Hannah don't read!

Hannah don't read this part ;-) Okay, this officially SUCKS!!!!! Okay, now you can read it! I just found out that someone logged in after us at the USCIS in Atlanta received their form today. Why? Where's mine? What the heck is this officer's problem? I don't get it. I just want to sit here and cry. At this rate, it will be next year before Sophie comes home. She will have to spend another birthday in Dandong, another Christmas, another one knows what. I'm just so tired, tired, tired of waiting. I hope the officer from USCIS happens upon this blog one day because I will tell her now.... YOU ARE THE MOST INCOMPETENT PERSON I KNOW. I hope you never have to go thru something like this. I hope your children never have to sit and wait for someone with too much power to sign one freakin piece of paper. Okay, that's it for my rant right now. I tried to get a copy of my fortune from my fortune cookie today, but it I couldn't get a good one. It said "If there is no struggle there is no progress". I guess that fits right now.

It really is official

Here is a copy of our PA. It really is official. It's not a joke. On the USCIS side, here is what I got from Charles Spry in Congressman Isakson's office. What a load of crap! This was a message from the Officer at USCIS to Charles Spry:

Jennifer and Andrew Cannon
Their I-600A and the home study were received on June 22, 2006. The reports on the fingerprints are in the system. The current processing time is over 60 days from the date of the receipt of the last required evidence to the date the file is pulled for review. A large number of prospective adoptive orphans require surgery or have other "special needs". The goal of this office is to process these petitions as quickly as possible. The Atlanta District has recently had a noticeable increase in the number of I-600A filings in the last couple of months.

All I have to say is BULL! This officer doesn't care. This officer doesn't care that there are children waiting for surgeries in China that need to come here. This officer doesn't care about anything. It has been over 60 days. It has been 2 months and 4 days. That is 64 days. We were fingerprinted at least 42 days ago. Why can't they have a division specifically for waiting children? How hard is it? It's my money that goes to this agency for the form/fingerprints and my tax dollars paying for their salary. Don't we deserve an answer about what is going on.

I love WACAP!

I asked for an update a couple of weeks ago and got it today! Woohoo! Poor little Sophie needs some hair-do-dads and some pink. I can't wait to get a picture of her actually smiling.

High's and Low's

After having the high of getting our PA on Tuesday, I am now at a low. We are still waiting for the USCIS to issue us our I-171H/I-797C. I did receive a release for information sheet from Senator Isaksen's office on Friday so I will fill that out and send it in on Monday. I know that it is "all in God's time", but I wish God would hurry up just a little bit. I really want to bring Sophie home by Christmas. She's been in an orphanage way too long!

More thoughts on the USCIS

So what do you think? Do you think this picture accurately describes the USCIS? They are a pain in the behind!

PA!!!!

Woohoo!!! It finally came. We have our PA! I'm a little disappointed because AJ got the call, but oh well, we got it!!! After 1 month 1 week and 3 days it finally came. I drove up to the dealership to pick AJ up (I was on the phone with my mom when I did) and he asked if the agency called me. I told him no and then he said we had our PA. I started to cry. It is such a weight to have that off of our shoulders. Now all we need is our INS clearance and then we can send our dossier to China. Here are a couple of pictures of our Sophie Elizabeth Wa. I'm hoping to get some new ones within the next couple of weeks.

Dossier received

Well our dossier was received on Friday at the agency. WE DON'T HAVE TO REDO ANYTHING WOOOHOOOO!!!! Now all we are waiting for is our I-171H and AJ's employment letter. I already have the letter I just need to take it to the Spaulding County courthouse and then SOS and then to the Houston Consulate, but I was going to wait until I got the I-171H. Hopefully this will be our week. I'm at least hoping for our PA, that would make me feel so much better.

Houston Consulate Rocks!

I received our documents back today from the Houston Consulate. All 10 of them. I was a little worried because of the envelope and the whole mailing fiasco, but it worked. They all arrived safely back. We also received our marriage certificate back from the Embassy in Washington on Saturday. So 11 of the 13 required documents will be on their way to our agency tomorrow. Now all we need is the I-171H (don't get me started) and AJ's employment letter. Hopefully the I-171H will come sometime this week or next and we can still be DTC in August.

My thoughts on the USCIS

Frustration!

I have said it before and I will say it again.... I AM TIRED OF WAITING!!!!! I am beyond tired of waiting. I know that our agency wouldn't have sent our paperwork over if they knew we weren't going to get approved, I'm not worried or really all that upset about the Chinese side of the waiting. I would like my PA, but I can be a little more patient with that because it is coming from another continent. The thing that is really pissing me off is the USCIS. It has been 6 weeks since they received all of our documents. It has been 3 weeks since we were fingerprinted, why in the heck is it taken so long to get their approval. When we did Maddie's adoption we sent the paperwork to the USCIS in August 2003. We were fingerprinted in October 2003 and our homestudy was sent to them on 11/7/04. We were not approved by the USCIS until January 22, 2004, 2 months and 15 days from the time that our home study was sent to them and I had to call my Senator's office. After I made that call, it only took a week to receive it. Why does it take so long? Why does the US government not seem to care? Why is it that I explained our daughter will require surgery and we really need to get her home and we still don't have approval? Why is it that at the beginning of the year the wait times were only about 2 - 4 weeks and then they move? How freaking hard is it for them to get back on track? If I did my job like this, I would be fired. Do they not care about the fact that they are messing with children's lives? I am so tired of going to the mailbox and looking for that dang form. I have been really good about not whining at work too much up until now. I am so hormonal and just want to bring our daughter home before Christmas. I will be contacting our representative tomorrow. The sad part is that I requested an update on our case status on Monday. Today I received an email that said in the subject line "please send us a test reply and your answer will be in the automatic response". Well I did so and 30 minutes later I received the standard reply about what the form was, they don't do anything until the receive the homestudy and yada, yada, yada. They won't tell me anything about the status until it has been 60 days. UHHHGGGGGGGGGGG

Documents received

Well a huge sigh of relief coming from here. Our documents arrived at the Houston Consulate last night. I'm so glad because I was so worried. I sent it Priority on Saturday and it got there yesterday. Not too shabby and I worried over nothing.