It's Official - We Are Bela's Legal Parents

We just heard that the Indian courts have provided the final approval for adoptiong Bela. We are officially her legal guardians! We are so excited and amazed at how quickly this entire process has been completed. Almost 1 year to the day when we first hired Holt International (our adoption agency), we are now the parents (legally) of a beautiful 2 year old little girl in India. I heard that just over 400 children are adopted from India each year! Bela is truly special and one of a kind! We are very, very lucky to be her parents. I've outlined our timeline from the day we decided to adopt....

• October 2008 - Decision to Adopt: Reshma finally decides she is ready to adopt! Only a year after Ryan was ready! :)
• September 2008 - Apply for the OCI Card! Reshma files for the OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card so that we can move up in priority from Adoption Priority 3 to Priority 2 according to Indian adotpion laws. Ryan is not Indian and therefore being priority 3 would give us the option to adopt a much older child only. Priority 2 allows us to get a younger child. Currently, only couples residing in India are allowed to be Priority 1 - which gives the priority to adopt newborn babies.
• October 2008 - OCI Granted: After much back and forth with the Indian Embassy, Reshma receives her OCI card. Woho - Priority 2 status attained!! What was odd is that Reshma's mom didn't get approval for an OCI card for her travels but her US born daughter did...go figure!
• November 2008 - Research for Agency: Ryan narrows down search to 2 agencies who adopt from India.
• December 2008 - Sign on with Agency: We chose Holt International and our application was submitted.
• January 2009 - Home Study Initiated: "Holy Paperwork Batman!"
• March 2009 - We got a Match! Home Study approved AND on our 9th Anniversary, we found out that we have a match - her name is Bela!
• May 2009 - Little Bela: We finished reviewing all of her medical documents and decided to adopt Bela - assignment paperwork underway.
• August 2009 - I800: Application approved for Bela. I am so grateful that the agency has managed this entire paperwork process!
• October 2009 - Bela turns 2! She posed in this pretty red dress for Diwali. I refer to her as princess Bela in this picture.
• December 21, 2009 - She's our's Legally! Final Court Order Received after about a month of delay due to Diwali holidays in India.