9/22/11~ Sent in application to Faith International Adoptions
10/12/11~ sent adoption agreement to Faith (Forever family day for Samuel)
11/3/11~ sent in I-600a application, medical physicals
11/16/11~ first home study visit
12/6/11~ last home study visit
2/14/12~ home study sent to USCIS
3/6/12~ Heather’s fingerprints
3/9/12~ Bill’s fingerprints
3/22/12~ I-600a approval & officially waiting for referral (2 years exactly from our official waiting day for Samuel 🙂 )
3/22/13~ 1 year officially waiting for a referral
5/8/13~ Bill & Heather’s fingerprints again
8/2/13~ home study update- home visit
9/22/13~ I-600a approval (our 2nd approval since the other one was expiring)
3/22/14~ 2 years officially waiting for a referral
4/18/14~ our referral of a beautiful baby girl & Heather’s birthday!
5/3/14~ travel to Japan
5/5/14~ finally a family of four
5/10/14~ arrive back home as a family of four 🙂
We also would like to adopt from Japan. What agency did you use? And in my research I read that you have to stay for all the court proceedings, 6-18 months. It looks like you were only there for a week. Is this right? Were there any problems with very long proceedings? I appreciate your response! 🙂