Sunday, November 18, 2012
Nursery Done!
Although we are still waiting for paperwork to be approved, we have been preparing at home for our little bug-a-boo. The nursery is finished! I absolutely love it. The color of the room is so calming and the decals add such a personal touch. All we need now is our little guy home in our arms. At least his room will be ready for him when he comes home.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
When are we gonna get our break?
Lord grant us favor....PLEASE!!
Adoption is not for the faint hearted that is for sure. We passed our 30 day non appeal period and began our the next stage of paperwork for our little guy. I honestly keep wondering when the paperwork chase is going to end. I have 2 binders (each 2 inches) full of the copies of documents, home study and dossier. I'm sorry to be complaining but it seems that around every turn there is another document (or 10) that need to be completed.
We sent off a number of forms on Oct 3rd, including our I-600 with his birth certificate, adoption judgement and judgement suppletive for the birth certificate (each document in English and French). These were sent to the USCIS---let me just say, our experience with this department of the government now affirms the reason that the government is in the trouble it is. Inefficient to say the least.
We also had to complete the G-28: Notice of Entry of Appearance, I-864: Affidavit of Support, Affidavit Concerning Exemption from Immigration Vaccination Requirements and the Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration. We got all of these docs off quickly and then waited.
A few weeks later we received a letter from the USCIS requesting additional information/proof of orphan status. We opened the letter and were shocked....more proof than the 4 documents in both English and Spanish?!? The feelings we felt were extreme anger, sadness, frustration and hopelessness. What more did they need to prove that he is an orphan? We reached out to our agency with the request for evidence and of course this would take an additional couple of weeks for the attorney in Congo to get the additional documentation that the USCIS requested.
Finally, over a month after originally sending our I-600 off we sent back the documentation (on Nov 5) and pray for a quick (can we even say quick since this set us back at the very least another month?). It is now Nov 17th and we are still waiting for approval of our I-600 so that the Ministry can begin their work and approvals.
Everyday we check the mail to see if there is a letter of approval. So far, each day we are disappointed. Our hearts hurt. Our arms are empty. All we can think about is when we will be able to hold our son in our arms. I know everything is in His timing but it is getting hard to accept that His timing is not matching up with our timing. I continue to pray that those reviewing our paperwork will show us favor. Please Lord, show us the light at the end of the tunnel. Let something go quick in this process, we need some sort of win to encourage us.
Adoption is not for the faint hearted that is for sure. We passed our 30 day non appeal period and began our the next stage of paperwork for our little guy. I honestly keep wondering when the paperwork chase is going to end. I have 2 binders (each 2 inches) full of the copies of documents, home study and dossier. I'm sorry to be complaining but it seems that around every turn there is another document (or 10) that need to be completed.
We sent off a number of forms on Oct 3rd, including our I-600 with his birth certificate, adoption judgement and judgement suppletive for the birth certificate (each document in English and French). These were sent to the USCIS---let me just say, our experience with this department of the government now affirms the reason that the government is in the trouble it is. Inefficient to say the least.
We also had to complete the G-28: Notice of Entry of Appearance, I-864: Affidavit of Support, Affidavit Concerning Exemption from Immigration Vaccination Requirements and the Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration. We got all of these docs off quickly and then waited.
A few weeks later we received a letter from the USCIS requesting additional information/proof of orphan status. We opened the letter and were shocked....more proof than the 4 documents in both English and Spanish?!? The feelings we felt were extreme anger, sadness, frustration and hopelessness. What more did they need to prove that he is an orphan? We reached out to our agency with the request for evidence and of course this would take an additional couple of weeks for the attorney in Congo to get the additional documentation that the USCIS requested.
Finally, over a month after originally sending our I-600 off we sent back the documentation (on Nov 5) and pray for a quick (can we even say quick since this set us back at the very least another month?). It is now Nov 17th and we are still waiting for approval of our I-600 so that the Ministry can begin their work and approvals.
Everyday we check the mail to see if there is a letter of approval. So far, each day we are disappointed. Our hearts hurt. Our arms are empty. All we can think about is when we will be able to hold our son in our arms. I know everything is in His timing but it is getting hard to accept that His timing is not matching up with our timing. I continue to pray that those reviewing our paperwork will show us favor. Please Lord, show us the light at the end of the tunnel. Let something go quick in this process, we need some sort of win to encourage us.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Weekend Getaway
Utah or Bust!
After many weeks months of stress at both of our jobs we decided to take a couple days off and at the last minute head to Moab, UT. We even took the dogs with us, finding a website (www.bringfido.com) that tells of pet friendly hotels.
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| We are always thinking about our little guy. We are waiting for you! |
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| The pups enjoying the hotel |
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| Utah or Bust! |
We had an awesome time. I think one of the things that made this so fun was that it was totally unplanned (which is not like me-I'm a total planner!). We just went and did what we wanted when we wanted. The only bad thing about the trip was that it was too short. But we plan on heading back to Moab next year when it is warmer for some fun four wheeling.
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| Looking down at Needles |
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| Girls chilling |
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| Dead Horse State Park |
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| Dead Horse State Park |
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| Storm blowing in, you can see the snow flurries - they look like comets |
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| Arches National Park |
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| Sand Arch |
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| Texture |
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| Dean climbed the Sand Arch |
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| Texture |
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| Angel running wild |
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| Chardonnay running off her biscuits and gravy breakfast |
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| A little 4-wheeling |
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| Wish you were here Kade! |
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| The Windows |
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| Balancing Rock |
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| Waiting for you in front of balancing rock |
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| Arches National Park |
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