BRINGING HOME GRACE: Golden Ticket, The Beast, and Shipping

Last Thursday, I posted how I had talked to our USCIS officer and he thought he would be approving us that day. And that it would take a week for us to get the hard copy (no emailing or faxing approvals anymore I guess - I did ask.).  So, when Anna got the mail yesterday, she started signing the "I've got a golden ticket" song. ("Golden Ticket" is the nickname for the immigration approval - the I-171H form - that is the last piece of paperwork needed for the dossier.)  "No way!" I exclaimed. She showed me the envelope and it was just extra copies of our home study from our social worker for our future reference. I didn't look at the rest of the mail because NO WAY was the "Golden Ticket" going to be here already. After all, Monday was a holiday (no mail) and the approvals come from Missouri...NO WAY.

About three hours later, I quickly glance through the mail. We were cleaning for company last night and thought it would be best to at least look at the mail before stashing it.  And then - I saw it. In blue letters. Department of Homeland Security - USCIS. (This is my utterances and conversation to myself - only half of it out loud while Sarah and Anna are staring at me.)  "No way - that can't be it. It's only Tuesday." I rip it open. "It looks different than last time. It's two pages instead of one. Is that it? I don't know.  Where are those letters?  "I-171H" Yep, that's what it says. It can't be. It says it is. Really? I guess it is! No way. I still don't believe it."

I am still in disbelief, Anna calls Pat and sings the song. (Yes, I'm sorry you will have the song stuck in your head the rest of the day. hee hee)


(As a kid, did anyone ever wonder how those 4 people in bed went to the bathroom? Or was that just me?)

Once I start coming out of my shock to think a little bit, Pat and I make a plan to meet at the bank to get the cover sheet notarized. Whew. Done.  Once we are home and back to cleaning, we formulate the plan. Well, Pat is the formulator, not me. I can't formulate anything these days. He'll leave early in the AM (this morning), drive to Madison, get it apostilled using the one-day service, and we'll mail it out from Madison if he can't make it back here in time. (I'm SO thankful he has flexible hours. I would have gone except I had Jonathan's first IEP meeting at 11am. Can't really skip that!)


The Secretary of State office took about 3 hrs to complete the document.  Meanwhile, Pat took his traveling buddies (Anna and Isaac) on a guided tour of the State Capitol. I guess history is done for the day!

The not-so-good part of the day...evidently FedEx doesn't offer the same speedy-quick service they used to (at least not from the store we shipped from).   You know, the one that costs $200+?  The quickest they could get it there was June 5th. Most likely, that will be too late to be submitted on the 6th (special needs dossiers are only submitted on Thursdays). I'm REALLY bummed about that. Really bummed. But, I'm just trusting the Lord's Perfect timing. I just want our little girl HOME asap!

So, the "Beast" is on it's way. Actually, this time around the dossier was much more like a "kitten" than a beast. Experience helps with that. A lot.

I am so thankful to the Lord for moving our process along quickly and smoothly. Praise His Name!  Thank you for your continued prayers and support. Love to you all!

The customary photo
The "Beast" with all of the pretty, shiny gold stars from the apostilling process

(Just one more rambling thing to share with you.  I haven't had the privilege of being at the FedEx store to mail any of our dossiers over to Ukraine. For Elijah's dossier, Pat shipped it from Indianpolis. What a story. Jonathan's dossier was hand-carried over to Ukraine by Max. Providence of God's timing. And then Grace's was shipped today by Pat. I guess God is showing that it is ok to not have "control" over every.single.thing. That's OK! :-))