I Couldn't Help Myself...

...I just called USCIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services) to find out about the status of our application. People keep asking where we are in the process: We have all of our paperwork in Colombia as of October 3rd. It is being translated and should be finished soon...but an official in Colombia cannot look at our file and approve us until the US Government approves us to adopt internationally. So we're waiting. We're going to be doing a lot of waiting during this process. I was hoping USCIS would be quicker, but they are telling us 90 days at this point to process our application...90 days from the receipt date: September 17th...90 days is December 16th. That is so far away...and is it 90 work days or 90 days. I counted 90 days. It better be 90 days. After 90 days, I'll call USCIS again, at which point they probably won't be done, but at least then they will assign us a case worker to review our homestudy. Hopefully they will not need any more information...then they will mail us our approval letter, titled the 797C, which I will fax to our country director. She will send it to Colombia, just in time for the holidays....so our file will most likely not even begin the review process in Colombia until after Christmas (and by that I mean mid-January), where it is estimated to take another 90 days to review and hopefully approve. Aaahhh. I am so glad I didn't know all this BEFORE we started. It's a LOT harder than I thought and a LOT harder than being pregnant...but no one knows except other adoptive parents. They all have a lot of sympathy for us at the moment b/c they understand the struggles of doing this paperwork stuff and then just waiting for governments. Imagine waiting for the government to tell you when you could deliver your baby and not knowing how much longer it would be until you give birth. That's about what it feels like. I know we haven't even really begun the official "waiting" period. God knows how much He'll be teaching me about patience. Aaahhh. Not doing so hot now.

Adoption Updates

Several praises:
1. Our dossier was sent to Colombia on October 3rd for translations. It is not complete yet as we are still waiting for US Government approval. Once it is complete, the Colombian government will review it and either approve us or ask us for more information. (You can start praying now that our file will be acceptable!!!)
2. We have been assigned a fingerprint appointment at USCIS (Citizen and Immigration Services) for October 14th...a necessary step for government approval.

Several prayer requests:
1. Please pray that we will receive our US approval in a timely manner.
2. We are in the process of applying for grants.
3. Pray for the families in Colombia now, as the court system is on strike and all adoptions have halted at the moment...keep some families in limbo in Colombia with their children. I'm sure they are stressed out wondering when they will be able to finalize their adoptions and return home and wondering how long their finances will hold out as they are in Colombia indefinitely.

Fun Picture of Aliana