Ocean Waves and Immigration

You know when you stand at the edge of the ocean and as the waves wash over your feet, they begin to sink a little?  I’ve always found that to be a very comforting feeling, like I’m more rooted than I could be by myself.  Like the sand and waves want me to join them in all of their play and adventure.  The other thing I’ve always been fascinated by at the ocean is the way the waves come in.  You can never predict where a wave will break.  It could look HUGE, but it breaks early, coming in as just a swoosh of froth.  Or, it could break just as it hits you, tripping you up with a force you never expected.  Either way, as soon as one wave has passed, you are already looking for where the next one will be.  As I watched my sweet little guys playing in those waves last week, I realized that our journey of adoption comes in waves too.

The waves that broke while we played on the beach….

*Our agency emailed to say that everything we sent for our dossier so far is perfect--YAY!

*Our homestudy was finalized, notarized, and sent via FedEx to Florida to join us on vacation!

* That homestudy got a speed read from me, and was handed back to FedEx in a brand new envelope along with its friend, our I800a, off to USCIS.

*USCIS received our I800a on March 28^th

*USCIS sent me a nice little text message to say “We’re on it.”

Waves I’m watching for…

*Homeland Security needs to send us a letter with an appointment for special fingerprinting

*35-40 days from March 28^th our I800a will hopefully be approved

*Our approval letter from the 1800a and another copy of our homestudy are the last 2 documents that we need to go through authentication (county, state, consulate) and then our dossier can go across the ocean!

Waves that knocked me down…

*Speaking with someone at our agency this week, I found out our wait could be much longer than anticipated.  We could have to wait 6-8 months after we are logged in to find out who our little girl is.  That's a bummer, because I really can't wait to take pictures of her digging giant sand traps like this with her brothers....