Moving Mountains

Each day slowly slips by without any progress on our adoption journey.  It feels as though we are standing in front of a mountain and the only way to the other side is to pick up the mountain and move it out of our path.

We are still awaiting our final document - USCIS I-600a approval. Everything is on hold until we have our I-600a approval in our hands.  Our application was delivered to USCIS on March 11th and we were fingerprinted on April 2nd.  I had polled the adoption groups on social media to see how fast approvals had been coming and was told by a few families that their approval came within 2 weeks of fingerprinting. I had set my hopes on this timeline, expecting that during week #3, we'd be getting our final approval in the mail.

Since we were hoping for a quick approval, I started the packing process of pulling together all the items I'd need for a 2+ week trip to Guyana. We had never been told Aria's measurements, so I sent an email asking for her height and weight so that I could be sure to bring along the appropriate sized clothes.  Just 2 days later, on April 8th, we would receive her measurements and our sense of peace in the process would vanish.

Our sweet girl is not growing. At 15 months of age, she is the size of a 6 month old weighing only 12 pounds and measuring just over 26 inches.  We knew she had had problems eating while at the orphanage, which is why they moved her into a foster home. But we had been told since December that she had been eating well so it came as quite a shock to find out just how tiny she is. We had been feeling a sense of comfort knowing she was being well cared for in her foster home, but with this unexpected news, our urgency to get her home grew tenfold.

I quickly jumped on a couple Special Needs Support Groups online, asking what worked for their little ones that had difficulty gaining weight. I thought I'd just pack a suitcase full of pediasure for Guyana and leave some extra with her foster parents when we left. But several of the families mentioned "refeeding syndrome" which can develop when reintroducing foods to someone who has been malnourished.  Changing her food intake while still in Guyana could be dangerous. We definitely needed some help to develop a plan of action on how to best help our little girl.

I contacted the International Adoption Clinic at the University of Minnesota for help. They agreed - we should not change her diet until she came home. We are basically helpless until we get her home.  While a horrible feeling, our hopes of traveling soon to finally be able to see her in person and also having the U of MN on hand to answer any questions that arose during our stay, helped to ease our nerves. We just needed our I-600a to arrive in the mail so that we could move forward on our journey to Aria.

Each day, I'd anxiously wait for the mailman to arrive and then rush out to see if he brought with him our letter from USCIS. And each day, I'd open the mailbox only to find that yet another day had passed without our approval.  Today, after waiting 3 weeks since our fingerprint date, I emailed USCIS asking about the status of our application. They responded promptly that our application has not yet been assigned to an officer. Our application arrived 42 days ago and it has NOT YET BEEN ASSIGNED! I couldn't believe it. I had hoped we'd already been approved and were just waiting for the letter to arrive in the mail. What a huge disappointment. I had to do something.

The USCIS offers expedited processing for emergency medical cases. It's up to their sole discretion to determine which cases are deemed emergent. In order to even apply, we'd need a letter from a doctor explaining why our case should be expedited. Knowing it may still be several weeks before approval, I contacted the International Adoption Clinic again, asking if they'd write a letter. They quickly responded YES! It may be a long shot, but it's worth a try.

For now all we can do is wait and pray...for the U to quickly write the letter, for USCIS to quickly approve us, and for our sweet little Aria, that God protect her and keep her safe.