Passport Picked Up !

Thankful to receive news today that the staff have Fritzlin's passport in hand.

Next step will be travel to Port-au-Prince for Fritz's medical exam.

Because of the TB skin test that will need to be read two days after placement it will likely mean two nights in Port and a day of shopping in between.

We are now at the half-way point for the estimated time for the review of his visa application.

No request for further evidence yet so that is good news....no word at all so we continue to wait and pray.

Our 'paper pregnancy' now stands at 4 years 11 months 1 week and 2 days...since the day our first paperwork was in the mail.

So really a bit longer than that as we had to fill in all the forms before mailing them.

Passport done but not picked up.

After asking a couple times this week about any passport news, as we've been waiting for seven weeks,  we heard today that Fritz's passport is done.

The lawyer who went again to ask about it and received the news could not pick it up as she did not have the original receipt.

So the one staff member who can pick it up, Ivinge, with the receipt in hand will go to try.

Once he has the passport in his possession, he will tell our social worker who will relay the information to us.

Will be very exciting to see that cute face in a passport-representing one more step toward being able to travel together as a family.

The agency tells us that sometimes when Ivinge goes to pick up passports he's turned away, being told that the requested passport is not ready.

So praying that we hear soon that the passport has been turned over to the agency.

So far no word from USCIS office about our visa. We are 1/3 done with the 'estimated 6 week processing time'.

Praying that the review is going well. So far no request for additional evidence or information.

Document Review

We entered passports just after Christmas and were told that they were taking about two weeks...figured that the holidays would extend that a bit.

Here we are on the last day of January, over a month in passports and still no word.

Our agency informed us today that they have 'enlisted the assistance' of a team at the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince to try to 'push things along'.

They know of no issues on our end that are holding up Fritzlin's passport and we know of others waiting more than 2-3 weeks as well.

[Facebook chatter about passport books being out...if so praying that more arrive soon.]

So we wait....

We also received word today from the USCIS office in Port that they are currently reviewing our adoption documentation.

They will contact us if they have any questions or require any additional information.

The approximate time line for processing I-600 visas is 6 weeks.
"Maybe longer if the adoption was finalized outside of Port-au-Prince".

My head reminds me that 'approximate' can mean much longer.....at this point you think I would be good at waiting but honestly 'six weeks' sounds like a long time.

So we pray and wait.

Our 'adoption paperwork pregnancy' timeline  stands at 4 years, 10 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days...and counting.

This count starting on the day the first paperwork was mailed, not the start of our adoption journey.

Prayers:

• Passport
• No delay or issues with I-600 visa [fast would be GREAT!]
• Timely medical appointment in Port
• Visa appointment: same trip as medical
• Keeping a good attitude as we wait to be able to make travel plans.