And it’s off!!!!!

A little backstory for you:

 

I called USCIS this week to see if they had received the Request for Evidence our agency sent on April 24^th. As of Tuesday, they had not. Our USCIS/NBC caseworker suggested we resend it as “it’s likely lost in the mail”.

 

I called our agency to request that they resend it Express Mail. Our coordinator told us they received a letter that it had been received and we should give ituntil Friday. KC and I agreed.

 

Yesterday, I called and left a voicemail for our caseworker to let her know I’d call her back on Friday or Monday to see if they found it. KC and I figured our file would be sent over next week at the absolute earliest. We were kind of bummed, but it would only set us back a week or two, which is really nothing in the grand scheme of this whole process. Ha!

 

And then this morning, I check my email and see this:

 

From: "Addis, Adoption"
Date: May 8, 2014 at 9:00:36 AM CDT
To: "Sandia Collins"
Subject: Notification of Receipt of PAIR Filing from USCIS

 

Yeah. I honestly think my heart stopped for a few minutes. I instantly thought, uh, no friggin’ way! I just talked to her Tuesday and left a voicemail yesterday! It can’t be… can it?

 

So before I got too overly excited or told my husband, I immediately called our coordinator at Bethany only to remember that Miss J is off on Thursdays. Boo. SO I call our local social worker to see if she can get me one of the other Ethiopia team members and she gives me an email address. To which I forward the email with the question of “Does this mean what I think this means?!”

 

Miss C’s reply?

 

{Yes your case has gone from UCSIC onto the Embassy in Ethiopia for their investigation of the orphan status I-604. Big step, good news!!!}

 

I immediately forward the email to KC and text him to call me. He calls me and, much to my excitement, shows the proper level of enthusiasm at this BIG step. Pretty much the last BIG paperwork step before we travel!

 

Here’s our final steps:

 

1.       The US Embassy will take 2-5 weeks to make a determination and issue our PAIR letter

2.      We upload our PAIR letter to our coordinators at Bethany so they can

let the Ethiopian office know to get us a court date – those are normally 4-6 weeks out

3.      We travel for 1^st court date

4.      We come home and wait for Embassy court date – those are normally 2-4 weeks out

5.      We travel for our 2^nd court date

6.      WE COME HOME WITH BERTIE!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Guys. Guys. GUYS. This is HUGE. I honestly freaked out and was shaking I was so excited. It’s been SO long and I cannot believe it’s finally here! For those trying to add it up, at the absolute earliest, we could travel in 6 weeks. That would put us around June 20^th. At the absolute longest, we could travel in 11 weeks. That would put us at July 24^th.

 

God has been so good to us, and we’ve been clearing so many hurdles so much quicker than we thought. So, we’re praying we’re traveling at the end of June! We are ready to meet our baby girl!

No word yet but….!

So I called our case worker at the NBC Immigration office. She has not received our updated information from our agency yet. We’re praying they get the updated information sometime this week! We’d love for our file to be sent over next week.

 

BUT....

 

I asked her about timelines. I asked her if she knew how long it would take once our file was in Ethiopia for final review. Her words:

 

Officer H: “We don’t really have a set timeline. Sometimes we get them returned in 2 weeks, sometimes they take 45 days. So we don’t know until we get them.”

 

So to clarify I said:

 

“So it could be only a few weeks?”

 

Officer H: “Yes, but likely it could be…”

 

Me: “Maybe 4 or 5 weeks?”

 

Officer H: “Yeah. That’s probably more accurate.”

 

I then thanked her, hung up, and promptly called the Mister.

 

THIS. This is good news. We were under the impression it could be 6-12 weeks once our file is in Ethiopia. But after talking with Officer H and our social worker last week (who told us she’s pretty confident we’ll travel before the courts close in August and to confirm timelines with Officer H), KC and I think that it’s VERY VERY likely that we’ll travel for our first court date by mid-summer!

 

AND very possibly sooner if we’re the lucky ones who get approval within just 2-3 weeks! But hey, I’m happy with even getting approval within 6 weeks!

 

I’ll keep you updated as soon as we find out when our file gets sent over to Ethiopia! Please keep praying that we travel by July. We want to bring our girl home!

By the way, you know you're an adoptive mom when your bag is stuffed with immigration letters, travel vaccination FAQ's, and pictures. Lol. 

 

 

 

It's oh so quiet...

First of all, we should be getting an update about Bertie including new pictures this month! Woohooo! Moving right into the “where we’re at” part.

 

Right now, things are pretty quiet. We’re in the “quiet place” where we won’t get a lot of updates unless it’s bad news about a delay.

 

I just spoke with our coordinator at USCIS/NBC (national Benefits Center – this is where the adoption paperwork gets processed). Our file left the Department of Homeland Security on March 27^th and just got to the NBC office on April 7^th.

 

We found out it’s been sitting there for a week. We currently do not have an officer assigned to our case. It could be another 2-3 weeks before that happens.

 

Once we get an officer assigned to our case, we’ll get a letter telling us the ball is now rolling. They will review our I600 paperwork to make sure they do not need an RAE (Request for Additional Evidence). We were told that 88% of cases need additional evidence so not to be concerned. However, this will delay our file getting sent to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for “investigation”.

 

Once they [finally] have everything they need, they will send our file to Addis Ababa, ET where they will take 6-12 weeks to do their investigations. Once they have all the information they need to confirm Bertie is in fact eligible for adoption, they’ll send it back here and USCIS/NBC will issue our PAIR letter. The actually issuance of the letter will only take a few days.

 

Once we have the PAIR letter, we will be given a court date. Those are normally 4-6 weeks out.

 

At this point, we could travel at the end of June if we get an officer assigned to our case in the next week or so and if our case does not need any further evidence. Otherwise, we’re looking at some time in July.  

 

KC and I are fine with that as long as long as we get our court date before the courts close for about 2 ½ months for the rainy season. The courts close in August until the beginning of October. As long as we take our court trip before they close, we can travel during the rainy season for our embassy trip and bring her home. We’re DEFINITELY praying we get our letter and court date before August!   :))

 

Thank you all for your prayers, please don’t stop. The end is in sight, but it’s been a harder fight these last 2 months than I could have imagined. We are continuing to trust 100% in God. I’m not dwelling on the news we got today, but am instead holding on to the promise He has given us.

 

Bertie is ours. She will be home soon. God has done some amazing things for us and I know He is still fighting for us. I’m praising Him for the victory and instead of thinking of the negative, I’m remembering what He’s brought us through.

 

I am guarding my mind against the lies the enemy tries to whisper in my ear. KC and I are still fighting for our little girl. And no amount of interference from the enemy is going to stop us. We are battling on!

 

 

12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere

~Ephesians 6:12 & 18

 

 

  

 

One big step closer

Finally, this afternoon we are mailing off the necessary paperwork in order to file our I-600 with USCIS. *let loose a big sigh*

 

Here is a list of our items we have taken care of:

 

            - Updated home study mailed to USCIS

            - I600 form filled out

            - I600 form and cover letter mailed to BCSI – this afternoon or first thing tomorrow

           

 

Here is what we’re waiting on now:

 

□ Verification that our case has been received by NBC office at USCIS

□ PAIR approval letter from USCIS - anywhere from 4-12 weeks (praying for a shorter time)

□ Court date from Ethiopian Embassy – 1^st trip

·         Then, we come home for anywhere from 2-4 weeks

 □ Court date from American Embassy – 2^nd trip

·         BRING BERTIE HOME!!!!!

 

There are so few steps left, but each one takes time. I have no control over any of those items. And amazingly, I’m not freaking out. Lol. I am a serious procrastinator – like SERIOUS. I am arsty-fartsy, lets-do-it-tomorrow, I want my house to look “lived in”,  and a lot of times, I just go with the flow, whatever happens, happens kinda gal.

 

BUT there are times that I know things need to be done and done correctly. And that side of me loves lists and deadlines; loves research; loves knowing what’s next; loves knowing what’s next after my next step and so on and so forth. Haha!

 

I once took one of those “Which Side of Your Brain Do You Use Most” quizzes. It said I use mine 50/50. And I KNOW it’s true. Poor KC – I’m either “eh, let’s do it later” or “get it done right this second!”. I’m sure I wasn’t always 50/50, but years of paperwork for an adoption will do that to you.  ;) 

 

Anywhoooo! We’re close guys. SO close. I’m getting so excited! And, it’s been almost 6 weeks since our referral and I have not had a breakdown yet. *pats self on back* I’m okay with the timeline. I know that I’d love to see her home by the beginning of June. So, that’s what I’m praying for. I’m going to God with that. And if you don’t mind adding that to your prayer list, our family would appreciate it.

 

To leave you all, I’m going to do a little photo dump. Just pictures of our life while waiting for Bertie. It’s amazing how much life has changed. We can look to the future. We can plan stuff! We can have a vacation after 4 years!! And she’ll be there with us. The boys are dead set on visiting Disney World again with Bertie. Oliver is set on visiting the beach for the first time now that she’ll be here.

 

Enjoying the beautiful weather on a Sunday afternoon

Hunting for Bigfoot (the boys are in a Sasquatch stage right now haha!)

Our "bait"

From Bertie's Shower

Tag the bag (er, suitcase)

Her closet!

Can't wait 'til she's here.  :))

 

 

 

 

Changing the timing or changing us

Hello from the adoption battlefront. Okay, that may be a bit much, but some days it does feel like that.  :-D

 

We updated you all last week in regards to our USCIS re-fingerprinting appointment. They had closed the day of our appointment due to the weather – even after we traveled 2 hours to get there. When I called our NBC officer, she suggested we “walk-in” since they were closed. Otherwise, the soonest appointment was at the end of March.

 

Hooray!

 

KC and I headed down to their office and they were able to squeeze us in! I joke it’s also because I helped the office translate in regards to a sweet couple there to renew their residence card. Tehehehe. KC told me “We sat in the wrong spot” (right by the window) because I kept getting pulled in to help translate. But I didn’t care. I was happy they squeezed us in!

So yippeeeeeee for good news!

 

Fast forward to this afternoon. We get an update from our coordinator. We’re still waiting on some paperwork from Ethiopia in order for our coordinator to submit our case for review and PAIR approval.

 

Boo.

 

Our agency also received  update timelines in regards to PAIR approval. Are you ready for this? Are you sure?

 

The shortest processing time was 86 days. The longest processing time was 229 days. The average was 125 days.

 

Ouchie.

 

That means, IF we’re on the shorter waiting end, it could be mid-May before we take our FIRST trip. We were hoping to take our second trip by the end of May to bring her home.

 

Not gonna lie, I let loose a BIG. GIANT. *SIGH* and a boo hoo hoo.

 

But luckily that was out of my system pretty quick. I think I’m handling cruddy news better each day!

 

I’m thinking most of those delays were due to the government shutdown and the holidays. So maybe the time will be shortened now that all that is over with. But, I’m also praying that God does something like this:

 

“What? 86 days? 125 days? Psh, nah. Here guys. How’s about 40 days?”

 

That’s what I’m praying for! Haha! And KC, being the sensible, level headed man that he is responded to my suggestion with this:

 

“We will pray that He either changes the timing or changes us. Lol”

 

To which I so cleverly replied:

 

“Lol. The former would be thuper duper exthiting!” (thank you She’s The Man)

 

Anyway, this has been a day full of good news and bad news. And yet, KC and I were able to take it all in stride. I’ll accept whatever He does – changing the timing or changing us. That doesn’t mean I don’t pray for one over the other.   😊