Progess + Challenge

Our biometrics appointment is finally done.  We made the 4 1/2 hour trip to Albuquerque yesterday.  Our appointment was scheduled for 1:00PM but we made it there at 10:15AM, so upon the recommendation of others we decided to just walk-in and see if they would take us early.

It was one of those store fronts with the tinted windows so we could not see in, and once we stepped in, the place was really bare.  There were about 20 empty chairs to the left and an officer at a desk to the right. (So at this point we are guessing they just might take us early.) Just before we reached the desk the officer pointed to a dispenser and told us to sanitize our hands before continuing to the desk.  Weird, right?  You go to the doctors office crammed with sick people and they don't ask you to sanitize, but here at this completely empty office, we sanitize.  Because maybe our germy hands are going to leave some creepy disease on the fingerprint scanner.  Also they are very paranoid about ball caps there.  The lady practically panicked when Josh wore his hat BEHIND THE COUNTER.....big no, no!

After about 5 minutes we were adequately fingerprinted and on our way home --4 1/2 hours home.  But no matter how rediculous the trip seemed it was awesome to be actually making measurable progress.  We have about a two week wait until our results arrive and we can move on to one of the final steps.

So again we wait.  Regular life keeps us busy!  The kids have school, Josh is burning stuff ;), and I am preparing for a Valentine Banquet at our church.  Every year I am volunteered for decorations.  This must mean I do a decent job, right?  This year we decided to get a bit carried away with my ideas and we are all going to "dress" for the occasion. So I have an idea....

Ya'll who know me, know that I am not super outgoing and flamboyant- neither is Josh for that matter, he hates Valentines Day and going out (in fact, I like to call him a barnacle).   BUT....here's my idea.  Our "CHIP- IN" over there is being closed down- the company is closing in 2 weeks!  I thought maybe we needed a last hoorah. So I am going to let someone at the Valentine banquet get a picture of Josh and I dressed up.  And if the chip-in that says "Olivia's In Country Fees" reaches $950 by Saturday, we will share a (most likely) terrible picture of Josh and I dressed in our best 50's Soda Shop attire! :)   Anyone game?

Saturdays

This is the second time I have had to drive to the Post Office every day for an entire week hoping I would find the letter I was looking for.  This time it was our USCIS Biometrics appointment.  Last Saturday I received a letter stating that they had indeed received our application and were working on our appointments....I would receive the appointments soon.  So anxious me went faithfully to the mail everyday.  Why did I not learn my lesson the first time?  Apparently they like to send things on Saturday. 

All that to say, we received our appointments!!!!  Tuesday the 12th we will head to Albuquerque to get our Biometrics done.  What are Biometrics?  Good question!  To my knowledge they are just fancy fingerprints.  Digital pictures of our fingerprints --because apparently the ink ones done by our local police are not enough.

Once we finish this step, we will have a two week wait for approval.  Hopefully I can wait the two weeks before I start driving to the Post Office daily. Once we receive approval, I will have a 5 hour trip to our state capitol to have all our dossier documents apostilled.  Apostille?  Yes, now this word is just a fancy word for a notarization that only the Secretary of the State's office can preform.  They have to apostille each peace of paper you are sending off to the child's country and this can be moderately cheap like $5 per page up to $50+ per page.  Just depends on how much your state feels like charging.  Hopefully NM has mercy! ;)

And that is our news for now.  Wish I had more.  I was told by our case worker that she might be able to get us an update on Olivia this month some time.  We have only seen pictures of her from one day at least 6 months ago.  I really would love to see a new picture. I know y'all miss out on the pictures but this mom really could use one.

Thank you to all the people who read this blog and follow our little journey.  Some days it is so hard to be patient.  And some days I have true panic that I will not be able to care for her the way she needs.  Some days all I can do is pray that God will work in the unknowns...the what ifs.  Some days all I can do is hold on the fact that God called us to this and to stay the course......and I am thinking that this is precisely where God wants me to be.

So thanks again....keep us in your prayers.  We have a lot of things to work through in February! We are looking forward to what March and April may hold! :)

Birthdays

I was born in January....and over the years I have decided that this is not the best month to be born in.  Why?   Number 1 -Something I like to call "Christmas Burn Out".  No matter how hard they try your family really does not want to think about parties or presents again for at least a month after Christmas.  Number 2- Unless you live in the southern hemisphere, January has to be the worst climate month ever.  Ice, freezing temps,  grey skies....I think you get where I am going with this.

Needless, to say I have never been impressed with my birth month....until recently! 

It really doesn't matter what kind of celebration I end up with; I have a family.  And what is more important on your birthday than family?! 

Why am I deciding to write this two weeks after my birthday?  Because today is a little girl's birthday, who doesn't have family.  She has spent two full years of her life without family...but not for much longer.  Next year, little girl, you can have a party with us! :)

Happy Birthday, Olivia!

USCIS Mailed!!!

We were finally able to mail off our USCIS (immigration) application today!  After many false alarms and setbacks, we finally received our homestudy in the mail on Saturday.  This made for a very long weekend, in which, I checked and rechecked and rechecked all of my application forms and added documents. I am paranoid about doing something wrong on all these weird applications. 
So onward and forward....this application process could take anywhere from 30-90days and if we are accepted we can then send in our Dossier. My son told me last night he thought this process was going quickly.  I thought of pregnancy and all the times people say how quickly it is going by for them.  Never feels quite that way for the person going through it. :)

Bungee Jumping

I know it has been a while since we have been on here.  I hate writing posts about the "lack of progress" we are experiencing.  Lately it has been more of a one step forward -two steps back type of progress.  And no, this does not feel like dancing at all.
 
We recieved word yesterday that our new agency had redone our homestudy and it was ready to sign and send in.  Exciting, right?  Well, then about an hour later they emailed again and said that Olivia's country may not accept our homestudy (in which case, we would have to start from scratch).  We have yet to figure out why they changed their mind about our homestudy, since they approved it in December before we had the whole agency switch fiasco.  To make matters worse, if they decide to not accept our homestudy, there is absolutely no qualifying agency in New Mexico for us to use. Told ya, this is nothing like dancing. It's more like a never ending bungee jump.

I was rehashing this new developement over and over in my head yesterday as we went to town to visit with friends.  I kept telling myself to "let go", but you know how it is....you want to, but your brain just won't behave.  We stopped at the grocery store and I had to run in by myself to grab some chips and drinks for the kids for supper.  Being distracted, I got in line with my stuff and then realized I had left my wallet in the car.  So I told the man at the register to set my things to the side and I would be right back.  I walked out the door and froze.  "Karen, you were going to pay with cash; you don't need your wallet," my brain reminded me.  So I spun around to go back in. "No wait, if you don't want to pay full price you have to have your store card, which is in the wallet." So I hurry across the parking lot and Josh gives me weird looks while I grab my wallet and hurry back in the store.  I am headed back to the end of the line when the guy who was behind me waves at me.  I walk over and my chips and drinks are all sacked up.  He looks at me, smiles, and says, "You shouldn't have to go to the end of the line.....Merry Christmas." I give him a totally blown away "thank you",  he hands me my bags, and walks out the door. 

Although I felt utterly ashamed that someone else bought my groceries because I wanted the discount price, I realized that God was shouting at me "Karen, there is nothing I can't do."   We are going to survive this bungee jump!

Control

Control.  This is a huge word.  I know it's not like supercalifragilisticexpialidocious; but for me it's huge. Huge in the sense that it's a huge thing to let go of.  I cling to it; like a crazy person.  I love to know what is going on and "help" in any way I can.  In other words, I like to control. 
Fortunately God has the grace to kindly remind me, I am not in control and He is.  He has every moment of my life figured out.  Even the moments I truly do not understand.  He's got me covered (literally)! So no matter how crazy things get around here, I can rest in the fact that God knows what is going on, so I do not have to.  He really is amazing like that.
Now I must tell you how He has reminded me of this. 

1) Black Thurday (yes, this does exist) I found a great deal on a Kitchen Aid mixer from Kohls.  Josh and I decided this would make a fun fundraiser.  So we ordered one and set up a local raffle.  We sold tickets and put up signs.  And then.......Kohls emailed and said they cancelled our order.  (They have never, ever done this to me before.)  I panicked!  WE HAD SOLD TICKETS!  So for one day, I pulled out my hair wondering what I was going to do.  And then my sister told me to quit fretting and try to contact Kohls.  I tried several customer service numbers...nothing(don't you hate computerized customer service).  But my sister wouldn't give up.  And after 3 days, I found a wonderful customer service lady who helped me re-order.  I was relieved.  And then.....the very next day Kohls called and asked me if I wanted to re-order. (See God was in control--panic over nothing).  He also saw fit to get us even more of a rebate than we originally would have had.  Amazing right!  You would think I would have learned from number 1 but alas I needed a number 2 (yes, I have said this before).

2) For about two weeks our agencies have been saying that our homestudy was finished.  But this mysterious homestudy was nowhere to be found.  No one knew what was going on.  And the social worker was not answering any of my emails or calls.  (And since I am a control freak, I did call and email ALOT.) So this morning she calls me and tells me that although she finished our homestudy and it is ready, she is quitting our case.  We are going to be transferred to another agency.  Which might not be a terrible thing, except they have to redo some things before we can get our "finished" homestudy and they are going to charge us another application fee.  So there goes my wish to have our USCIS in before Christmas. 

Control.  No, I am not in control.  I am letting go.  God knows our time frame and I am going to trust that He worked out the "Mixer Mess", and He can work ALL things for His good and ours.  Because no matter how hard I fight it.....He's got my back.  There is a little girl out there who is waiting for us and God is the one in control of getting us to her.  So if you see me, remind me "Let go, Karen. He's got this."

Progress?

I figured even though there is not much progress to report, I would try to catch you up on what is going on around here anyway. 

1) I was told my Homestudy was done, but I guess it is not.  Our social worker believes in taking her sweet time with everything. This is very frustrating, but I am sure it is meant to teach me more about patience. Please pray that this gets done soon.  We really need to have this done.

2)We recieved three donations this week by check. Thank you - you know who you are!  So I tried to update our "chip - in" widget to reflect these but for some reason it refuses to do so. So I think I will cancel the existing widget and create new ones that are more specific. I feel bad doing this because I will loose the progress we have made, but we no longer need the amount shown.

3)Josh's passport has still not arrived. I am not impressed with Texas' paperwork system. What a mess! Hopefully our six page list of every place he has ever lived, gone to school, and worked will be sufficient for the US to assume that "yes, he was born" and "yes, we would really like his passport".

Side note: Alabama is much easier to get correct birth certificates from; so if you want to travel some day, give birth in Alabama. ;)