Inch by Inch

We're getting closer and closer. This morning I woke up to the wonderful news that the CCAA had matched families through September 8, 2005! Truth be told I don't even get out of bed before bringing up the Rumor Queen site on my SideKick. I think I have a little RQ addiction....nothing that having Lily Katherine home wont cure!

I love referral time each month. The excitement is absolutely contagious. While it may be true that the adoption process is not running as quickly as it once did, each batch brings children to their families and us one step closer to our daughter.

A Productive Weekend

It's official....we bought nursery bedding!! Some of you may be thinking...so, what's the big deal?? Well, Tony and I have been putting off decorating the nursery because we just couldn't handle having an empty nursery. We've been looking at nursery bedding and going to fabric stores to check out nursery fabrics but just hadn't been able to make the plunge. We did today. We struggled with things we felt were too froofy (is that a word??? you know what I mean), or too girly, or too cutesy...you get the picture. My special gift is that I can make the most simple task difficult! Well, it's done. A simple purple quilted set that will look beautiful in Lily's room!

Yesterday was our 13th month LID - a - versary. To celebrate I was fingerprinted again by the USCIS. We were already re-fingerprinted because of the prints "expiring" so I guess I was re-re-fingerprinted. I am one of those weird people that don't have fingerprints...yes, there are many of us out there. I was really angry when I learned that I had to be printed again. After I kicked and screamed and acted like your basic 2 year old Tony said "No problem, we'll make a day of it." So we went downtown so I could be printed again then went to one of the fancy downtown hotels for brunch and on our way home got stuck in Thanksgiving Day parade traffic. It's a frustrating inconvenience to be printed multiple times but I feel like it's forward progress...I mean at least I'm doing something! This just sitting around doing nothing doesn't work for my Type A personality.

Adoption Meltdown

I had my first major adoption meltdown yesterday. I received an I-797C, Notice of Action from the USCIS (Immigration) that stated my fingerprints had expired and I needed to come in to be re-fingerprinted or my Petition for an Orphan Visa would be considered "abandoned" (got to love the use of that word!). No problem I thought. For those of you who may not know the Petition for Orphan Visa is an extremely important document in the international adoption process. Anyway, Tony and I went on September 8, 2006, to be re-fingerprinted so surely this is some kind of mix up that would be easily rectified...or not.

I called the 1-800 number on the USCIS form and after over 90 minutes on hold and two different levels of "customer" service I was told that they couldn't help me. In fact, I was told that I would have to appear at the District Office and be re-fingerprinted and I could speak to the supervisor on duty at the time of my re-fingerprinting. Don't get me wrong, I would stand in line forever if it meant that at the end I could bring Lily home. I just thought that since Tony and I were already re-fingerprinted this step was unnecessary! I truly believe when I go to the District Office with all my documentation, receipt numbers, etc. this problem will be resolved quickly. I just was so extremely frustrated with the "customer service" folks and can't understand why this couldn't be resolved over the phone. Honestly, the woman I dealt with never really let me get an entire sentence out. All she kept saying was "when you appear at the appointed time you can address this with the supervisor on duty". My entire point was why do I have to go at all....I've already been....twice. It was obvious that she was following some kind of script and not really listening to what my issue was.

Now, here is the icing on the cake...included in the envelope with my I-797C, Notice of Action was another person's I-797C (complete with their personal information, ssn, etc.). When I mentioned this to the USCIS customer service rep they stated that I would need to type a cover letter stating that this notice was inadvertently included in my envelope and mail it back to them. WHAT???? You've got to be kidding me. It's their error and I have to type a letter and mail it back to them??? Meanwhile they have done nothing to help me resolve my issue...I don't think so. I typed a letter...but not to them. I typed a letter to the person that the I-797C was addressed to and told them that it was included in a mailing sent to me. Hopefully this person will follow through with the USCIS and ask them why their personal info was disclosed to another person.

I am not proud to admit this but I completely lost my cool. When the representative said to me for the one hundredth time "if you want your petition to have a favorable outcome you will go to the district office at the appointed time" I almost climbed through the phone. Our petition has already had a favorable outcome. We've jumped through all of their damn hoops! Enough already! By the time I hung up I was completely weepy and had used an expletive or two. So much for grace under pressure!

Normally I am a pretty level headed person...not the big whiny face I was yesterday. A day has passed now and I feel kind of silly for being so upset. But honestly I'm still kind of fuming. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. I feel 5 lbs lighter already.