Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Needing a miracle!

Anyone who reads this blurb on the web knows we have been paperchasing, planning and waiting for adoption for our daughter Eliana from China. One large reason it has taken three plus years in waiting is of course the wait for all adoptions right now in China. However our submission of paperwork took longer than usual because our government kept adding requirements to our adoption paperwork. Well...they are still doing that! I will not bore all of you with the details, but early in December I submitted a refiling of our paperwork for Homeland Security and Immigration. We have gotten fingerprinted 3 times, filed paperwork 3 times (all of it) and paid that expensive filing fee AGAIN. Our paperwork was in well before it needed to be, and our "file" expired at the end of 2008...but you cant get a response from anyone at the office unless you have waited the requred 6-8 weeks. So I when we got our referral on new year eve (thats all the info regarding Eliana from China) I sent off an email asking about our file. You cant call their office unless you are traveling in the next day. What I recieved back was an email stating it hadnt been my full 6-8 weeks. Anyway...we finally get a letter in the mail last Friday (the 30th) asking for more papers! No one had ever heard of this new requirement...my social worker even asked me to send her a copy so she could have something to show people after us with this issue.!One of the documents had to be notarized. Since we didnt get the letter until after 3 on Friday, and the earliest we could get to a notary together with our documents was today Wed. So we sent them off....breathing a sigh of relief. Checking my email tonight we heard from our agency that we recieved our letter of invitation from the Chinese government....we can come get Eliana. But wait! We cant make any of the immigration appointments we need while we are there (hence we cant travel at all) until we get the clearance document from Homeland Security. So whats our miracle? When I call tomorrow morning that I will get the sympathetic ear of someone who can actually do something about our file without those two documents that are in US postal service la la land, or that our paperwork flies into the hands of the right people ...tomorrow. Both are a longshot, but nothing constructive will happen on Friday and I dont want to wait another month to hold my baby! If we dont get this clearance we cant travel with our group...please say your prayers for Eliana....thanks!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Branders:

Wow don't I wish we knew someone in Homeland Security right now. But we know someone greater and more powerful - our Mighty God who rescues and who saves. We will be in prayer today for the right person at just the right time to take your call. Keep us posted!