Highs and Lows

OK, so you know from my last post that we had a little hiccup with my I-800 form. I forgot to send the payment, because I read the directions wrong. I noticed my mistake about an hour after I left FedEx and have been trying to fix it for the last two weeks. 
I called Texas where my papers were going (they hadn't even arrived yet), and explained my situation. They told me there was nothing they could do. I would have to wait until my packet went to the lockbox facility where everything is processed. So I waited. Then I called the lockbox. They told me I would have to wait to get a receipt in the mail so they could know which account the payment would need to go to. I got my receipt in the mail on Monday and called again. They told me I had to wait until I was assigned an officer to my case file and to call back in a week. I called back 2 days later and found out I had indeed been assigned an officer. I called my officer and she said there was nothing she could do. They don't process the payments, that's done in Texas (the first place my documents arrived). I would have to wait to get my "pink slip" in the mail stating my paperwork has been denied because I didn't send payment. This is what I was trying to avoid in the first place. She said it could take 1 to 3 weeks to receive my RFE (request for evidence) in the mail. TEARS. I am not a crier, but I could hardly talk on the phone to my officer because I was trying to hold back the tears! If this letter takes 3 weeks to arrive, our travel date will inevitably be delayed. Why is it so hard to pay someone $385? I can't pay over the phone. They couldn't email me my receipt number or my RFE. It's all just so inefficient! OK rant over. This has been a yucky day. Let's hope my letter comes in the mail quickly (our officer is sending it in the mail tomorrow) and we can keep things rolling. December travel is still possible, but it might be a tight squeeze. 

On a happier note, on Friday we got two new videos from the orphanage of our girl. It was so fun! We also heard how her name is pronounced. One of Jiani's nannies on the video is calling her Jania or John-ya. So it's fun to know how to actually say her name! The videos, for me, are also just reinforcement that we made the right decision by saying yes to Jiani (John-ya).  She is so sweet and has so much potential to thrive in a family and with great health care.

LOA

This was another big week in our adoption process. On Thursday, our official LOA (Letter of Acceptance) came from China. We quick signed it and headed to FedEx to have our adoption agency send it back to China asap. This very important document tells China that we do indeed want to adopt JiaNi, and they in-turn begin the process of granting us travel approval hopefully within the next 3 months. 

I met the UPS guy at the door and happily said THANK YOU! He probably thought I was a little crazy.

Travis and I signing the LOA. Probably the most important document we've signed since our marriage license back in 2006!

While at FedEx, I also sent our I-800 form to USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services). This form begins the process for Jia to become a US Citizen once she lands on American soil.  I had a bit of a stressful moment (and some continued stress) at the FedEx office. I had all the paperwork ready for our I-800 (a whole stack) and our signed LOA both ready to ship to separate places. I checked out, and with a big sigh of relief, went out to the van. I sent a quick email on my phone, and was about ready to drive away...when it hit me. I forgot to make a copy of our LOA to include with our I-800 application! I ran back into FedEx and my packages where still sitting on the counter. I waited in line again and explained to the worker what I had done, and that I needed to re-open both packages. I then made a copy of our LOA, put it in the I-800 package and got new envelopes for both packages. Whew! That was a close one. I told the guy at the counter that I almost delayed our adoption process! We both laughed, and I left FedEx with a pounding heart...but relieved.

UNTIL...I got home and was reading through some questions on our China Adoption Questions facebook group. Someone was asking questions about the I-800 application and mentioned a $385 payment...hmm. Why didn't we have to send a check with our application? I had read the directions and thought we could apply without a fee. So I went back to the USCIS website and read the directions again. I read the first page...yes I think we were good. Then I kept reading to the SECOND page. There was a second page?! Well crap. I indeed SHOULD have sent the fee with our application. Now what?

I called USCIS and talked to a super (UNHELPFUL) lady who told me there was nothing I could do and that our application would be rejected without the payment and that it would inevitably delay our process. WHAT!? I said there is NOTHING I can do? She excused herself to talk to her supervisor. She came back on the phone to tell me there was nothing they could do, but she did give me an email address to the Lockbox facility (the facility that would be processing our application). She said the Lockbox has no phone number, but I could try sending an email. Thanks lady.

Having no other options, I sent an email. I received an automated reply saying it could take up to 15 days to get a response. GREAT. 

Well to my surprise I got an email about an hour later! The lady said I had a couple of options. I could resend all of the paperwork and submit a new application with a check this time. They would just reject the first application. Or, I could wait until Monday when they review my application and she could give me further instructions from there. She also asked for my tracking number on the package. I chose the second option, since by the time I shipped another set of paperwork, it probably wouldn't arrive until Monday anyways. She was very helpful and actually seemed sympathetic to my situation.  So now I am really hoping that I will get an email tomorrow with further instructions on how to send payment for our application. And am hoping it can be done without increasing our timeline for I-800 approval. UGH. I was SO mad at myself for making such a silly mistake! 

International adoption is not for the faint at heart! :) I'll keep you posted on our I-800 application. After I-800 approval (which usually takes 2 weeks), we can start applying for our travel visas for China! 

THE MATCH

Many of you saw our big announcement on Friday that things are finally happening on the adoption front for the Waltner household! We couldn't be more thrilled to share this news with family and friends as this November will mark FIVE YEARS since we decided to start the adoption process. If you read my last blog post from a year ago, you can get a quick update on our timeline over the last five years. 

Here's the picture I shared on facebook on Friday with our big announcement. 

I'll give you a quick update on what our adoption process has looked like over the past 9 months. We officially went "off hold" in January 2017 and were able to complete our home study update on January 24th. We then got busy working on our dossier (mountain of paperwork) for China. Our dossier was mailed on April 20th. It became offically logged in to China about a month later on May 23rd. 

We had a conference call with our international adoption specialist at this point talking about what special needs we were open to and which ones we weren't. (This was not a fun call by the way) Although necessary, it was so hard to check yes and no boxes for certain needs, because you want to be as open as possible while still considering how those needs could affect your whole family. On that call our social worker said the wait for a referral could be up to 15-18 months. Uhhh....that was a little disheartening to say the least. Hadn't we already waited long enough? Still, this is news we had to take in stride and trust God's timing for our family and for our adopted child. 

Thirty seven days after our dossier was LID (logged in dossier), China CHANGED their eligibility requirements for international adoption. The one change that could potentially have affected us was that children currently in the home must be at least three years old. With Paxx being about 10 months old at that time, we weren't sure if the new changes would affect us or if we would be grandfathered in since our dossier was in China and already LID. Our dossier still hadn't been through the review room, so that was the one thing that could hold us back at that point. I was trying not to freak out....would we have to wait 2 more years until Paxx was three and redo paperwork once again? Well within a few weeks we found out that our dossier had made it through the review room on July 27th. We were SO relieved that our process could continue and were so thankful that we just squeaked in under the old rules by THIRTY-SEVEN days.

Ok, we were good....now we just have to wait another year or so for a match. I can do this, I am the queen of waiting. On July 28th, ONE DAY after or dossier had been through the review room, we got a call from our social worker. Of course, I DIDN'T ANSWER MY PHONE. It was an out-of-state number, and I just assumed it was spam. Plus, I wasn't expecting THE CALL for another year and a half!  They tried calling me a few times, but I was busy getting a pedicure (something I never do). Finally an hour later, Travis calls me and asks, "Why aren't you answering your phone?! Our social worker has a file of a little girl she would like us to look at." WHAT?!  

We looked at her file and a few pictures they sent us. We were then able to ask her orphanage some questions to help get a few more pieces of the puzzle. It look three long weeks to hear back from the orphanage. They also sent a short 60 second video. At that point, we had an international adoption doctor review her medical file, pictures and video for us. She got back to us within a few days and gave us the ins and outs of what her special needs would potentially be. Like I said, there were only pieces to a puzzle, with a lot of missing ones. With so much we didn't know, could we still say yes? After many prayers, discussions, research and more prayers...we accepted the referral of JiaNi on August 30, 2017. We received our official LOA (letter of acceptance) on September 1st. 

Her Chinese name is Jia Ni. She is almost 4 years old. She seems to be so very sweet and is already dearly loved by her mom and dad. We are beyond excited to meet her and bring her home to her three brothers and loads of other family and friends. 

The next steps include paperwork, grant applications, a second set of questions for the orphanage, a care package sent to her (FUN!) and more paperwork. We were told it's likely that we will travel to get our girl in December or January. 

We have been overwhelmed these past few days and through the years with the support from all of you. It's almost surreal to finally be at this stage in the process. So many firsts to look forward to! Please continue to pray for us and for our sweet girl over these next few months especially.  

It likely won't be another year until my next blog post (yay for this), so stay tuned...more to come!

Oh, you probably want to see a picture, right?! :)