Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Update on Ruthlande

I got this sweet picture of Ruthlande today. Doesn't she look amazing!! Her mom says that she's talking all the time now and she's doing really well. She wouldn't smile for the picture, though - apparently, she's still very afraid of white people. Poor little sweetie - she probably worries that she'll be taken away from her mom again anytime she sees a white person!

I'm just so happy to see her and to know that she's doing well - We miss her!!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The Wait Continues

The consulate got my I600 approval (USCIS sent another copy out). But when I called hoping to make the visa appointment today, I was told that they need to talk to NLL because they have some questions about the paperwork. She wasn't very clear on what the issues are, but for some reason I got the impression that something was filled out incorrectly? This might just be wishful thinking, though - if something is wrong with a document and we need to get another one from archives, we can expect to wait another month or more.

We'll just have to wait and see...

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Stalled Again

Well, we knew it couldn't go smoothly, didn't we? Today, Daryl called the USCIS office in Haiti to find out the status of Noah's paperwork for the birth parent interview. They said that they sent the paperwork - but they didn't send it to the consulate in Haiti. For some reason, they sent our paperwork to the Chicago USCIS office!! Robin says she has no idea why they would do this - she doesn't know of any circumstance where the birth parent interview paperwork would be sent back to the US, so she can't imagine why they would make this mistake.

So, now I have to try calling the USCIS office in Haiti (it was already closed when I found all of this out today) to see if they can somehow send copies of the paperwork to the consulate (I don't know if they have copies or if the consulate will accept them, but that's what we're going to try to find out). I'm also calling the Chicago office to see if they have received the paperwork (I don't know exactly when it was sent out). I'm really not sure what they would even do with the paperwork if they got it. Still, I'm hoping that maybe they recieved it and put it in my (now closed) file. I'm hoping they'll let me drive to the office and pick it up. And then I'm hoping that Carine at the US consulate in Haiti will allow us to make the visa appointment and bring the documents with us.

I know that's a lot of things to hope for. And, let's face it, my interactions with the USCIS Chicago office up to this point have not gone well. But, I still have to hope.

This has not been an easy road. It's hard to see God's purpose in all of this, but I know that He has one. I just pray that our son will be home with us soon!

UPDATE: I did speak to the officer in the Chicago office. She was actually very pleasant this time, but she said they haven't received anything. She had me send an email requesting that they contact me if it comes in.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Not Quite There Yet

So, I called the consulate today and, unfortunately, they haven't gotten the paperwork from the birth parent interview yet. Daryl says they will keep calling every day until they have it. Then, we'll be able to schedule the visa appointment and go get our little boy!

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

And Closer Yet...

I just got this email from Robin (the adoption coordinator for COTP) today:

All that is left is for INS to send up the letter from the birth parent interview to the consulate. Daryl said to start calling the consulate on Tue to ask if they have everything. If they say "yes" then ask if you can make your appointment . We are in the home stretch. :)

Almost there!!!

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Carnaval

Most offices in Haiti are closed this week because of Carnaval (it's like Mardi Gras). So, we're not expecting to hear anything until at least next week. It would be nice if I could hear some good news for my birthday on Monday, but I'm guessing that's too early to expect any news.

Waiting...patiently...well, as patiently as I can...

Friday, February 1, 2008

A Bit Closer

Noah had his birth parent interview on Wednesday. It was a long day (they didn't get in until 6 PM), but it went well. Now, we just have to wait for the visa appointment. I'm not really sure how long the wait will be at this point, but we're hoping things will move quickly.

We had a bit of a scare with our passports - it turns out that you can't travel to Haiti on a passport that expires less than 3-6 months from the travel date. Our passports expire in mid-March. If you are going to travel in two weeks or less, you can get an emergency passport, but you are supposed to have either a confirmed ticket or a letter from a company stating the necessity for business travel. Of course, we had neither of those. But, the last couple of families who traveled to COTP to pick up their kids only had one or two days notice to book their travel - that wouldn't be enough time to get even an emergency passport. So, we decided to have Robin, the adoption coordinator for COTP, write us a letter and we hoped that the passport office would accept that in lieu of a letter from a company for business travel. But, we were very nervous that they would be sticklers and they wouldn't allow it. Luckily, we had no problems and were able to get the renewal. Scott's passport came today and mine should be here on Monday. Phew!

So, two things that happened on the same day and they both actually went right! We're on a roll!