It Came! It Came!

Finally, after waiting almost exactly a month from when we got our fingerprints done...our Immigration form came today! I had e-mailed USCIS on Monday, and was kind of shocked to get an e-mail back that seemed to come from a real live person, so I had known we were approved. But it still feels really good to see it in person!



We also got some news from our homestudy agency, and it was pretty much all good news (though not the best news, which would have been that we didn't have to deal with all their new rules). We found out books we've already read (3 each) will count for 2 hours each, so we're up to 14 of our 30 hours complete. I wouldn't say we're happy, or even content, with the new education requirements they forced upon us, but we're resolute and know the task that lies before us. And we learned that we won't be charged for the additional post-placement visits they are going to require (we were paying for 3, but now we'll get 5). This is actually awesome news! We loved the idea of our social worker coming to check in on us more often and being available to help us with attachment and the huge transition we'll be dealing with, we just weren't prepared for the several hundred more dollars it was going to cost. But now we get the best of both...same cost, more help! They apologized for kind of telling us about the changes before they really knew how they would all be implemented, and for starting off with the worst-case scenario. I'm just glad some of it is better than we thought!



And...the news that made me happiest of all lately...a family from our placement agency that submitted their dossier 7 weeks before us, asking for the same gender/age, was referred a 2 month old baby girl almost 2 weeks ago! That means that we're getting closer!! There is no rhyme or reason to how referrals come, so although logically that could mean we are also 7 weeks or so away from a referral, there could also be a lull and it could be 3-4 more months. No one knows, but we're definitely seeing movement, and that is thrilling!