INS Part 4

Okay, just when I thought everything was under control...

Apparently, my fingerprints on the high tech wonderful INS fingerprinting machine that I had to drive 2 hours to use are unreadable. (oddly enough, when I had my fingerprints done the old fashioned way with ink a few months ago for FBI clearance, they were just fine) The good news is that someone from INS actually was working on our I-171H. She was trying to get it in the mail so we could bring it with us when we leave on Saturday. The bad news is that due to my rejected fingerprints, she wasn't able to complete it and I'm traipsing back to Jackson, MS tomorrow to get my fingerprints re-done by the high tech piece of junk that didn't do such a good job on them last time. Unfortunately, just in case my fingerprints will no longer work (could be a plus if I decide to become a criminal), because some people's fingerprints apparently "wear off" if they do a lot of manual labor (really shouldn't be a problem) or a lot of paperwork (that could be a problem after 2 international adoptions), I also need to get a letter from my local police department stating that I am not a criminal. Or at least that I haven't been a criminal for the last ten years. But, even though this letter will work if they can't get my fingerprints again, I can't skip straight to this step because that would be way too easy. So I need to do both so that they have the letter if my prints are worn off (from the adoption paperwork). Oh, well, at least she caught it while I was still in the country, a fact which I' pretty sure is due to her getting an email from Kristen at AWAA yesterday reminding her that Sen. Landrieu asked them to hurry and that she (Officer Hines) hadn't returned any of my emails in the last week. So she sat down to do it today and couldn't because of the fingerprint issue.

I feel the need to say...
I will leave Saturday morning. I will get my children soon. I will be in Kazakhstan next week. I will complete this adoption. I will have all of my children home with me by the end of the summer!!!!

Ok, I feel better. I just needed to make a statement to myself that this is not such a big deal and it won't stop the important things from happening. It'll be ok!

Final Countown

So, it's like a bunch of lasts now...

Our last week of meals made out of our regular groceries for a while.
Our last trip to wal-mart before we go. (too good to be true?)
Our last movie at the theater as a family of 3. (Prince Caspian--awesome)
The last time I will re-pack that huge blue duffel bag (probably not!)
Last time I'll hang out with my friends for 2 months!

I'm feeling really excited/nervous/stressed right now. And hungry...
Which probably doesn't help.

We leave in 5 days. It's pretty surreal now.

In other news...

The Assemblies of God has a wonderful program called Speed the Light (STL) that gives cars to missionaries. We are considered missionaries even though we work here in the USA because we are on a college campus, not a church. So we had a truck from STL. They have now exchanged it with us for a 2008 Toyota Sienna van. Woohoo! I was worried about having to pack 3 carseats into my little bitty car. (Actually, not even possible--I tried it out one day.) But we will be ok now! God uses a variety of ways to provide when you are doing what He wants. When we first called about getting a van, we were told it would probably be a bit of a wait to get one. But nope! Greg picked it up today. Thanks STL and thanks Jesus...and thanks Allen, if you read this, cuz I know you pulled some strings! :)

I'm gonna go pack and cook dinner, not necessarily in that order.

Happy Sad Day

This is a non-adoption related post.

For everyone who knows me, you know I'm not overly sentimental, but I must admit I'm feeling a little blue in a happy sad sort of way today. My little baby boy had his very last day of preschool today. I can't believe he's old enough for kindergarten! (If I wasn't home schooling next year I think I'd be losing it right now) It seems like he's always been here, but in a weird way like he should still be that tiny baby I first met halfway around the world 4 1/2 years ago. He turned 5 last week. :( My baby is growing up! At the same time, the progress he has made and the bond that we have, and all of the wonderful things he says and does make me excited about him becoming the "big boy" that God designed him to be. He's such a little man sometimes. :) So I'm happy sad. I guess this is the eternal feeling of motherhood that moms around the world have felt forever...I count it all a blessing to be able to be part of this big "mom thing" that God has created. I love my son and I love adoption and I can't wait until I have more children to love...

The pictures at the top are a photo journal of my baby's life so far. Not in any order, because I have no idea how to make them move around. I'd also like them to be at the bottom, but oh, well! He's cute no matter where I put him!

A Question

For anyone who has traveled recently, did you bring cash or were you able to use ATM's there in the country? I really don't want to carry lots of cash around the world unless I have to. Thanks for the packing advice! It's great to have some input! Angie

Busy Busy!

I know I should post more often than I do, but man! Are we busy! Between getting everything ready to go and getting everything ready to be gone, I feel like I'm always running behind. We had been scared that we would be bored during our time in Kaz. since you can only visit the orphanage for a little while each day, but now I think we are excited about the potential for boredom.

I would like to caution everyone that hasn't gone yet--there's a problem with all the packing lists online. After telling you to bring everything you could possibly imagine, they go on to say that you should be careful to pack light! :) What should I do, pack light or bring everything I need? I'm sure no matter which way I go, there'll be things I wish I had and things I wish I didn't have. For anyone who has gone already, any suggestions?

INS Part 3

As of today, we have a fingerprint appointment on May 16th in Jackson, MS. How did this get resolved so quickly? I'm glad you asked. Well, our agency apparently has good connections with Sen. Mary Landrieu's office. And Senator Landrieu is a big adoption supporter. So we wrote her a letter explaining what happened and her office called the INS Office in New Orleans and asked them to give us an appointment quickly. So we got an email today telling us to come to Jackson on the 16th. Hooray!

And we got tickets today leaving from Monroe at 7:10 am on the 24th and getting to Almaty at 11:40 pm on the 25th. No long layovers anywhere, but a lot of plane changes! We go from Monroe to Dallas to Houston to Frankfurt to Almaty. What a long trip that will be! But at the end of it we'll be in Kazakhstan, and that's what really matters. :)

INS Part 2

Well, I didn't have anything to say Wednesday, because I didn't actually have an appointment Wednesday. The Infopass system is not very user friendly (and I'm no computer whiz), and I thought I had completed making an appointment for Wednesday, but I was wrong. So I showed up Wednesday and was told I was not in the computer. Apparently, if you don't get a printout you don't have an appointment. OK. Whatever. So I made an appointment for today and tried to have a good attitude. After all, my mistake. So today we had to go all the way back to New Orleans, which is not so bad, because we were at my parents' house, so it's only about an hour. We went "on the way home" today. Not actually on the way home, but better than it could have been. Only about an hour out of the way. So in I went and up to the window with my stack of papers--the papers the INS email told me I would need. And she says, "I'm not sure if we'll accept this." It seems I need to file a 290B form with these papers, which wasn't mentioned in the email I got and probably is why nothing ever happened with the papers I sent in mid-February. Yeah, February. I emailed a few times to ask about it, but got no response, by the way. So, I fill out the form, and she says there's a $585 fee with that form, but if I want to wait until August to redo the form, I can do it for free because I'll be within the 90 days before it expires. No thanks, I'm leaving in May. I'll just have to suck up the fee and do it now. Oh, and I need to make a fingerprint appointment while I'm here, because my fingerprints expire in June. Oh, you can't do that. We'll just mail you a letter when this goes through and they'll redo it. (Did I mention I'm leaving in three weeks?) Can I do it today, since I'm here? No, you can't just walk in and get fingerprints, you have to make an appointment. (I would like to mention as a side note at this point that I was one of 3 people in the waiting room--they were SO swamped!) So can I make an appointment today? No, you have to do it in writing. If I sit down and write it can I do it today? No, you have to mail a letter. Besides, when they get this to do your I-171H again, they'll send you a fingerprint appointment in the mail. Just wait for that. And on and on and on...

We went around that circle about 4 times. Finally I gave up. I left and figured that I would email someone about getting a fingerprint appointment. An hour later, Officer Hines from New Orleans Immigration calls me. She say: I am looking at your petition to reopen a case, and I was about to issue your new I-171H (WOW) and then I realized that it won't do any good, because your fingerprints are about to expire. I couldn't figure out why you didn't just make an appointment to get that redone while you were here today... At this point I actually screamed in her ear. I quickly explained in no uncertain terms that I had tried, but the bright lady at the desk had prevented me from doing so. And Officer Hines gives the extraordinarily helpful, "Well, now you'll have to mail a letter here and hopefully we can get you an appointment this month."

I love INS...