Paper Chasing Part IV ~ The Homestretch

I am both excited and hesitant to write this post.  On Monday of this week, exactly 2 weeks after we sent our homestudy and I-600a off to the USCIS/Department of Homeland Security, we got that blessed piece of paper in the mail that gave us our dates to get our biometrics (fancy word for fingerprints ;)).  Unfortunately (?), the date they picked for us does not work, so I promptly called the 800 number they gave us and asked if we could go early as I'd heard whispers of this potentially exciting fact.  Turns out we *can*!  It's possible that they'll turn us away, but from what the woman at USCIS headquarters could gather from the info she had, we should be able to go THIS FRIDAY!!!  I would call ahead, but, in what is a probably a smart move on their part, the USCIS field offices do not list phone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses...basically we just show up and hope (and pray, obviously!) that they are able to squeeze us in :)  If they can take our biometrics Friday, we can expect to be cleared in 2-3 weeks, woohoo!  Fortunately right smack dab in the middle of that waiting, we will be on vacation and I will hopefully be able to focus on something other than my email box (cause apparently they email you the clearance).

The last piece is the money we need to have raised to submit our dossier.  We have submitted a grant application and should hear back on that around the same time as our USCIS clearance, and to say that I'm anxious is a bit of an understatement.  Between the necklace fundraiser (which blew me away, btw ~ Jamie is such a gift to our family, and each of you that purchased necklaces, I really can't thank you enough!), babysitting, donations, selling random items, our monthly saving, and random (God-provided) extra bits of money, we have been able to raise just over 1/4 of what we need.  The other 3/4 seems so out of reach, but I know that God has this in His control.  He has not let us down yet, and every time I have felt that this was too much for me to handle on my own, He has reminded me that I am *not* alone.  Sam Toler has a book titled "God's Never Late", and every time I try to argue that and get frustrated that things are not DONE DONE DONE at this point, I am reminded of the subtitle: "He's Seldom Early; He's Always Right On Time".  I'm praying that I can remember that in these (hopefully!) final weeks of the paper-chase.  I'm trying to ignore that after this "challenge" of waiting weeks to submit our dossier, we will enter the true period of waiting ;)

Paper Chasing Part III ~ the Waiting

After waiting very very patiently for the stars to align so that our home study could be completed, we got that beautiful, magnificent package in the mail yesterday morning.  We are DONE with the home study!  Yay!!!!!  Now, hold your horses a minute, we have recently discovered that this does not mean we are done with our part...yet.  I checked the mail at approximately 11:07am, realized we had received our home study, jumped for joy, gathered the remaining documents and forms we needed (easy to do as I've been waiting for this moment so they were in a folder labeled "complete, ready to send"), went to print out our cover page so I could send everything out...and discovered that somebody had used the last of my printer paper.  Now, I'm not naming any names (Maya), but I will say that my frustration was probably a bit more obvious than I would have liked toward said unnamed individual (Maya) ;)  No worries, though!  My practical child informed me that it was ok, and that we could just go to the store and get more paper.  And you know what?  That's exactly what we did.  Target for paper, back home to fight with my printer to print out this one very simple yet very important page, then to the post office to hand over these precious documents.  I could not even begin to fathom the stress of sending this package out into the ether without super-tracking, so it was sent overnight express with guaranteed noon delivery (it made it with 22 minutes to spare, so yay USPS :)).  Now Michael and I wait for the Department of Homeland Security (that's right) to set us up with fingerprint appointments, and once we're cleared by the FBI (right???) we will be able to send our dossier to our agency (provided we can come up with the large fee) and then we will officially go on the wait-list.  We are so close I can taste it!  Ok, I can't really taste it, but I can feel it.  In my bones and skin and stomach, the excitement and anxiousness keep me awake.  I'm looking forward to being done with what we have control over (ha!) and letting God handle the rest.  I'm ready to sleep.

Necklaces!

Michael and I have been blessed with amazing friends.  They have taught us so much, prayed over us, taken care of our kids when we needed them, allowed us to take care of their kids (which is truly a blessing as their kids are pretty awesome).  We have shared dinners and participated in Bible studies together.  They have even attended (and photographed!) the births of Charlotte and Milo.  They have given counsel and shared in the excitement of our adoption, and just when I thought we could not be blessed any more, one of our friends stepped forward and offered to sell her beautiful, handmade necklaces as a fundraiser for our adoption!  I don't know what we did to deserve such blessing.  God is so much bigger and greater than we could ever hope to imagine, and He continues to show us that He will provide if we just come alongside Him.

If you are interested in purchasing one of these BEAUTIFUL and reasonably priced necklaces, you can contact Jamie at jamiellee@juno.com.  She is able to accept payment via PayPal (super easy, right?!) and we'll get the necklace to you ASAP!

100% of the proceeds go to our adoption, so you can get something for yourself (or your mother, wife, sister, daughter...Mother's Day is right around the corner!) and help save a child from an orphanage at the same time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

$5 each

She also has the letters A, B, D, E, K, M, and N available

  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

$5 each

She also has 2 purple, 1 green, and 1 royal blue butterfly available

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

$10 each

  

  

  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

$8 each

She also has a few other colors available (some shades of pink, darker lavender, and white) so check with Jamie if you don't see what you want!

Thank you in advance for even considering supporting our adoption!