Immigration Approval

We got our immigration approval (I-800A) for Poland!!!!!  As I mentioned in our last post, it took us several weeks to receive our approval after we were fingerprinted the first time.  Based on that I was praying that we could have it by Valentine's Day (still faster than last time), and it is here two weeks earlier. Our approval was given the day after we were fingerprinted.  What an answer to prayer!  :D Thank you for your prayers, for we know it made a difference in getting it here quickly.

Merry Christmas

Christmas is such a fun time of year, isn't it?! We think about carols, Christmas lights, decorations, cookies, time with family and/or friends, parties, Christmas programs, and so much more. At one time, I would have included snow on my list of "Christmasy" things, but we don't get much of that here.  There is just something about snow falling silently against a backdrop of Christmas lights and carols playing.... Unfortunately, today it is pouring rain. *sigh* Oh well, we still have the Christmas lights on and the carols playing.

A Reason to celebrate

This year as we celebrate Christmas,  the emotions are mixed in our house.  As we sat at the table eating lunch a little while ago, we looked at the clock and determined the time in Poland.  It was about 6:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve there, and we asked the question, "Will (she) be getting any presents this year?"  I don't know.  I do know she is being cared for, and I am grateful for that but still await the day that she will be here with us instead of thousands of miles away. We look forward to sharing all that is special about Christmas with her and the meaning behind the celebration.

Since our last post, we are another step closer to bringing her home.  Our immigration paperwork (I-800A supplement 3) was sent out on December 9th, and we received the immigration notice that says they are processing our request to update it.  This should take two to three weeks, so taking the holiday time into consideration,  we are looking for it to come back by the beginning of January.

We also got all of the documents together and sent in to our agency for our dossier.  Some of them have to be notarized and apostilled before being mailed overseas.  (Apostilling was not a requirement for our dossier to Hungary, but it is a requirement for Poland.)  The only thing we are waiting for to send our documents overseas is our immigration approval, and we can move on to the next step. :D

At the County Courthouse getting Background Checks done for the dossier

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Immigration Approval

Woohoo! Our immigration approval form came in the mail today!  (Though the only name you see in the photo below is Mark's, my name is there farther down the paper.)  Thanks to all of you who have prayed with us for this.  We are very thankful to have it and excited to move forward in this process.



The next step is to get our dossier (doss-ee-ay) together and sent to Hungary for approval.  For the last several days, we have been working to get this ready to go.  We have most of what we need and will finish collecting the rest of it as quickly as possible.  We will be also be talking with our worker at Lifeline after Thanksgiving to determine when we will send it overseas.

I-800A Status Update

Sometimes silence is golden, and sometimes... it's not.  Things have been pretty silent for us in the adoption arena these last few weeks.  The short story is that we are still waiting to hear about our application.  For the slightly longer story, read on.

This past Monday I called and spoke to a lady in the adoption department of US immigration.  Our case has not yet been assigned to an agent, so the paperwork is just there until it is our turn to have our information reviewed. 

On the positive side of things, the woman I talked to did tell me that it is taking about fifty-five days from the date of application to get a decision from them. That time frame for us would be somewhere around November 22nd, though it is not a guaranteed date.  It is encouraging to know that we have a good chance of hearing some news regarding our approval for international adoption before January. (To read more about our USCIS process, see here and here.)  We would love to have our immigration approval to be grateful for during Thanksgiving week!

USCIS Fingerprinting

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."  These are the words we saw written in the room where swearing in ceremonies happen in the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) building.

Yesterday began early...4:15 a.m. to be exact.  We had a 9 a.m. appointment at the USCIS office that services our county.  Why are we up so early then?  Because that office happens to be 2-1/2 hours (one way) from our house, and we had rush hour traffic to contend with as well.  Mark and I dropped off our children (The paperwork requested that due to limited seating availability, we not bring anyone with us that did not need to be there for the appointment.) at my sister-in-laws' house and started the drive.  

We arrived 30 minutes early and went through security with our appointment notice and ID, (You are not guaranteed admittance into the building without your appointment notice and an ID.) and were seated in the room where swearing in ceremonies for new US citizens is done.  Our US flag and emblems from each of our armed forces are on display, along with the phrase quoted at the beginning of this article.  Unfortunately, no photos are permitted in the building, so I do not have those to share.  Mark commented that we were seated in a room that is important to a lot of people, and where they have become a US citizen.  Though in some ways the room was nondescript, it reminded me that for some, this room represented a dream come true. What a privilege it is for us to have been born in this great nation!

 By Jnn13 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 

We were called in to a smaller room a few minutes before our 9 o'clock appointment time, given a short form to fill out, and then called to a kiosk where an attendant took our digital fingerprints.  Within twenty minutes, our appointment was completed, and we were on our way home. It was a five hour round trip for digital fingerprints! 

Now, we are again at one of the many waiting stages during the adoption process.  It has been said that adoption is the "paper pregnancy", and that has been very accurate so far.  Fingerprinting was the last of what was needed for the completion of our immigration application: now, we wait for our case to be assigned and approved or denied.  We have recently learned that immigration processes seem to have been very slow lately, taking up to four months for a verdict.  If ours takes that long, it could be January before we know if we have immigration approval or not.  Please pray with us for two things:1) approval from immigration for an international adoption and 2) that our approval will not take such a lengthy time to process.  

We will continue to keep you updated on how things are progressing.