I600A APPROVAL!!!

Dan came in from cutting grass with the mail in his hands and said, "Be excited!".  I looked at him and the mail and back at him.  "How excited?" I had to clarify that we were on the same subject...sometimes we aren't :).  He just grinned and shook his head yes. And in the mail was a large envelope with the return address "Department of Homeland Security" that we have been waiting 6 long weeks for.  In the envelope was a surprisingly boring looking piece of paper that stated "NOTICE OF FAVORABLE DETERMINATION..." Some of the most precious words I have ever read!
So this means that we can receive our referral ANY DAY!  It could still be several weeks before we do but it is a wonderful feeling and an answered prayer to finally be so close to seeing the faces of our children.

An Officer and some CPK...not a bad week

So after almost 5 weeks, my impatience got the best of me and I called the good old USCIS (United States Citizenship & Immigration Services) to check on the status of our I600A.  And we were told that on the 13th we had been assigned an officer to review our application.  I was informed that it typically takes 1-2 weeks to receive our approval after being assigned an officer.  While I was hoping for something sooner, I'm excited to know something and that our case is being processed.  And we are still beating the average on the USCIS site, that says it is typically taking 75 days to approve them so basically don't bother us until it's been 75 days.  So I won't bother them, I'll just pray that the officer we are assigned is efficient and having a good week so we can get our approval this week instead of mid-June (which is 75 days from when they received our application).  The approval is at the discretion of each individual officer and my agency told me today that some officers have been known to deny applicants when the applicant calls too often to check their status.  While this is unfair, I'm sure it is frustrating to not be able to do your job because anxious parents like me keep interrupting your work.  Once we get the approval we can get our referral ANY DAY!!! This week our dossier will have been in Ethiopia a month and we are so excited to see the faces of our children!
In other news, California Pizza Kitchen is hosting a fundraiser for us tomorrow and is donating 20% of sales to those who bring in a flyer for our adoption.  While any fundraiser is super exciting, I love CPK and haven't eaten there in probably 2 years, so I am especially looking forward to eating dinner with family and friends around some incredible food! If anyone wants to join us let me know and I can email you a flyer!