Immigration Problems

We filed our i600 with the United States Customs & Immigration Services (USCIS). This needs to be approved in order for Addison to get a Visa. Immigration is notoriously unhelpful and slow. If you make a mistake in your paperwork it can delay you weeks, even months. Case in point: When I filed the i600a a year ago, I sent a check for the wrong amount and by the time they sent the check back with an explanation of the problem and I sent a new check, the process had been delayed a full month. With that being said, we have now have three mistakes with our paperwork which we just sent off last Thursday.

#1: We forgot to date a form. To correct this we filled the form out again, typed a letter with an explanation of the mistake and what we did to correct it, and sent that priority mail today. We are helpful that this actually makes it into our file it with our paperwork so this is fixed and doesn't cause delay.

#2: Our homestudy was updated by our Social worker in September. She listed our first referral by name on the first page. I was unaware of this, because our first homestudy made no mention of any child at all. So now USCIS has a homestudy with the wrong baby listed. Not good. This means we have to wait for a new homestudy, and HOPE that USCIS doesn't notice this small detail, or that the mistake has no bearing on our case.

#3 Our federal fingerprints expire on January 25, 2010. We were informed that they needed to be current until we actually bring home our baby. This is a change in policy because before USCIS stated they needed to be current until we got out i600 approval. So, we met with an immigration officer today who stated we could not get updated fingerprints until USCIS noted our expiration date, puts our file on hold, and mails us the "fingerprint form." Once we have this precious form, we can go get printed, but not until then. This a guaranteed two week delay, and could be longer. We now also need to finger print Nick because he will be 14 by this time.

We are definitely in need of prayer. Here's how you can pray:

• Pray we don't worry, or become discouraged. God is good all the time. Even when its hard to see.
  Pray God watches over our paperwork and that these delays will be minimal and very easy to fix so these problems don't turn into months of delays.
• Pray we bring him glory, even now for He is always worthy. I really want to exalt him at all times, but I'm afraid I'm really struggling right now.

We appreciate all the support, prayers and love. It means so much.