Little bummer

On Thursday we had a great conversation with Caroleana at CHI about the whole process. Unfortunately, she had to start the discussion with a little bad news: the Immigration Office had notified her that they were going to reject our I-600 A because we filed it past the March 31 deadline. (And indeed, today we received the rejection letter). Some of you reading this know exactly what I mean. Others probably have no clue. In short, the adoption laws changed on April 1. We hoped (are still hoping) that we can be granted an exception and be approved under the old laws. If not, we will have to (1) submit a much lengthier I-800 and (2) wait to submit when CHI receives Hague Accreditation (hopefully in August). Based on our conversation with Caroleana, we are going to appeal the decision. The problem began when we submitted our application at the end of March and included personal checks for the fees associated with the application. Although the instruction and CIS website do not mention it, the CIS requires payment in the form of a money order. So, although our application was marked with a stamp that indicated they received it on March 28, by the time they notified us that the application was rejected due to sending a personal check instead of money order, it was past the March 31 deadline. Our latest rejection letter acknowledges that we did get our first application in before the deadline, but because it was not complete, they do not consider the 28th as our application date, but instead April 4 as the date. So, little bummer.

That being said, I'm not as bummed as I thought I might be (I knew this was a possibility). We are resting in God to care for us and for Domita Hope until we can bring her home. We are waiting for His perfect timing.

On a related note, we have our first home visit on Thursday. We are very excited and aren't completely sure what to expect, but anything that continues to move us closer toward adoption is a good thing.

Last note, I've decided to add a prayer request list of things you may pray for specifically as we go down this path. I can't wait to eventually ask prayer for our travel to Colombia...although that is not imminent, there are other things that you can pray for us if you choose. Thank you in advance for your prayers.