Wrapping up 2007

What a fun year it has been. We just returned home from our Christmas travels. Friends and Tricia's brother are joining us in St. Louis to close out the year. For Christmas gifts this year we thought we would give all our family and close friends something related to the adoption. So after I created the BabyBelz logo, I had the idea to put it on shirts for everyone. A company called Custom Ink (www.customink.com) did a wonderful, high-quality job plus they have tons of other items! The prices were great too. Here are the model shots:

Tricia, Kayla, and Ann

Walker, Mike, Hank and Scott
(Toasting to BabyBelz)

While our adoption journey is still young we thought it would be a fun way to celebrate all of the small steps towards the day we hold our child. Our family and friends are really excited and that means the world to us. From the Belz Family, we wish you a happy and healthy 2008. And for those families waiting on final travel, we wish speedy I-600 approval and God's speed!

Merry Christmas!

We hope you and your families have a Merry Christmas! While waiting for that plump jolly old elf to visit your house, see were Santa is right now. His position is update every 5 minutes... Click this link HERE Looks like he made a stop in VN too :-). Enjoy this special day, and everyone travel safe! Our Christmas card this year.

Christmas 1974. I am on the left. Sisters Diehnee (middle)
and Libby (right).

UNCLE SAM COMES CALLING!

Well not for the military, but we received our I-797C (ASC Appointment Notice) letters in the mail today! We are scheduled to do our biometrics on 01/03/08 at 12:00pm at the Federal building. Not used to being fingerprinted so many times!
Having all of these official docs will come handy when we put all of this into a book for our child to look over later in life and see exactly what we have done in regards to completing their adoption. I guess it is sort of a baby book, but with more legal documents. All of these entries would be great to include too.
The NOT so exciting part of this appointment is the the major interstate that goes through St. Louis is being closed on Jan 2 and will not re-open for 2 years, so the 30 min drive to downtown will take about 1 hour.

Jingle Belz

Puck being NOT so happy

The fourth annual Jingle Belz Christmas party was on Saturday evening. Despite the snow storm we had a great group of family and friends join us for food, fun and of course Santa Claus who made his debut at the Belz house for this party. We decided to migrate from 50-60 friends to a close group of friends, family and the children. It really was better this way. Not only was there Christmas cheer, and the weather to go along with it, gifts were shared, great stories told and looking forward to Jingle Belz 2008 we will add baby "Judy" Walker to the event. Our friends Mike and Ann Walker are expecting their first child in February. They are keeping the name confidential until she is born, so Tricia has affectionately named her "Judy" which Ann hates!

The "big man" shows up! Sorry for the darkness...

Trish and Mr. Santa Claus

Scott and HB IV

I-600A Filed!

Well we filed the form today along with the docs we needed, paid our $830 and left! We thought we would be able to do the fingerprints too, but the sea hag that was working behind the 12" thick glass window told us nope! They will call us and schedule an appointment in 2-3 weeks. So again we wait :-). Kinda gets old having to wait on others to move at the "government" pace so that we can me parents. Oh well. Not much we can do. Have a great weekend. We get snow tonight!! WOOHOO!!!

Tricia with the "Folder"outside the Federal building downtown.
Immigration ones are color coded yellow.. call me crazy....

Immigration Office Visit Time

Now that we are officially waiting, we will make our appointment with the USCIS to file our I-600A, and hopefully that same day, be able to complete the fingerprinting for the FBI background check things. Judy sent us our three copies of the certified home study, and Michelle from Holt Eugene sent our official letter of waiting and invoice for the dossier fees. Lord, after this is all said and done with we won't be able to sneeze without the government knowing where we are :-). Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.


UPDATE: Our appointment is Friday 12/14 at 11am. We go downtown to the federal building just by Busch. The folder with all the required docs and checks is ready to go!

OFFICIALLY WAITING!

I guess Judy sent it overnight! Michelle called Tricia today and our home study has been approved! We are number 49 on the waiting list for a referral. While we were hoping between 9-12 months before we find our who our baby is, Michelle said more like 18...UGH! So while we celebrate, we also have a long wait ahead of us. Guess we had better find so more hobbies :-)

Passing Another Mile Marker on The Long Road to Baby Belz

Judy called today. Our home study has been written and she is sending it to the Vietnam Program Director for Holt in Eugene, OR. WOOHOOO! Hope to hear back regarding approval sometime mid to late next week! Once that is complete we will be on the OFFICIAL WAITING LIST !!!