Okay, just so I don't start an unnecessary panic, I called USCIS and asked about what would happen during a government shut down. Our fingerprints are set to expire May 7th, and we have a new fingerprint date of April 19th. I wanted to ask them what would happen if we couldn't go to get our prints taken. But have no fear, this morning USCIS told me that they are a fee based part of the governemnt and would not get shut down. HUGE sigh of relief. Last night I lay awake thinking we might somehow lose our orphan petition if things got shut down and we couldn't get our prints redone. But according to them, we are in the clear. Whew.

Well, our I600 is officially file with the govt. And while I am excited, I am not looking forward to 10 weeks of waiting, and that's assuming the US govt. doesn't shut down. I am quite certain that adoption applications are not going to seem "vital". I know when there have been shut downs before, passport applications don't continue on during that time. Trying to stay positive, but not really excelling at it. Unfortunately, I tend to be more of a pessimist in general, so you toss in govt. shutdowns and longer than expected wait times and it's hard to be a glass is half full type of person. I know, I need to work on it. This cold is kicking my butt. Monday I was awake for a total of 5 hours during the day. My eyes were burning and felt like they were going to explode along with the rest of my head. My fever has finally gone away after 5 days, but I still am having a hard time breathing, and a cough to beat all else. Not fun. My poor hubby is praying that he doesn't get it. I told him he is more than welcome to sleep on the couch to avoid it- but he hasn't take me up yet! I think he misses me. I layed down to take a "quick" nap today and woke up 4 hours later! Good thing my in laws are watching Owen and Ava was at school. I think I might hate being sick more than I hate winter. At least I am not throwing up (see? I can be optimistic!) That would be the ultimate yuck in my day. Sorry for the post of misery, I need to go to bed and it's not even 8 yet!

USCIS confirmed it- 75 days to process the I600. We are now looking at September to travel. 6. months. away.

My heart is breaking, I am in tears.

Every year, without fail, I get a whopping cold of some type in the transition from fall to winter, and winter to spring. 2011 is no exception. :( My daughter had a cold last week with a fever. By day two she was rocking and back to normal- not so with this momma. I don't think it was possible for me to use anymore soap and hand sanitizer. But still, it wasn't enough. Hoping for this to be my last day. On the adoption front, I heard a rumor that USCIS is now taking 10 weeks to process the I600 instead of the 4 that was happening just last month. I am calling tomorrow to see if they can give me any validity to this. I saw it on a blog, and actually when I went to the USCIS website, it does say 2.5 months and that "update" was given Jan. 31, but when I talked to them last month they said 4-6 weeks. Hopefully when I call tomorrow it will be good news. IF it takes 10 weeks, then we are looking at traveling possibly as late as September, maybe into October. All I know is that it's an election year, and that happens in November, we definitely want to be gone before that happens- African elections aren't exactly known for their smoothness.

Second day of Spring?

I have posted before about how I am not exactly a winter type of person. This is unfortunate given I live in the North. It's rubbing off on my kids too. Owen often walks around the house saying "I hate winter". Chris tells me I need to be a better example to them in the winter months! I usually give him a dirty look when he says that.

Yesterday, our yard was about half way empty of snow. We had several 50 degree days and it was gorgeous with a capital G. Last night we were supposed to get 2 inches of snow. I was okay with that- it's not too much, and will quickly melt.

Woke up this morning to the following:



Does this look like 2 inches of snow to you? And it is still snowing, oh, and we could get up to 7 more inches today. I heard on the radio that down in the cities an egg truck tipped over and dumped 40,000 pounds of eggs all over the road. I guess I should be thankful I only need to clear the driveway of a foot of snow instead of all those eggs.

I'll probably still be slightly depressed because I read the facebook posting of a friend who lives in Georgia, the country, not the state, with her UN fiancee- they are headed to Rome for 10 days. (I might be slightly bitter!)

The good news is that we got our last piece of paper required- for reals this time- it's still in French, but I am hoping to have it filed with USCIS by the end of next week max. Here's a new time schedule:

I600- filed by April 1st.
approval- hopefully end of April
Embassy appt. requested
Embassy appt. end of May
Visa approval- end of June, sadly, this has been taking families one whole month after embassy appt.
travel- mid July
Home- early to mid August

Not as soon as I was hoping, but the end is in sight- sort of!

Pee stinks

you can tell by the title of this post that I am not so super excited about pee. we moved Owen in with Ava on their bunk beds to give some adjustment time to the new arrangement before the kidlets get home. Our plan is to build Owen a bedroom this summer, but until then they get to reside together.

This morning Owen came in completely distraught- he had an accident. I was hugely surprised. He has had only one other accident in his life, and that was shortly after he was potty trained 2 years ago. But, I do understand. He is downstairs, where we don't have a bathroom yet, and a new environment. Poor kid.

So I am the lucky person who gets to google how to clean pee out of a mattress, because now he is in a big bed that didn't come covered in plastic. (I know you can buy those plastic covers to go over bigger mattresses, but I didn't think it was necessary!) Oh well. My awesome hubby completely cleaned the bathroom yesterday- lucky me!

I want to scream

Just found out today that our I600 hasn't been filed by our agency. We are missing something called a parental authorization. Both of our children have birth mothers who cannot care for them, and they need to sign a release of some sort. I am frustrated beyond belief. We have already passed court, our 30 day non-appeal period is months over. If I had time to break down and cry I would. This isn't a document that I have even heard of in all of our conversations with our agency. It's not on the sheet that tracks our adoption.

All I can do is keep moving forward even though I am currently feeling like I am stuck in a sink hole.