We're Home

This is going to be very short because quite honestly, I'm exhausted. However, we are home and I will be spending time posting pictures and info about our trip in the not too distant future. For now though, I need to do laundry and get some sleep, but not necessarily in that order.

This Is It - Stay The Course

This is it. My last blog post before travel. Unless, of course, I get word that our fingerprint issue is resolved prior to departure, in which case I'll do a quick post letting everyone know.

This afternoon we will head up to Chicago and tomorrow morning at approximately 11:00 a.m. we'll board the first of two flights to Ethiopia. Our connection will depart from Washington D.C. at 8:30 p.m. tomorrow night so we have a couple long days ahead of us. It will be worth every hour and every mile traveling to our baby girl!

I'm sure many of you know that there are some changes looming over Ethiopian adoptions. While I haven't heard all of the details yet, it appears that families who do not have their referral with a scheduled court date prior to March 1, 2010, will be required to make two trips. This is not a new requirement for International Adoption. Eastern European countries, for example, have been requiring this for many years. However, there are so many families in process of their Ethiopian adoptions that had not planned on making two trips. Some are stressing over the financial aspects of making two trips. Others are stressing over visiting their children only to leave them behind for several weeks before going back to pick them up and bring them home. Yet others are stressing over both aspects. Some may be considering pulling out of the program all together. I want to encourage those who will find themselves in the position of two trips to stay the course. There are children who will one day become your children and they are counting on you to be there for them. You may not know them yet, but they will need you one day, so please don't give up. You will spend a lifetime fighting for your children in different ways and going through the rigorous path of adoption is just way that we fight for our children. Again, stay the course and one day you too will be telling everyone that you are just 'One' day away from travel to bring your child home forever. This truly is a small detail in the big picture of life and a wonderful life awaits those who are willing to stay the course.

All My Bags Are Packed

Other than a few items that can't be added until tomorrow, our bags are packed and ready to go.

In two days we're leaving on a jet plane, don't know when we'll be back again. Okay, things will more than likely work out, but we're still dealing with the fingerprint drama. I woke up around 5:00 a.m. and after about 30 minutes of wondering finally got up to check email in hopes that the U.S. Embassy had responded with good news. No response. Bummer. Guess more phone calls will be made this morning.

What else is on tap for today? Housework and errands. Hum, that sounds pretty much like a typical day for me. And you were probably thinking I was going to post something exciting!!!!

Not Much Time **More Info**

Three days!
USCIS fingerprint drama went back downhill yesterday afternoon :-(
Maybe calling our Senator's office today.

I'll have to post later with more detail because I have some information that could prove helpful for others in the future.

**More Info**
As promised, I'm going to provide more information on what has been going on with our fingerprint renewal drama.

Yesterday I received an email from USCIS telling me that our information was being forwarded to the National Visa Center. I considered this good news, but quite honestly the email from USCIS was a bit cryptic so I emailed them again in an attempt to clarify exactly what was happening. It took two more emails to them to get a somewhat straight answer, but the final response was not what I wanted to hear. In my email request I asked that our fingerprint renewal information be sent electronically to the National Visa Center, however, USCIS mailed our information to the National Visa Center. Yes, it was sent through the United States Postal Service from Chicago to New Jersey yesterday. Will the National Visa Center get our information, process that information and get it sent to the Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia prior to our departure Saturday? I don't know.

So, now I know that our info is on it's way, but the woman who did our prints at the Application Support Center told me everything would be sent out the following day. Therefore, I decided to call the National Visa Center yet again. If our information had really been sent earlier, maybe they would have it by now. The answer was 'no.' They had nothing. However, I was able to speak with another supervisor who did some further checking and put a notice out to the entire center to be on the look-out for our information. This supervisor also gave me information that no one else had given me before. He told me that the National Visa Center will accept information electronically. He said that sending information electronically is not the normal process for USCIS. USCIS, in special circumstances, will honor a request for information to be sent electronically and this supervisor felt that our situation would qualify as a special circumstance. I told him that my request to USCIS was that they send our information electronically, but they obviously did not honor that request. He then suggested I contact our U.S. Congressman's office or U.S. Senator's office for assistance. I told him that our Congressman's office was involved and he then suggested that we get our Senator's office involved as Senator's hold a bit more clout.

After receiving this information, I emailed my contact at our Congressman's office with the information I had received and asking her if she is able to assist us further or if it was time to get our Senator's office involved. No response so far, which means I'll be calling our Senator's office this afternoon for assistance.

In the meantime, I received a call from our agency consultant telling me that she has another family in a very similar situation. The other family has received information from USCIS that I have not been given. According to the USCIS representative they have been in contact with, when a family has their fingerprint renewal done prior to the expiration of their current prints, USCIS sends the updated information directly to the Embassy without going through the National Visa Center. Wouldn't that be wonderful if it's true?!!!! This is not information that I have been given by USCIS or the National Visa Center, so I have no idea if this information is correct or not. However, I have now sent an email to the Embassy in Addis Ababa asking them if they have our updated information. Since there is a 9 hour time difference between here and Addis Ababa, I'm hopeful that I'll wake up to an email confirming whether or not they have all the necessary information for our Embassy appointment on the 22nd. Of course I'm not the type to sit and wait for an email that may or may not arrive, so I'll continue to work on this issue throughout the rest of today.

Other than hoping beyond hope that this is all resolved before we leave Saturday, I also hope that our experience and the information I've gained will help others who may find themselves in a similar situation.

Maybe the Drama Ends Today

Just a quick update to let everyone know that getting your Congressman's office involved does help.

I received an email from USCIS this morning letting me know that our update would be cabled today.

I then contacted the immigration specialist at our Congressman's office to let her know what was happening and this is the response I received:

I will be checking up with the National Visa Center today as well. The agency needs to be aware of our interest in your case, which should result in its prompt attention to your file.
We’ll be in touch as needed.

Apparently, the email from USCIS was prompted by contact from a U.S. Congressman's office and at some point today the National Visa Center is going to hear from that same office. I think we may very well be leaving for Ethiopia on Saturday with everything in place.

Want to guess who is likely to get my vote next election?

When Will the Drama End

We interrupt our regularly scheduled countdown for this update on our fingerprint renewal drama.

Yes, we have four days left before we leave for Ethiopia. This also means we have four days left to get our fingerprint renewal drama resolved. Dave took a turn calling the National Visa Center yesterday and was told they haven't received our fingerprint renewal yet. Our fingerprints expired on Saturday, so this isn't good news. I also emailed USCIS for the 3rd time in 3 days and for the 3rd time in 3 days did not get a response to my emails. So, after emailing our Congressman's office last Friday and getting a "thank you for emailing me" response, I called his office and was able to speak with his immigration specialist. She gave me her email address and asked me to forward all our USCIS approval information to her and she is going to contact them on our behalf to try and find our fingerprints and get them to the National Visa Center.

Last week I was handling the drama okay, but yesterday my body began reacting. I'm not going to go into detail other than to say that my intestines were responding to the stress.

Regardless, we continue to move forward and still plan to leave Saturday. Our tickets are purchased, reservations at the Ethiopia Guest Home made (actually they've been changed 3 times because of our Embassy appointment changes), most of the packing has been done, arrangements for doggie care made and most of all we are ready to go get our baby girl and bring her home. So, while we very much want to have this situation resolved before we leave, we will be in Ethiopia an entire week before our Embassy appointment which means we have nine business days before Embassy appointment. Certainly, this can be resolved within nine business days, but please let it be resolved within four.

Last Work Week

As a stay-at-home-mom, it's not the last work week for me, but it is the last work week for daddy. Well, not the last work week forever, but after this week he'll be taking one week of vacation and then four weeks of infant care leave. Of course that's exciting, but not quite as exciting as the fact that we'll be leaving for Ethiopia in five days. Woo Hoo!!!

Days

Days to departure.

Days before we land in Ethiopia.
Days until we are holding Naomi.

Today we're going to go visit Ryan for a few hours. Our last few visits with him have been awesome and we hope today is no exception. We're so happy and relieved to have him in a program that is working well for him. Of course our next visit will include Naomi. We've been preparing him for the arrival of his new little sister and based on his reaction to Lili, we anticipate he'll be happy and all smiles when he meets Naomi. He really does love babies and small children.

Lili has been talking about "her family" a lot lately. She will frequently say "my family" in a very sweet little voice full of happiness and love for her family. She likes to list all the members of "her family" and appears to feel sad if one of those members aren't around when she's talking about "her family." It's very cute and sweet. I'd like to take credit for being the one who taught her about family and provided her with a full understanding of family, but quite honestly I have to give credit where credit is due. Thanks to The Chipmunks movie, which spends a fair amount of time talking about family, she has put two and two together. Of course The Chipmunks movie is also an example of how families are formed through adoption and boy does that movie do a good job of showing that you don't have to look alike to be a family.

One Week

Seven days! One week! Yes, we are scheduled to leave the U.S. one week from today for Ethiopia.

I say 'scheduled' because as of yesterday our fingerprint renewal information still had not made it to the National Visa Center. The National Visa Center cables that information to the Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and is the Embassy doesn't have the information, we don't have an appointment. I've sent two emails to USCIS asking for information and assistance but have not gotten a response so I took it one step further yesterday and have contacted our Congressman and Senator's offices asking for their assistance in helping us. Other families have had to go this route and it's proven successful for them, so I'm hoping it will prove to be successful for us as well. It seems that when a U.S. government official contacts USCIS, they tend to take it a bit more seriously than when a family contacts them.

We have one full week before we leave and two full weeks before our Embassy appointment so I'm choosing to stay positive that this is going to work out. My hope is that it is resolved before we leave and believe me, I'll be doing everything in my power to make sure that happens.

Naomi's room in now ready for her arrival. The last dresser arrived Thursday so Dave got it assembled last night with a little help from his assistant, Lili the Tool Girl Weeks. Not sure she was a tremendous amount of help, but she was very excited about helping daddy and by the end of the project she was able to correctly identify screwdrivers, pliers and hammers.

There are still a few things that need to be done before Naomi's room is complete. Her walls are in desperate need of decoration, however, our plan is to purchase some pictures and items in Ethiopia and will hang them upon our return. Dave is also going to build a closet organizer for her closet, but that will also have to wait until we get back. In the meantime, here is what we've gotten done so far.

Notice the quilt and pillow on the rocking chair. That is Naomi's first gift from my friend Debby.

I would also love to replace the rocking chair with a soft upholstered chair, but if that happens, it won't happen until we get back. It is just nice to have all her furniture set up and clothes in her dressers. The only thing that it's truly missing is Naomi.

Quickly Approaching

One week from today we'll be heading up to Chicago to spend the night and the following morning we'll board a plane to Washington D.C., where we will board yet another plane for Ethiopia!!!! At times it feels like it's still a long ways off and at other times I find myself saying, "I'm going to Africa!" Of all the places I ever dreamed of visiting I can honestly say Africa was not one of them, but I now find myself so very excited about seeing Ethiopia. The obvious highlight of the trip will be Naomi, but after hearing so many wonderful stories from other families and seeing such beautiful pictures I can't wait to see Ethiopia and experience everything for myself. Of course I'll be sharing those pictures and our experiences with all of you upon our return.

Single Digits

We have made it to the single digits!!!!! What ever will I do for the next 9 days? Oh, I know, I'll probably be calling the National Visa Center every day for the next 9 days. Last week Dave and I went to one of the USCIS Application Support Centers to be fingerprinted, yet again. For those of you not familiar with the process, if an adoption has not been completed within 15 months of being fingerprinted, USCIS requires that the fingerprints be redone. Our original prints were done on December 5, 2008, which means they expire tomorrow. Since our Embassy appointment isn't scheduled until March 22nd, we had to go in to have our fingerprints renewed so we have a current copy on record at the time of our Embassy appointment. No current copy would mean no Embassy appointment. Since we are only 9 days from travel, my job is to check with the National Visa Center, on a daily basis until they confirm they have received our fingerprint renewal and that it has been sent to the Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Once they confirm it's been sent, I will need to contact the Embassy to verify they have actually received it. If this hasn't been done by next week my next job will be calling my U.S. Senator's office and getting them involved. Traveling to Ethiopia without verification that this information is in the hands of the U.S. Embassy means that we could find ourselves living in Ethiopia for at least two additional weeks while we wait for the next Embassy appointment or worse, returning home without Naomi.

I know that paints a somewhat scary picture and I'm sure we'll get this all worked out, but there have been more than a few families that have been caught in very similar situations and I'm trying to stay on top of this to make sure our family is not added to that list.

Cleaning and Organizing

Single digits tomorrow. Woo Hoo!!!

I'm now in official cleaning and organizing mode. I've cleaned out some cupboards, washed curtains, dusted window trim, and managed to fill several garbage bags. Sad thing is, my to-do list seems to get longer instead of shorter. I just seem to find something else that I want to get done before we leave.

Yesterday morning Dave and I were laying in bed with Lili right in between us. She thinks it's great fun to lay in our bed and watch t.v. and really seemed to be enjoying her time with mommy and daddy. At one point she reached out to touch both of us at the same time and said, "My family." Ahhh, so sweet. I also thought it was a good time to prod a little about how she's going to react to Naomi laying in bed with us so I asked her where Naomi was going to lay and she told me, "In Naomi's bed." When I asked if Naomi could lay next to Lili I was told, "No." When I asked if Naomi could lay in mommy and daddy's bed I was told, "No." Obviously, Naomi will lay in mommy and daddy's bed, but it appears this is not going to be acceptable to Lili.

Last night Dave and Lili had their first pillow fight. They were using the sofa pillows. What kid doesn't like a pillow fight?!! And what parent doesn't laugh when their little one tried to pick up 2 pillows at the same time hit daddy with them and just about fall over backwards because the pillows weight almost as much as the child. It was very entertaining to watch and Lili's laughter is contagious. What will our lives be like with the laughter of two little girls filling the house?

Need I Say More

A couple more days and we'll be in the single digits!!!!!

Coffee

When we first began our coffee fundraiser we understood that our storefront could remain open for 1 year or until Naomi came home. I contacted Just Love Coffee Roasters to inform them that we will return home from our pick up trip on March 26th and to confirm whether or not our storefront would need to close the day we leave or when we return. Here is the response I received from Jason:

Close your store? Perish the thought!!! Rob is still in the first year of having brought his girls home and has found that there are still expenses that arise as you and your new child adjust to the change. We allow fundraising families to keep their stores open for 12 months after they return home to help off-set the expenses of growing a family! We congratulate you and hope that you will send a picture for us to put on the wall here at the roasterie. I think that it will be inspiring to me as I roast to see the families we have helped unite!

For those of you not familiar with Just Love Coffee Roasters, Rob is the founder and owner. He and his wife adopted two little girls from Ethiopia and came home with an overwhelming desire to do something more. They provide a fundraising program to help adoptive families off-set the cost of adoption and are also raising money to build a school at one of the orphanages in Ethiopia. I really wasn't expecting this response, but how wonderful that they want to do what they can to assist families with their on-going expenses after returning home.

Our storefront will stay open until the end of October now and I guess I'll be sending Just Love Coffee Roasters a picture of Naomi with her new family!

days until take-off, but probably more important is
days to Naomi. Two weeks from today we'll be holding and loving on our precious baby girl!!!

Yesterday, Dave got the crib assembled and it is now made up and ready for a cute little body. Strangely enough, Lili was very impressed and thrilled about Naomi's crib. Too bad she wasn't as impressed and thrilled about her own crib. LOL!! Which, by-the-way, is identical to Naomi's except for the stain. Lili's crib has since been converted to her big girl bed, which fortunately she is thrilled about.

I have started packing and have all of Naomi's clothes, bottles and formula packed and ready to go. I need to pull the baby toys out of storage and throw a few of them in the bags and then I'll have all her things packed.

Just in time for our upcoming trip, Lili has made a new friend. Her name is May-May and she's invisible. At first I thought she was referring to Naomi and questioned her about it, but she has convinced me that May-May is her friend and Naomi is her baby sister. They are absolutely two different beings. She doesn't know where May-May lives, but May-May is involved in a lot of upcoming activities and daily events. Last night Lili was playing with her Jack-in-the-Box and seemed to suddenly be frightened by Jack popping out of the box. However, she told us that May-May was scared. May-May was going to eat pizza with us last night and was going to take a bath with Lili. May-May is now a part of our lives and I assume she'll be traveling to Ethiopia with us, but she has to fund her part of the trip :-)

Dave and I were talking about our hope that the weather is going to finally warm up and hoping that we'll be able to break our bikes out and start riding them while he's on Infant Care Leave. We have a really nice double bike trailer the girls will ride in and I am the puller of the trailer. However, my dear husband informed me this morning that he'll pull May-May. What a guy!!!