We are Official!

Heard from the agency this morning (email on my phone and then voice mail at home) that our documents were officially submitted and accepted at SDA in Kiev.  We are Officially In Line!

I was so excited to get the email!  I thought it would take longer to translate and submit.  I was planning to call the agency next Monday for an update.  So, I'm pleased that it didn't take as long as I thought it might.  I'm also thrilled that we have passed this milestone of getting registered.

The rest of our documents are due November 11th which means we must have them to our agency about a month before that.  Because Ukraine has specific requirements about how "recent" a document is, we don't start acquiring the rest of our documents until mid-August.  That gives us a couple of months to receive documents and get them authenticated before submitting to the agency (who will double check them before sending on to the facilitator in Ukraine).

I must admit that I felt a twinge of disappointment that our submission date is in November.  I was so hoping for October!  But November is good!

The timeframe from here (as we understand it, and subject to change) is:

mid-October - send completed dossier to agency who then sends to facilitator in Ukraine
November 11 - facilitator submits completed dossier to SDA
In a week or 2 - SDA reviews dossier and assigns date of referral appointment which is usually 4-6 weeks later.
mid- to late December - we leave for Ukraine

Like I said, everything after the 11/11 submission date is highly tentative.  What we DO know is that we are official, and we will experience Ukraine in the winter time.  Vivian is thrilled that she will get to see snow.  That's so Viv!

For now, we are on a bit of a hiatus.  We have plenty to keep us busy as we wait, so check back often.   We still have US immigration paperwork, home updates, doctors to locate (for Cliff and me and for our little one), and many other preparations to make.