Why We Adopt ?!?

Today, included another quick trip to Helena.  This time to get our USCIS Approval Notice certified by the Secretary of State so that our agency can begin translating our documents next week and get them to the Haitian Consulate soon.

Earlier this week I came across this video posted by one of the adoption organizations I follow on social media! It is so good, that we just have to share it with you all.  The decision to adopt and the reasonings are different for everyone… but the picture of adoption as it correlates to the gospel is always there.  Please take 10 minutes and watch this video.

Approved!

Yes!!! Yesterday we received our approval notice letter from the USCIS! As many of you know we had been praying that we'd receive it by May 1; and the Lord blessed us with an extra week.

Now our agency will work on translating all our documents and then work with the Haitian Consulate here in the US to legalize the papers.  Hopefully all that can be completed in 3-4 weeks and then our dossier will be sent to Haiti for a second legalization by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Haiti.  Please pray this all goes well.

The Presidential elections that had been scheduled for April 24th were once again postponed.  Please continue to pray for the political situation in Haiti and that it does not affect the processing and legalizing of our documents when they arrive in Haiti.

How Time Flies … sort of

Wow, It's been over a month since our last blog post.  Really?!?!?  It's not like there has not been anything to blog about, but man does time sure fly by.  And yet at the same time, just as fast as the past six weeks have seemed to go, it also seems so incredibly slow as far at the amount of movement along our adoption journey.

Here's a quick update since the last post.

Upon receiving our paperwork on March 9 (after it's short little adventure of being lost), the USCIS informed us that they were beginning to "process" our application to adopt.  As part of the process they scheduled an appointment for us to get fingerprinted by the Homeland Security office in Helena.  Task Complete!

We were extremely blessed by some good friends who generously covered the cost for us to stay in a hotel in Helena the night before our 8am appointment, saving us the early morning trip 90 miles down I-15 with potential of a spring storm in the mix; and at the same time blessed by some other friends who took the girls over night and the next day while we got done what was needed to get our fingerprints processed for the USCIS requirements.  To those friends we cannot say THANK YOU enough.

After the excitement of accomplishing this next task on our to-do list, we have now returned to wait mode.  Originally we heard that processing our I-800A form by the USCIS would take 45-60 days.  However recently we have also heard that it is currently taking them closer to 75 days to process applications.  As you know from previous posts we are under a bit of a time crunch as we need everything completed on the US side, translated and in the hands of the adoption authorities in Haiti (IBESR) before any of our documents are 1 year old, which is coming up on August 7.  So, please join us in praying that this approval from the USCIS comes quickly.  Our prayer has been that we would hear back from them by May 1, which would be the 53 day mark.  We'll keep you posted!

Thanks again for your commitment to pray with and for us, and for the great support and encouragement you all have been.

Lost & Found

So last week as we were wondering what happened to our package with our homestudy and application that had been mailed to the US immigration office.  I remember being told by a gal with the post office not to worry, she was certain our package was not "lost", but that it would eventually show up.  Those were not exactly comforting words at the time… I've always been one to think that if nobody knows where something is, it's lost; even if eventually it will be found.

Well, the good news is that our paperwork that was mailed has been found.  On Monday I received a call from the USPS that the package had been delivered to the PO Box it had been addressed to.  They don't know why it was so "delayed", but it was delivered.  Last night we received confirmation via a text message from the USCIS that indeed they had received our paperwork and are beginning to process our application.  What once was lost now truly is found!

The Unknown!

We know that this adoption journey will be filled with lots of unknowns… we've already had a few like, "where are our fingerprint cards" and "where is Paul's Illinois background check", not to mention bigger unknowns like "will we get 1 or 2 children" and "what were the circumstances that led to their becoming orphaned".

Today we are currently facing an unexpected unknown thanks to the good ole' USPS.  Last week we put our certified homestudy report along with our I800 immigration paperwork in the mail to the USCIS (immigration department) for approval to adopt.  It was "scheduled" to be delivered last Friday.  As Friday came and went the tracking number I had continued to show nothing beyond that it had "departed Great Falls" on Wednesday night … and that is still the case; several phone calls to USPS a personal visit to the post office and a call to US immigration and still nobody knows where our paperwork is!  It could have been delivered (and just never scanned in), or it could be sitting on a truck or plane or in a post office literally somewhere between Montana and Texas (or anywhere else in this great country) … it truly is unknown at this time.

So we wait patiently and learn more about trusting God and believing He can work all things together for good.

"Never be afraid to trust and unknown future to a known God" ~ Corrie Ten Boom