…but I’ll get to that in a bit. It’s not all about me. Not tonight.
I want to start by congratulating the families from my agency who are traveling tomorrow. Norm & I are absolutely thrilled for each of you. We are encouraged by your faith, your strength, your positive attitude, and your journey thus far. We will lift you up in prayer each day this week and ask our family and friends to do the same. Safe travels and many hugs are sent to you, as well as wishes for much happiness and joy when you meet your children on Monday!
Beth – we can’t thank you enough for finding room in your carry on for our dossier! We are comforted knowing it is in safe hands and will be in Russia, delivered to S in a few short days. Thank you!
Now, on to my pity party. I am bummed. Why? First, I allowed myself to get hooked on possible timelines. I allowed my expectations to rise, even though the rule of thumb for international adoption is to keep your expectations low so that you aren’t disappointed. Good advice but difficult to follow.
I called our USCIS office yesterday and they called me back today. I decided to explain how quickly we can travel once we have our immigration approval and to try & get a sense of their processing timeline. I’ve heard that if you explain that their approval is the only thing holding you from traveling, they can often expedite the process. Not so with our office. She wasn’t nasty at all when she said this and in fact was apologetic and extremely nice. But they do process the 600A’s on a first come, first served basis and they do not sway from that. So that was bummer #1.
Bummer #2 happened when she told me that their 9 week timeline begins once they have your fingerprints, which we have yet to receive our invitation to do. We thought the 9 weeks began the same day we submitted the I600A but apparently that is not the case. You may remember that Norm hand delivered our 600A on Monday, January 14, and we were a little nervous about the cashier getting it to the right person. Well, the nice lady I spoke to today didn’t comfort me a whole lot about whether the forms DID make it to the right person. She expressed concern that we hadn’t received a confirmation letter or fingerprint appointment yet. She was actually calling me from her cell phone (impressive, despite her other news) so she couldn’t check her records but assured me that is the first thing she is going to do when she gets to the office Monday. Please, please pray that Ms. Cashier Lady didn’t lose or misroute our paperwork as this obviously would not be a good thing!
She did have some news that was a little encouraging but I’m going to remain skeptical. She said that 9 weeks is (supposedly) the worst case scenario, and that often the time between fingerprints & approval is “significantly less” than 9 weeks. As lovely as that would be, I don’t think it’s healthy for me to focus on this possibility much.
Such is the life of an international adopter! Ups and downs, and one day complete and ultimate joy when your little one is home for good!
At the beginning of January I wrote a post of things I had to look forward to this month, one of which was the chocolate boutique at my friend Nancy’s house. It was originally scheduled for tomorrow evening but we rescheduled it to tonight. Perhaps this is another God wink…an event that God knew I would especially need today, and yet when we rescheduled the date I didn’t think twice about the significance of doing so. On any other day, given the mood I am in at the moment I would prefer to go to bed, hide under the covers and be comforted by the purring of my cats nuzzled up against me. I’m turning a new leaf though – or at least trying – and I am REFUSING to withhold chocolate from myself! Otherwise, that which is trying to bring me down and discourage me will win. So I say bring on the chocolate AND the good mood!
I made progress on some other fronts today but I’ll share that sometime this weekend. I’ve got chocolate beckoning me now!
Prayers for our Children
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5 comments:
Hope your enjoyed your evening! After this week, you deserved to have some yummy fun!
Congratulations again on your dossier going to Moscow! That is such a huge step forward. And yes, this journey is a daily and sometimes hourly emotional roller coaster. It can really be exhausting, but one day in the not too distant future, when we're holding our little ones, we won't care!
Don't be discouraged by your conversation with USCIS. It sounds like you'll get a fingerprint appointment very soon. The posted processing time for our office was 12 weeks, and we received our I-171H in 4 weeks! If your office's posted processing time is 9 weeks, there is hope! And God can do anything, even make government offices work quickly and efficiently!
Snuggling up with cats sounds like a wonderful idea. That will be me here shortly!
Enjoy your chocolate Karyn - it is well deserved! IA is all about hopes, expectations, and frustrations. All of which are gone the second you lay eyes on your child.
As for USCIS, hopefully that fingerprinting appointment notice is in the mail and that they will process quicker than 9 weeks. Our state processing time was 12 weeks - with a little begging and pleading (which I am not above) and some name dropping (of a Congressman) it was in my hands 4 days later (total of 3 weeks since fingerprints).
Thanks for your well wishes, prayers, and thoughts as we travel this week.
I completely understand your frustration with the processing times with USCIS. Our local office has a wait time of 6 months on the 600A. I've been waiting on my 171-H approval since Aug/Sept. I heard from them in late december..said our application was finally complete, fingerprints came back clear and it is the end of Jan and I still haven't received my approval letter.
I'm sure this won't be your case..but I totally sympathize with you. It's a little more than frustrating.
Keep your chin up! It will all work out, and I know that sounds cliche but it will. I like to be in control of things and I had to learn early on that I cannot control anything with IA. I literally had to give it over to God and once I did it felt so much better. Until this past week when we didn't get word on travel dates. I was in the worst mood, I was mean to Randy, snappy at the dog, and just wanted to sit and pout. It did me no good and after I got through my funk we went to the grocery store. We went to the dairy section and I went to buy milk and Randy went to buy yogurt. I looked at the expiration date on the milk and it said 2/2/08. Randy comes up to me and says, "Hey look at the expiration date on the yogurt" 2/2/08. Okay God, I get it, let the bad mood go, it will all work out.
So enjoy your pity party, indulge in your chocolate and then move on and take comfort in the fact that it will all work out! :-)
I think the hardest part is having to rely on others to complete certain tasks inorder for the whole picture to come together. I was a nervous reck when I sent in my I-600.
The day I was fingerprinted they moved the office and leaft no forwarding address. By the grace of God it all worked out. I am just waiting on the I-171 approval to be returned to me.
Once I get this I will feel better.
Thinking and Praying fro you,
Joy
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