Our I-800 immigration papers got sent off and received. The actual fingerprinting location that is affiliated with the immigration office was scheduled to open up May 4 and I was thinking pretty positive about this. Then I got an email that the fingerprinting location has decided to delay opening now until June 1. No surprise the government still charged my credit card for the whole amount including the fingerprinting part. Nothing I can do so I pulled out my other documents that have been started and looked at the dates they had been signed. I emailed my dossier specialist at CCAI a little worried that some of my papers were going to expire before the Chines consulate would opened back up. You have to have them Sealed within 6 months of having them signed. She emailed me back and said she had just been thinking about us and was thinking the same thing. This took my stress level up a few notches because the last thing I want to do is start this paper chase over. She asked me to email her my documents so she could look at them. I knew we could still send them to the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC if needed. The problem with that is it adds another step thru the State Department that is not needed when you go thru the consulate. Is there time to send them to another government agency that is most likely working from home? Lovie asked for some prayers from our church and of course plenty of them are calling out on our behalf. The next day our agency called and said she thought we were in good shape as long as we sent them to DC very soon. Praise God! I contacted a courier service that specializes in adoption issues in DC and overnighted them off to them. They will get them to the State Department and then hand deliver them into the Chinese Embassy. The embassy will only take them in person, no mailing them. I feel better about the time line after talking to CCAI and knowing I have friends praying but mostly because I know God is in control even when I think things are out of control.
Ten of the thirteen documents that need to be Sealed by the embassy were sent. Lovies’ birth certificate is at the Secretary of State’s office getting authenticated. Our Home Study is at the county clerks office getting certified. The last document we need is our I-800 immigration papers but until we get fingerprinted that one will be on hold. It is easy to lose perspective at times and wonder if we will ever finish this process so we can bring our sweet new daughter home. She has been waiting on a family for nine years and I am stressing over the four months it has taken us to get to this point. We hope we are closing in on the half way mark. Praying that by November we will be flying to China to start the next chapter of this journey.