Sorry I have been absent lately, but we've been busy and ran into a few snags. One of the most disappointing is that our application to US government for our I-800A was suspended due to "insufficient funds." I just got the letter in the mail this week which included a bill saying we still owe $160 for the fingerprinting fees. The frustrating part is that at the bottom of the same bill it says (which is what we were told) that US citizens that are living abroad are exempt from paying the fingerprinting fees.... And they sent this letter to our overseas address!
So, I immediately called somebody. First, the USCIS's Military Help-Line. They couldn't help me, so they told me to call the regular customer service with USCIS. They couldn't help me either, so they told me to call the section in charge of the Hague adoptions. (The Hague treaty, designed to prevent child-trafficking, was signed by Burundi and the US, so it requires extra regulations to follow, and more paperwork). The Hague people told me that they didn't have our application. She said that it was delivered to a "lock box" and then it gets transferred to their office, which could take up to 15 days! Our letter says our application was received Oct. 4th. So, I was told to wait and call back next week (though she really wanted me to call back at the end of the month), to see if they have received it. In the meantime, it is suspended.
The same day I also got an email that one of our background checks is requiring us to pay more for some extra copies. So I still have to get the money to them.
The good thing is that I got our doctor's physicals scheduled for next week with no problem. But our required "psychological evaluation" is going to be harder to schedule than I thought.
So, running into delays is hard, but I have to remind myself that God has everything in His timing. He knew from the beginning that someone would make a mistake and delay our application. He could have prevented it. But He has an exact time for when our application would go through. And He also wants to teach us to rely on Him and trust Him.
But it doesn't hurt to pray for a speedy process from here on out! We hope to have all our paperwork done by the end of the year. Thanks for praying!
God DOES want to answer the desires of our heart ~ afterall, He put them there! Keep looking UP! You are right! God has hand-chosen your very child for your very family from the very start! Every hiccup we ran into, my husband would remind me that God just needed to slow us down ~ not to hold out on us, but to bring us directly to OUR child/ren!
ReplyDeleteBlessings to you! Glad you found some encouragement from my "Laying it at His Feet" post. We all need reminders that God IS in control and He DOES desire to bless us abundantly!
May the remainder of your journey be short and sweet! :o)