Maybe Baby??

Today, in a bit of a funk about recent news about the restructuring of adoption on Kyrgyzstan (see Small Delay in Adoption Process on my other blog), I decided to call our agency to see what I could glean by talking directly to the director. I really like our agency and our director, Brent. He is so forthcoming with whatever information he can provide.

We spent time talking about what is really going on (housecleaning at the Embassy), how long he thought it would last (his take: two weeks or so) and if referrals would continue during this time. He indicated he didn't think referrals would stop but that folks were busy with trying to work all this out and that it might be a couple of weeks before they had another referral.

THEN, he proceeded to talk to me about how they get the babies for referral and he indicated there is a baby "in the pipeline" right now that the in-country coordinator has told him about that should be ready for referral in a couple of weeks. I said, "So, we could be talking about my baby, right?" He said, "Yes, we could!"

WOW!!! Our Ellie probably has been born!!! How exciting -- and, again, sad for me as a mom. In my heart, I know God will take care of her, but my heart also aches knowing the time I'm missing with her.

So ... maybe in a couple of weeks we can get our referral and the current restructuring in Kyrg will be done and things can go back to normal. The four families with referrals whose travel was cancelled will be able to travel to meet their babies and then we can travel to meet Ellie. God, whose timing is perfect, will hopefully have used this delay to buy us the time we wanted to make sure Josh is through with school before we travel.

HOW EXCITING!!! It was the nugget of hope I needed today to help me "make it through."

Memphis USCIS - What a Joke

I'm glad this blog is private because I am now going to RANT over what a worthless system we have for processing adoption petitions. Ok, so that's a big statement. However, I recently sent an email to the Memphis USCIS who is processing our I171H. We were fingerprinted on March 14. We were told current processing times in Memphis are eight (8) weeks. So... I've been checking the site by entering my tracking number and I continue to get the message that my application can't be found.

So, I decided to send an email. I sent the following:

Greetings!I know you are busy and will keep my request brief. I continue to check online as to the status of our I171H and continue to get a message that we cannot be found in the system. I am following up to see if we actually are in the system and are in process.

We are also interested in finding out how to change the order of the petitioner. My husband was listed as the primary petitioner and I will be traveling back for the second trip to pick up our daughter without him. Is there a way to have our I171H list me as the primary petitioner – without causing a delay in receiving our I171H? We anticipate a referral within the next two – three weeks which is why we are following up on this.

THANK YOU so much for all you are doing!

After giving them our identifying information I just knew I'd get some relevant information back. Here is the email I got from them:

The numbers are still locally generated and therefore not available on line.
Your application is in our office and will be processed as soon as our workload allows.

Thank you,
MEM Adoption Unit

HAHAHAHA -- what does this mean? I think it was a kind way of saying, "Hurry up and wait; we'll get to you when we get to you." They didn't even ADDRESS the issue of changing the primary petitioner. ARGHHH. "As soon as our workload allows" ???? when is that?

I love my government. They are so efficient.

The date we are due to get it is May 9. I suppose I have nothing to do but wait -- something I'm getting REALLY good at!

Hrrrmmpppfff!

WE ARE NUMBER ONE ON THE LIST!!!! Oh My!!!

I just got the following email from the person who was number one on our agency's list ...

Happy Friday Maria!!You are now officially NUMBER #1I don't have any particulars, just a picture. We're waiting for medical translations.I hope this makes your weekend. You are up next!!!Oh Happy Day!

We are now NUMBER ONE on the list and could get a call ANY TIME!!!!! This family will be travelling to meet their daughter (who is two weeks old) the week of April 25. This moves everything up for us as well!!!

Oh my.... that's all I can say .... Oh my!!!

Setting up our Private Blog

I feel badly about having to set up a private blog, but according to our agency, the information they share with us often gets distributed among others using other agencies and then they try to use it against them in Kyrgyzstan and it sometimes causes problems with the completion of the adoption process. We CANNOT take the chance that will happen, but want to continue to have a location where we can share information with those of you who have been following this process all along and want to continue to be informed.

This will be the place where you will be able to see photos of our little angel when we get her referral photo, photos from our first trip and details about our adoption. Sadly, we will not be able to share this with everyone until the adoption is complete.

We found out today that we are number two on the agency list. Two people got referrals today. This is only two weeks after the last referrals and those were only two weeks after the last referrals. That being said, we could expect a referral in as little as two weeks. Because our agency is referring babies as young as ONE WEEK OLD (another piece of information that is apparently bothering other agencies and adoptive families), the travel times will not be as quick as we first thought. In Kyrgyzstan, a child cannot go before the court to be placed for adoption until they are three months old. After the court proceedings, there is a 30 day waiting period. Our agency indicates they prefer that families wait until the child is closer to two months old before traveling to keep the time between trips as short as possible (currently 6 weeks). We anticipate our baby will be only a few weeks old when we get the referral and that when we travel (late May, early June), she will be around 2 months old. About two weeks after we return home, our representative will appear in court for us and if everything goes well, our adoption will be approved and after 30 days we will be able to return to pick her up to bring her home. She will be about four months old. What a shame we couldn't bring her home sooner, but the laws are made by the government there and we are really lucky to be able to bring her home as soon as we are and as young as she will be.

So, until there is more news -- or a REFERRAL!!! -- I will leave this site as it is. Thank you for continuing to follow along on our journey!