Officer "H"

Since my nerve-wracking fingerprinting experience last week, I've been ever so diligent in taking care of my hands. I'd convinced myself that I would be hearing from USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) in the form of a letter telling me that I would have to return to have my prints taken again. In preparation for that, I have gone so far as to apply A LOT of my Mary Kay firming eye cream to my fingertips to try to fill in the deep lines. Hey, when you start feeling desperate, weird things begin to sound strangely normal. What's funny is it actually seems to be working! But, I think maybe I should save the cream for my eyes since I'm writing this at 2AM. You see, I called USCIS on Wednesday to fish for information, hoping to hear whether my prints were accepted so that we could proceed with scheduling the seemingly inevitable next round of fingerprints. The lady who took my phone call had a kind voice and was eager to help. She searched for our file and quickly came back with the name of the officer (the officer!!) who had been assigned to our case! I'll call him Officer "H". Apparently, Officer "H" is the most wonderful person in the whole wide world because he reviewed and APPROVED our application THE DAY AFTER OUR FINGERPRINTING!! Plus, it was a Saturday! WHAT?! Yes siree! Then, yesterday, I went to the mailbox and found the blessed approval letter that wasn't supposed to arrive for another seven to ten days. We had geared ourselves up to not hearing a single thing from anyone for at least a month and here we are with papers in hand 6 days later! Thank you, Jesus...and Officer "H" at USCIS!!! :)


About to hit one out of the park...just like our new friend, Officer "H"

Our dossier, now apostilled (and complete with our USCIS approval!), will be sent with another adopting couple on Sunday to the facilitators in our girl's country! Their government will be closed for a couple of weeks for a national holiday, which gives our facilitators time to translate everything and check it with a fine-toothed comb before they submit it on Oct 15th. This puts us on track to travel for the first time in early December! We desperately want to tell our girl of our plans to bring her home permanently before she finds out that she won't be sent to America with her peers to be hosted over the Christmas holiday. Will you pray with us concerning the timing?