As many of you know, we found out last night (or early this morning...depends on how technical you want to get) that Yema's case has cleared the embassy and she can come home. That's the quick story.
Here's the extended version.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the international adoption process, before you can bring your child home you have to have a lot of government documents in order. The most important one, at least on the US side of things, is called an I-600. It basically says that you are capable and able to take care of a child. It says what gender of child you are allowed to bring into the country. It says what age the child can be. (Don't worry, we are the ones who decide initially. The case worker who writes up your home study makes sure you are able to take care of the child/ren you want to adopt.) This document also says that you have been fingerprinted and don't have much of a criminal background.
The strange thing about this document is that different parts of it expire at different times. On our I-600 the part where it says we can bring a child (boy or girl) between the ages of 0-36 months expires in September of 2012. We were pretty sure we didn't have to worry about updating that again. (We've had to update it once.)
The part where we are fingerprinted expires on June 12, 2012. Yeah. Really soon.
At the beginning of May we applied to update our fingerprints. We really should have started at the beginning of April. Government things take so long. The process involves sending them a letter saying that you want to update your fingerprints. Then 4-6 weeks later they send you a letter telling you a time and place to get your fingerprints taken. Then you go to your appointment, they fingerprint you, and you wait another 4-6 weeks for them to update your I-600. Oh, and you get to pay $85 apiece to do it.
As the days ticked by and Yema's case kept being investigated, we worried that our fingerprints were going to get in the way of bringing Yema home. There really wasn't any hope of them being updated before June 12th and it just made us sick thinking that her case could be approved and she could be cleared to come home and we couldn't bring her home because of our fingerprints.
The interview with someone involved in her case was scheduled for May 29th and was supposedly, hopefully, the last thing needed before her case could be approved...or sent to Nairobi for further approval. Typically you find out the day of the interview whether or not your case has been approved. Ethiopia is 10 hours ahead of us (or 9, depending on day-light savings time) and so when they send us an update we get it in the middle of the night and find it in our inbox when we wake up the next morning.
We were really anxious going to bed Monday night knowing that the interview was taking place. We fasted and prayed that Sunday that, if it was the Lord's will, the interview would go smoothly and Yema's case wouldn't need further approval. That it would be cleared this week.
Well, Tuesday morning came and we didn't hear anything. Wednesday morning came and still nothing. We were starting to get worried. When Thursday morning came with no word, we began to think that maybe it wasn't in the Lord's will to have Yema come home in June. Maybe she was supposed to stay? It made no sense to us, but maybe there was a good reason. We were kind of depressed on Thursday but still had hope that however things worked out, it would be the way the Lord planned it.
In the meantime we worked hard doing all we could do to get Yema home. We called our agency who told us to call the USCIS office and get an update on our fingerprints. They also said it was okay to email the embassy ourselves and get an update and even tell them our situation. I called USCIS who told me that our fingerprint appointment was scheduled for June 13th. Great. Zack emailed the embassy and told them our situation. Then we waited.
Around 12:30 AM we got a response from the embassy asking us if we would review Yema's case and let them know our decision. Also they called us "Evan". Whaaaa? We had a hunch they sent the email to the wrong person. Zack emailed back to find out (and mentioned that, since they were asking, he thought they should approved the case. Government workers have a sense of humor, right?). At 2:00 AM they emailed back to let us know that they had sent us an email that wasn't supposed to go to us. Hey, but at least we knew they were looking at it. (We were so grateful that Zack wasn't able to sleep that night because if he hadn't alerted them to the fact that they sent us the email that was supposed to go to Evan, we probably would have woken up that morning with the wrong email and Evan not getting our case to review. Then we'd have to wait over the weekend for him to review it on Monday and most likely would have missed a window to come out before June 12th. Still makes us sick to think about that.) About an hour and a half later we got an email from them saying it was approved!
Then 10 minutes later we got another email saying that they recognized the time crunch we were in with our fingerprint date expiring soon and that we could come anytime next week for our visa interview and they would accommodate us. (Usually they give you a few dates to choose from for your visa interview.)
We were shocked. Not only was Yema's case approved, but she was coming home in just a few days! It was nothing short of a miracle in our eyes.
We know that our prayers were answered. We know that Heavenly Father is truly mindful of our little family and orchestrating things in His own time. We are so grateful that we get to bring our little girl home next week and are just in awe of the children Heavenly Father has placed in our care. Truly, just in awe. All of them are miracles.
Tune in next time for the exciting Embassy trip blogs! I don't promise that it will be soon.
Here's the extended version.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the international adoption process, before you can bring your child home you have to have a lot of government documents in order. The most important one, at least on the US side of things, is called an I-600. It basically says that you are capable and able to take care of a child. It says what gender of child you are allowed to bring into the country. It says what age the child can be. (Don't worry, we are the ones who decide initially. The case worker who writes up your home study makes sure you are able to take care of the child/ren you want to adopt.) This document also says that you have been fingerprinted and don't have much of a criminal background.
The strange thing about this document is that different parts of it expire at different times. On our I-600 the part where it says we can bring a child (boy or girl) between the ages of 0-36 months expires in September of 2012. We were pretty sure we didn't have to worry about updating that again. (We've had to update it once.)
The part where we are fingerprinted expires on June 12, 2012. Yeah. Really soon.
At the beginning of May we applied to update our fingerprints. We really should have started at the beginning of April. Government things take so long. The process involves sending them a letter saying that you want to update your fingerprints. Then 4-6 weeks later they send you a letter telling you a time and place to get your fingerprints taken. Then you go to your appointment, they fingerprint you, and you wait another 4-6 weeks for them to update your I-600. Oh, and you get to pay $85 apiece to do it.
As the days ticked by and Yema's case kept being investigated, we worried that our fingerprints were going to get in the way of bringing Yema home. There really wasn't any hope of them being updated before June 12th and it just made us sick thinking that her case could be approved and she could be cleared to come home and we couldn't bring her home because of our fingerprints.
The interview with someone involved in her case was scheduled for May 29th and was supposedly, hopefully, the last thing needed before her case could be approved...or sent to Nairobi for further approval. Typically you find out the day of the interview whether or not your case has been approved. Ethiopia is 10 hours ahead of us (or 9, depending on day-light savings time) and so when they send us an update we get it in the middle of the night and find it in our inbox when we wake up the next morning.
We were really anxious going to bed Monday night knowing that the interview was taking place. We fasted and prayed that Sunday that, if it was the Lord's will, the interview would go smoothly and Yema's case wouldn't need further approval. That it would be cleared this week.
Well, Tuesday morning came and we didn't hear anything. Wednesday morning came and still nothing. We were starting to get worried. When Thursday morning came with no word, we began to think that maybe it wasn't in the Lord's will to have Yema come home in June. Maybe she was supposed to stay? It made no sense to us, but maybe there was a good reason. We were kind of depressed on Thursday but still had hope that however things worked out, it would be the way the Lord planned it.
In the meantime we worked hard doing all we could do to get Yema home. We called our agency who told us to call the USCIS office and get an update on our fingerprints. They also said it was okay to email the embassy ourselves and get an update and even tell them our situation. I called USCIS who told me that our fingerprint appointment was scheduled for June 13th. Great. Zack emailed the embassy and told them our situation. Then we waited.
Around 12:30 AM we got a response from the embassy asking us if we would review Yema's case and let them know our decision. Also they called us "Evan". Whaaaa? We had a hunch they sent the email to the wrong person. Zack emailed back to find out (and mentioned that, since they were asking, he thought they should approved the case. Government workers have a sense of humor, right?). At 2:00 AM they emailed back to let us know that they had sent us an email that wasn't supposed to go to us. Hey, but at least we knew they were looking at it. (We were so grateful that Zack wasn't able to sleep that night because if he hadn't alerted them to the fact that they sent us the email that was supposed to go to Evan, we probably would have woken up that morning with the wrong email and Evan not getting our case to review. Then we'd have to wait over the weekend for him to review it on Monday and most likely would have missed a window to come out before June 12th. Still makes us sick to think about that.) About an hour and a half later we got an email from them saying it was approved!
Then 10 minutes later we got another email saying that they recognized the time crunch we were in with our fingerprint date expiring soon and that we could come anytime next week for our visa interview and they would accommodate us. (Usually they give you a few dates to choose from for your visa interview.)
We were shocked. Not only was Yema's case approved, but she was coming home in just a few days! It was nothing short of a miracle in our eyes.
We know that our prayers were answered. We know that Heavenly Father is truly mindful of our little family and orchestrating things in His own time. We are so grateful that we get to bring our little girl home next week and are just in awe of the children Heavenly Father has placed in our care. Truly, just in awe. All of them are miracles.
Tune in next time for the exciting Embassy trip blogs! I don't promise that it will be soon.
3 comments:
We feel so blessed to have been able to be a part of such an amazing process like adoption, where all involved are blessed. Adoption is the ultimate example to me of how Heavenly Father makes "lemonade of lemons". He is very much involved in adoption and taking care of his little little ones (and his big little ones too :o) ). Each of our now three adoptions has been filled with miracles and strengthens our testimonies of God's love for us.
That's the greatest news!!! We're so happy Yema will be coming home to such a wonderful family! Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to meet Yema!
I am so happy for you, and firmly believe that Heavenly Father is mindful of us in all that we are doing. Yey for the 3 sweet blessings that have been placed in your home!
Post a Comment