Wow, I just experienced the first of I'm sure many many moments that will bring happy tears to my eyes throughout this process. And let me ensure you, E and I have had our fill of the sad and heartbreaking tears these last 2 years, if only those closest to us really knew how full the River of Tears was, SO BRING ON THE HAPPY TEARS!!!
I bailed on work early due to the dogs getting in a TIFF this morning and I was concerned about them... (Zane has a small puncture wound) so I've got some very precious and hard to come by time on my hands... I'm surfing and thinking about the process and getting fed up waiting for background clearance. So I start searching for the phone numbers to call to check with the State of MAryland on things.
Those who know me best can imagine a full frontal attack being prepared as I arm myself with phone number after phone number and paper and contact names and a few open web pages... afterall, I've heard they are like the Department of Motor Vehicles... they have a phone but nobody answers it so I am prepared to eventually be disconnected and have to 'fight' my way through the answering service to get a live person.
I am armed for battle, this woman is cleared for a combat detail! No mansy pansy clerk detail for me! Battle battle and plenty of it, bring it on. After all, I've had to go through 4.5 days of being audited and paying for the sins of my predecessor at work. I am PRIMED for battle.
I dial, it rings... ABOUT 35 times... I know, because I count... ring ring ring... AND THEN, I am shocked, someone picks up the phone, holy cow!
Deborah answers in the background clearance department and asks for my reference number (or so I thought), so I give her mine and she says "there's no record under that number".
WHAT, WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S NO RECORD, YOU'RE F-ING KIDDING ME RIGHT, EARLY APRIL FOOLS, WE DID THE FINGERPRINTING ON 1/24!!!!! (these are the words running through my head)
What I actually say though is, we were fingerprinted on 1/24, I'm not sure I understand (slowly, calmly...), she says, well let's search another way, how about your name and brithdate... I give her these and low and behold I hear on the other end of the phone
"your prints cleared on 3/13 and they take about 2 weeks to process through the system and mail out" (The system sounds like another word for 'slow boat to china', yes, that pun WAS intended.)
I'm THRILLED!!!! this is 4 weeks faster than we were warned it would take. We search for my husbands, same answer.
She asks if this is for adoption, I say yes. she takes my phone number and offers to call us back as she has VOLUNTEERED to get them pulled from the automatic database and have them sent to us early!!!! Doesn't she know she's a state worker and that she'll destroy her fellow employee's reputation by being so kind and helpful, I mean I didn't even ask or groan at all (seriously, I didn't)
She is hopeful that it is possible and she can pull and send them. I take her name, thank her PROFUSELY and tell her I hope she has a wonderful weekend as she just made mine PERFECT.
Worst case, she can't pull them from the 'system' and they take 2 weeks to get to us, so the homestudy goes to the INS to complete the I-600A by early April, that clears in 2-4 weeks and were DTC by mid MAY, holy cow, this is great.
Best case... the call I placed to our agency and homestudy person allows us on MOnday to finalize the homestudy with a call to CJIS and it goes out early next week to INS. That would mean immigration approval and DTC by the end of April.
If we were in Vegas I'd bet on option 1, but at this point I'm thrilled to see movement out of the state of Maryland and so option 1 feels like we already won the lottery!
I can barely imagine what it's going to feel like as we wait for our referral and finally receive it!
Life IS good, you just have to survive all the SHIT to enjoy it.
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