Just like the Jeffersons - We Movin' on Up!!

Ahhh yeaahhh!  Some people say that 7 or 13 are lucky numbers - and maybe for them they are - but for us, on this day lucky number 115 is our number!  What?  Never heard of lucky number 115?  Yeah, well, that's because there's no such thing as a lucky number 115!

On an I600 process that was supposed to no more than 60 days (as written on the USCIS' own website) - we finally received an approval on DAY 115...and THAT is why there is now a lucky 115!

It was actually quite funny.  On day 114 I'd written a little post on FaceBook to the USCIS telling them how bad they suck.  It was mostly frustration that had been penned up for too long just rearing it's ugly head - there may have been a little tiny part of me that actually did think they sucked - but I'm pretty sure it was mostly just frustration.  No matter - apparently a little forceful 'tough talk' is the ticket for getting things done around there!  **Smile**

On day 115 in the early morning Brandie and I awoke to the following email:

Dear Jason & Brandie: 

This is to inform you that the I-600 petitions filed for Reiker Agbesi and Mahti Chloe OSWALD have been reviewed and approved.  

This office has forwarded your approved petitions to our Consular Section at post.  You will be contacted by the Consular Section on the procedure to be followed, to enable you proceed with subsequent steps.  You may also follow up with that section via e-mail at the below e-mail address.

Accraadoption@state.gov

This concludes all action by USCIS, Accra on these petitions.

Thank you

USCIS, Accra.

It was a great morning.  Brandie bawled, I just felt a rush of relief - and all of the sudden there was a slap of reality to the face.  We really ARE going to get these kids home...it's really going to happen!  We've known all along, but now with this part of the process behind us - now we're only a few short weeks from having our kids home with the rest of the family.  

Then, to top it all off - our friend sent us this video she took of the kids while she was at the home on Monday.  What a great day.

The next steps:

Now we're on to the visa portion - the last leg of this long, long marathon.  We've been told this phase should take up to 7 weeks - but once this part is done we're bringing kids home!!!

My Soul Grows Weary

I’m hoping the dream I had last night was just that, a dream – and not a premonition of this never ending endurance called an adoption process.

Last night I was frustrated and knew that Mighty and Agbesi were feeling the same.  The last time we talked with them it was painfully apparent they were losing patience – and maybe even a little hope that “Mommy and Daddy” were really coming back to get them.  The two months Agbesi so eagerly reminded me about while holding up his two little fingers are nothing more than a dusty page in our history book at this point. 

I decided since there was nothing I could do from a bureaucratic or political standpoint to speed up our process – I was going to get on an airplane and go be with our kids in Ghana.  I don’t remember the long flight (maybe this part of the dream I really do hope is true!), but I do vividly remember arriving at the orphanage.  I wanted to surprise the kids with my arrival.  I obviously had not told anyone I was coming.

As I sneaked around the dusty corner and crept into the courtyard Agbesi came running toward me and jumped into my arms with an excited “Daddy!” like he’d done so many times while we were actually in country.  He looked the same – except his two front teeth were completely grown in.  I loved hugging my little boy again and reliving all of the same feelings I’d had the first time we were there with him.

Next I remember heading up the stairs and through the hallway to the girl/s room.  As I rounded the landing on the stairway a group of girls were passing me.  I noticed one of them was Mighty.  As she came closer I was shocked to notice she was six to eight inches taller and looked much more mature than when we’d left her.  Immediately I had a feeling of sadness (and maybe even a little despair) flood over me and I tried desperately to remember how long it had been since we’d last been with them.  I was sad thinking about all we’d missed over the months (years?) we’d been away and how we’d only get to keep our little girl for a couple more years once we finally got her home.  All we’d missed, each precious experience, and the memories we could have had are nothing more than blank pages in our family history.  

I started feeling irritated….and then I woke up and realized just like in the dream, I really am irritated…and tired…and my soul is weary.