Fingerprints!!!

On Thursday of last week, KJ came running in with the mail, asking, "Is this one of them?"  Obviously, she has been scouting the mail, also looking forward to our fingerprint appointment letter arrival. Thankfully, it was the document we were waiting for. .  but with an appointment for July 17 - almost three weeks away!!!

So Friday morning, rearranging our scheudles and getting up and out a little earlier than normal, the four of us took off for the USCIS Support Center and thought we'd see if we could possibly, maybe, per chance get in ahead of our scheduled appointment.

The workers there seemed not too thrilled with our request, however, stated it was possible but we would have to wait until the room was completely empty (of people who had scheduled appointments). At that moment, there were only three people ahead of us but the worker claimed, "we would probably be waiting awhile".  Since we only had a window of one half hour, we decided to fill out the paperwork and see what happened.

As Ryan looked at the scheduled appointment while we sat and waited, he also noticed that he would not be able to make the appointment on the 17th, due to work.  If we couldn't get in, we would have to re-schedule for an even later date.

So, we sat there. . . hoping and praying no one else would enter the building (because they would automatically get to go ahead of us....the employees were clear - there had to be no one else there).  (I also texted my good friend Amy who paused in her day and prayed with her kids that we could get the fingerprinting done.)

After just a mere 10 minutes, the room was empty and the worker called me over.  When I was done, still no one new had come in the building so he also took Ryan.  As Ryan was in the middle of getting his fingerprints, people came in the building.  Whew!!  We seriously were there at the exact right time!!!

The only reason this is a big deal is because we know that there is a bit of waiting during the adoption process.  However, when there is anything that we can accomplish like paperwork, fingerprints, etc., we want to do it as quickly as possible so the process isn't waiting on us!  :)

We are now waiting for the I-171H document to come in the mail which we've been told takes about three weeks - could be sooner, could be longer.  Yeah.  That's not much direction in how long it will be but I will post as soon as we get it.  Once we do, our dossier can be sent to Ethiopia and we are put on a waiting list for our child (or children)!  :)