of things that she would like to have! Me too, for that matter! I am looking forward to hearing the drummers and seeing some dance performances as well. Let's just hope Kaori will be in a good mood and not refuse her stroller all day!!!

FBI Prints: Check!

Yesterday was a crazy day of driving! Kaori and left for Nashville at 8:00 am to meet up with Dave to get our prints done. I dropped Kaori off at Ryan's house and then headed for the USCIS office. They were very fast and efficient, the whole ordeal took less than an hour. We went back to Ryan's and loaded up Kaori, Mary Paul and Ellie Jane into my car and hit the road back to Knoxville. The trip was loud as ever and not relaxing in any way. We arrived at Ashley's and met up with the rest of the family. Ashley had all kinds of yummy foods set out and we all visited with each other. Even Mom and Doug, (Pop) were there. This was the first time that Doug has met the husbands and the kids, so it was a big day. But, I am so excited to have the prints complete! Just one more step closer to our sweet baby!!!

Homestudy Update

This morning I woke to find the final draft of our homestudy in our inbox! So, that is great news. Next it will be mailed to USCIS in Memphis to join our I600-A application. This Friday is our FBI fingerprints, so once they are done everything is complete for the I600-A process. Now we just wait for them to approve it and send us the 171-H form which allows us to bring a foreign child into the states. So, I am thrilled with our progress! I am going to begin work on our dossier today!