I don’t know where to start now. I have been deep in the valley and then up on the mountain top. I guess I try not to share so much of the mishaps and frustrations for some reason. But now that the latest ones are hopefully past, I can recap them and move on to the good stuff. Since March we were working on getting our three approvals from the U.S. side of things otherwise known as the I800a, the i800, and the DS-230 (Article 5). Last adoption update we were supposed to be getting our i800a in the mail at any moment. We got it and thought the i800 would be a snap since they already had it after all the mishaps with paperwork routing and such at USCIS with the i800a. Well, right, again I was reminded that nothing goes as planned in this process. Our i800 was in the Officer’s hands, had been reviewed and ready to hit “Approve” and then she couldn’t find our i800a paperwork. Yes, the paperwork I had received approval for the very day before. Long story and miserable 3 weeks later short, our paperwork had been routed to the “Expired Paperwork” facility across the country rather than just back downstairs! Insane…so it took two weeks to get it back and then to the correct floor of the building. Believe me these last few sentences pack a lot of frustration and desperation in them. I literally called or emailed every day while our paperwork was lost. So, we FINALLY received our i800 provisional approval (Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative) on May 22 nd ! It actually made it to us in the mail on last Tuesday. So we quickly sent in for our final approval on the U.S. side last Tuesday night! This is the visa application which results in a letter of approval (Article 5) that our sweet girl will be allowed to enter the country with us and that the U.S. approves for the adoption to move forward! This is supposed to be the fastest approval averaging at about 1 week and the best part to me is that it comes in the middle of the night when you are sleeping so I don’t have to psychotically hit “refresh” on my email account every 30 seconds throughout the day when I’m trying to work to see if I have received any updates. And I woke up on Wednesday to find, YES, our letter!!! Woohoo!
And the good/great news doesn’t end there. The next step in the process is the ARC meeting and approval which is basically the State level approval over there to say they approve of the adoption. Monday morning our agency sent me the email text from the orphanage where ‘A’ is wonderfully cared for. We had inquired last week as to when the date for the committee meeting would be and their response to our agency today was that the “ARC meeting is over” and we are now waiting on the NOC (No Objection Certificate)!!! Again such a short sentence brings so much relief and joy. That brings about instant reflexive text messages and phone calls to anyone who knows what an ARC approval means (which aren’t that many). 🙂 My husband, my Mom, and my dear friends in the adoption world. I know there are many families in the process that have been waiting agonizing months to hear of this approval. I prayed and prayed that we wouldn’t have to endure that wait. And I continue to pray and pray that the NOC will come soon as well, then court, then passports, and travel. Pray with us and for all the other families and children waiting. We’re still praying that we have a summer travel date!
Something else I haven’t written about was the fact that God put in our path meeting another family who is adopting from the SAME orphanage where our sweet baby girl lives. I have not the words to express how awesome that is! And I can’t wait to meet them all in person and to build our friendship and have the ability for our baby girl to be connected to these friends from her birth land and first home. Though it will take some travel and coordination, it will be great. I can take on The Big Apple from time to time!! 🙂 (And yes, just me calling it The Big Apple should tell you something.).
Hopefully next adoption update post will be NOC! Pray that things move smoothly and timely and in our favor (no roadblocks please)!
Our India Adoption Journey 
