USCIS Approval
Here I am getting all excited about a piece of official looking paper. Actually, we are both pretty excited about it. We even high-fived (not a normal way we show affection towards each other).
Specifically we’re excited about that piece of paper you see to the left. It’s from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and it says that our government has approved us to adopt 1 child from Ethiopia who could be of either gender, anywhere from 0-3 years old, with possible minor correctable special needs.
And here’s what’s awesome: this happened really fast. USCIS approval is commonly known to be a 90 day process. Our homestudy was completed 35 days ago today. Part of what you have to do to get USCIS approval is to have your biometrics (fingerprints) taken in a fancy way at an offical government office that no one knows about (it’s not quite as James-Bond-like as it sounds). They tell you when and where to show up to have your biometrics taken, and you must be there at that time. About two weeks ago we found out our appointment was for last Friday. So, we went. Then we heard it could be about a month before we heard anything. Instead, it was six days. We got approval yesterday.
A few observations:
1. Our government actually did something quicker than it predicted. With everything going on in Washington right now, this is a small glimmer of hope.
2. Prayer works. I truly believe the successes we’ve had lately have come as a direct result of prayer, and not so much ours as yours. So, thank you.
3. God is awesome and we continue to be humbled and amazed at how he is sovereignly orchestrating this whole journey.
So, what does this approval mean? Well, in the simplest terms possible: the countdown is on. This approval was the last piece we needed to complete our dossier, which, as you know from a previous post, is already in Ethiopia. Now, we’re just waiting for the referral, which is when they’ll tell us who Haven is (actually, they’ll refer a child to us and ask us if we believe that child is Haven, but I can’t imagine a scenario where our response would be “no”).
Again, they say this could be anywhere from 3-6 months. That means that we could no who Haven is by mid-January. Honestly, I’m praying for something even quicker. Won’t you join me?