I-800A application

Hurray!!!  We finally got our revised home study in the mail yesterday!!  Good timing because I woke up freaking out that our Dossier deadline was only a month and a half away and that we were doomed if it didn't get here yesterday.  2 and a half months of stressing about the home study has really taken its toll on me, so I am glad that part is OVER!!!!  (Yes, I'm SO glad that it warrants overuse of exclamation points!  lol!)

As soon as D and I read over the home study to make SURE the errors were gone, we stuffed in in the envelope with the I-800A application that we printed MANY months ago, copies of our birth certificates, a copy of our marriage license, fingerprint cards for each of us, and a large check.  Unfortunately, it was too late to make it to the "main" post offices, so we went a little out of the way to go to Globus (a little like Wal-Mart) where they have a mail station that is open much later.  I was expecting to pay handsomely to get the envelope there ASAP, but they said that it would only cost 3.45 Euros!  They said I could pay more, but that it wouldn't actually get there any faster, so there wasn't much point.  And, as important as the contents are to me, they are easily replaceable on the off chance that they get lost, so there wasn't much point in paying more for that either. They said they guessed the envelope would get there in 6-7 days.  Based on my experience mailing letters, that sounds about right to me.  Sometimes they get there even faster, but it's going to TX, so it might take a bit longer than they do to get to IL.  Maybe.  Our placing agency said the approval process typically takes about 10 weeks, but I am hoping that since we already included fingerprints it will be much quicker.

So, now we wait for our application to get to TX, then we wait for them to review it.  I wonder if God had our home study have so many delays so that a certain person might get hired by the USCIS that will approve our case.  This is *the* step that we foresaw being the major hurdle.  If we can get this approval, we should be good.  Getting Z a German visa may be tricky, but that shouldn't be too bad since she will be a US citizen at that point.  But, this is the step where the USCIS may ask us for that mythical "letter" from Germany.  If that happens, I'm prepared to put up a good fight.  We have a LOT of evidence that easily points to us being "habitual residents" of the US, which I am hoping might persuade the German officials to provide this "letter".  If not, hopefully it is enough to convince the USCIS that we meet the criteria even if Germany won't give us the "letter".  My overactive mind also has "plans" to try to track down and meet with some of the political higher ups of Germany.  The new president of Germany always struck me as the kind of guy who might be willing to take a stand for our situation and maybe change the anti-adoption mentality that many Germans seem to hold.  If it comes to it, I will seek him out and, who knows, maybe that will bless more families than just ours by changing the long-held mindset of this country.  I don't really think I will have to do any of the above "persuading", but I always have a "plan B" forming in my mind.  (It's kind of annoying actually)  At any rate, I feel a wonderful peace knowing that the fate of our adoption and Z is now completely in God's hands!  I know that He will deliver our application to the right person and that He will guide the process along.