Well, we sadly have had no progress on the adoption front, but we have made a little progress on the nursery. Last week we had bamboo floors installed along with the zebra floor carpet tiles. I'm really happy with the way it's coming together. The light fixture for the room will go in next, then the rocker and ottoman, and then the crib.
We're pacing ourselves since our Rwanda adoption looks like it's going to be forever from now! It looks like it could easily be 2 to 3 years until we bring our baby home. In the meantime we're exploring other options to pursue while waiting on our Rwandan baby.
Isaac has been calling consistently to the USCIS checking in on our I-600A (the form that we submit) and the I-171H (which is the form that we are waiting on in return). He's left a number of messages to our assigned lady, but we've never received a call back. He's also spoken with a handful of different customer service people and not one has been able to find our I-600A! They just put in a request to find it and that's that. This week Isaac finally requested that a supervisor call him and basically she told him that she didn't know where our paperwork was and to not call back. Our information isn't in the computer system and therefore it's in one of the many boxes sitting in the file room that have come from all over the US. Once they find it, they said it would only take 5 minutes to approve it, but the key is in trying to find it. We know of at least two couples who have been lucky and gotten their I-171H form back in 11 days- incredible!
It sounds like it's going to be an act of God if we ever get this form so that we can move on with our adoption and get in line at the Rwandan embassy behind a hundred or so dossiers that are taking a long, long time to process!
I'm struggling with not pitying our situation, but God has been so faithful. One way he's been showing up is in the people he's been putting in our lives. Even just having lunch with two of my great girlfriends, Vanessa and Brooke, was so refreshing. Then, in the gym a girl named Lauren, who recognized me from an adoption class at our church, was such an encouragement to me! Also, our adoption friends Marc and Kayan from Austin came and stayed with us last night- that was, of course, so fun and refreshing!
Until we hear anything further, we'll be praying for the USCIS, they seem so overwhelmed with the new centralized processing implementation.
4 comments:
waiting on our 171 too.
i am curious why you said 2 - 3 years?
Good to see a post from you, I was thinking about you guys the other day, I realized I hadn't seen anything for a while. I will be praying specifically for your I171H. If it makes you feel any better, we're not DTR yet, the Rwandan embassy in DC still has our dossier. I am also praying for a miracle that the Ministry will suddenly be able to process the dossiers quickly and get the backed-up pile gone through soon! I pray it's not 2 or 3 years!
I say 2-3 years because we've heard through folks adopting independently that there are approximately 100 dossiers in Rwanda and we've seen the extremely slow progress that they make. Even if they did 8 dossiers a month (which I've never heard of them doing even close to this number) we're still 1-1/2 years out from the time our dossier arrives in Rwanda (that's assuming we're like 125 in line). Just an estimated guess! I think AWAA is crazy for telling us 9-11 months. But, they too, are just guessing.
Tara,
I am so sorry to hear about your experience with the I-600A. Just today, I received our back in the mail telling me I had used an outdated form. Looks like I got the new form from AWAA just five days after I mailed it in! My fault for not checking on the updated form on the government's website. Still, it was so hard to get that back in the mail! I feel like we take two steps forward only to take two back. I struggle to think it is faster in Ethiopia or other places, but I know God has clearly called us to Rwanda and so I have to trust Him and also trust in his timing. Thank you for being honest on your blog. It is encouraging to me to know I am not alone. It is hard at times to enjoy the joy and anticipation of thinking of our next child when I feel like it is so far away.
Blessings,
Julie Thompson
crossroadsoflightanddarkness.blogspot.com
Post a Comment