PROGRESS!!!!!

WOW!!! Real progress today, folks!! We have our fingerprinting appointment FINALLY!! Next Wednesday we will travel out to Charlotte and be fingerprinted for our I600A application!!! YIPEEE!!! There was QUITE the drama with this whole thing though, let me assure you! I just have to relay this story so you can see just how the hand of God is working through this process.

Yesterday: We've been waiting three months for this appointment. It FINALLY came in the mail yesterday and wouldn't you know it -- our appointment is schedule for one of the days that Mike is going to be out of the state on a MANDATORY trade show. We had to reschedule. They will only reschedule one time. They will NOT take requests. You HAVE to take what they give you. I was SOOO disappointed. I was seriously praying it wouldn't take another three months to receive a new appointment. I posted on my homeschooling board and CAFEKids (Christian Adoptive Families of Ethiopian Kids) yahoo group and everyone reminded me of the same thing: "This did not come as a shock to God, Julie, He is still in control. His timing and purposes are perfect." Yes ... okay ... I could definitely agree with that.

Today: I was feeling much better by this morning so, as instructed and like a good little non-procrastinator, I wrote a note on the top of the appointment letters, addressed an envelope, stamped it and put it out in the mailbox so we could get a rescheduled fingerprint appointment on the earliest possible date.

Then, around 11:40 this morning, Mike calls and says: "You know what, the first night of the trade show is just a cocktail dinner ... I can miss that ... let's keep our appointment after all."

WHAT?!!!

I go racing out to the mailbox and the MAIL HAS ALREADY BEEN PICKED UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I go back inside and call my post office and ask the lady to please leave a note for our mail carrier to pull our envelope (how many people are sending mail to the USCIS office in Charlotte ... I mean, really?!!), mark it "return to sender" and please send it back to us. The lady said: "Honey, I will try, but you're going to need a miracle for this to actually happen." I said: "Oh good ... I know just who to ask for that!!!"

So ... then my next step was email the USCIS office in Charlotte and BEG for them to disregard the request if they happen to receive it anyway. I'm sure y'all can probably imagine what I felt like emailing a government office that works at snail speed. I thought ... I'm going to get a response three weeks after our rescheduled appointment. But, it was worth a shot.

My next step after that was to go to my homeschooling board and ask for prayer!!!! I asked them to start praying that the Lord would intercede on our behalf at either the USPS or at USCIS and allow us to keep our appointment. (Of course, I'd been praying in my heart while all this was going on, but I knew these ladies would agree in prayer with me and wow have we prayed for some amazing things over the years I've been on that board!!!)

Much to my SHOCK, about ten minutes later, I received an email from USCIS saying they would place my email in our file and the requests for rescheduling would be "destroyed upon receipt" (sounds like we're involved in some clandestine CIA operation, doesn't it?). WOW!!! Thank you, Lord!!!!!!!!!!

So, next Wednesday we are off to Charlotte to get fingerprinted!!!!!!!!!! My heart is simply dancing this afternoon!!!