Weekends...

I HATE weekends. They used to be fun. Not this year! At least on weekdays I have this small inkling of hope that someone will actually call/mail/email me with something. Anything. But not on the weekends. All offices and agencies are closed. On weekends I just feel so hopeless.

Absolutely hopeless.

I'm not sure how much more of this I can take. It's hard to sleep. I'm not about to hang out with friends, for fear they might ask me how things are going. Can't even talk about it without crying. And my poor daughter. I know she feels like she has a hundred year old mom, because I never feel like doing anything. I am so emotionally and spiritually drained that I feel half dead.

I read other people's blog, and they all seem to be going somewhere. They get court dates. They meet their kids. They bring them home. Me? I'm just frozen.

Maybe, Just Maybe.......

I just spoke to a WONDERFUL lady at the NBC in MO. She didn't say "Sorry, you're file is in a box. We don't have a timeframe."


She asked me lots of information on my case. She asked the date I filed. The date I submitted my homestudy, and to which office it was submitted.

She asked me to email her copies of my receipt notices and stuff like that from USCIS.

She is going to request my file. Could it be that maybe, just maybe, she will take my file out of the notorious box in the back room?

I. Hope. So!

In Hiding....

Over the weekend some friends asked my husband, daughter and I to come to their pool. It's a weekly thing. We all (about 7 couples) get together and just hang out with the kids at the pool. But this weekend- I wasn't interested.

I haven't even wanted to hang out with the extended family lately.

I try to escape church before I see one of our friends after the service.

I avoid making new friends.

Truthfully- I'm afraid someone will ask about our adoption. How is it going? And I don't want to have to answer.

I'm tired of saying "I don't know." Or "We're still working on it." Or "It's just going very slow"....

I'm tired of explaining where we are in the process, and why it hasn't changed.


I'm in hiding.


Praying that something will happen. Soon.

NBC.....

Just as sort of an update... I am still waiting on my 171H. I filed the I600A in January. My homestudy was sent to DSS in March. DSS sent it to USCIS in May. On July 1st, all local offices sent all of their I600A's to the MO National Benefits Center to be processed. I have called twice a week since the first week of July. Everytime I call I am told "I apologize, but your file is still in a box in the back. We can't give you a timeframe of when your case will be looked at." Someone is supposedly unpacking the boxes and entering the information into their system. Then the file gets assigned to a worker. My case isn't in the system yet.




So this time I asked the rep about the cases that she is currently working on. What date were they filed? The answer: July. So the people who have filed recently are getting approvals VERY quickly. (Which I am glad about. I wouldn't want anyone to wait.) However, all the new files are being worked immediately. They haven't made time to even take the old files out of the boxes in the back room.



Seems a little backwards, doesn't it?



Anyways- someone suggested that I contact my senator to get involved. (Glad she thought of that. I'm not that resourceful!!!) So, I called them today. They are very nice. They emailed me a form to fill out and send back to them. Hopefully they will be able to help!

So Tired of Waiting......

I am seriously losing my patience! When we first started this whole adoption process, I thought for sure our kids would be home by this time! Instead, we haven't even met them! Haven't been to court. Haven't really progressed at all in the last 5 months! I understand things just go slow sometimes. But geez louise! I want my kids!!!

My Three Wishes....

Remember when you watched Aladdin when you were younger? (Yes, I was actually a kid when that came out. I'm not too old!) Well I always think about my 3 wishes. Even as an adult. What would I wish for? Then it occured to me.... I actually have the 3 things I wanted out of my adult life!



Wish #1:   I wanted to marry a UPS man.

Everybody has dreamed about being with their UPS man, even if they won't admit it! They are right up there with firemen and policemen! How can you not love those little brown shorts?

Well, I married my UPS man almost 2 years ago! (That's right, I'm kinda a newly-wed still!)



Wish #2:  I wanted to be a housewife / stay-at-home mom.

I was layed off on Christmas Eve of 2008. Not the best way to achieve the goal of housewife. It was actually devastating. But, it has all worked out. I get to play in the creek with my daughter on hot days. We get to dress up in my old hats and dresses. we have tea parties... It's so much fun!

Also, last year I was able to homeschool my daughter since I wasn't working! I LOVE homeschool! And for the icing on the cake- guess who delivers the school books we order? That's right- my UPS man! It just doesn't get any better than that!



Wish #3:  I wanted to adopt children.

Ever since I saw the orphan chior at my Aunt Verna's church when I was little. Ever since those 'Feed the Children' commercials started coming on TV. Ever since the missionaries started showing those slide shows at my church. I wanted to adopt. Children. Not babies. Not one child. I wanted to adopt children. And here we are. Adopting a little brother and sister for my first daughter.


Sometimes I feel bad having my dream life when so many people are so unfulfilled. But not today. Today I just feel thankful.

I Spoke Too Soon.....

The other day I said I was glad my I600A was being handled at my local office in Charleston. Shortly thereafter, I got an email that said 'I600As are no longer being processed in Charleston'. So, all the files there are being shipped to the office in MO where they will be handled. Back to the bottom of the pile, I guess!