Monday, November 2, 2009

Jumpin' the Hoops

One of the things non-adoptive families have been curious about is why in the world your fingerprints expire. All I can say is that it makes no sense to me personally. At some point you just get used to jumping through all the ridiculous hoops. You almost expect them. Like if something actually made sense it would almost make no sense to someone who's been in the adoption process for some time.

Our fingerprints expired last Thursday and I haven't received a new appointment yet. I was excited when I went to the mailbox today and found an envelope from USCIS. The letter said this:
We have received your request to be re-fingerprinted. You will receive an appointment letter within 6 weeks. If you should have any questions please contact your adoption agency.

Seriously? They sent me a letter to let me know they would send me another letter with an appointment. Why not just schedule a time and send one letter thus freeing up more time of one our valuable government adoption workers? Nothing really surprises me at this point, but after talking with Mercy this morning I am happy to jump through whatever hoops necessary. It is worth it. She wants and needs a family. We want her to be a part of our family. I will keep jumping with God's strength.

But I will sing of your strength,
in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.
Oh my strength, I sing praise to you;
you, oh God, are my fortress, my loving God.
Psalm 59:16-17

11 comments:

Sean and Lisa said...

UGH! Praying that this hoop jumping is finished soon in Jesus' name and that Mercy is FINALLY HOME! Please Jesus, PPPLLLLLEEEEAAASSSSEEEE!!
Lifting you up friend....

Tanya said...

I love how you described the hoop-jumping process. It seemed so ridiculous to me, too, but so worth it. Good luck with the rest of the acrobatics.

Katy said...

URGH.....most of the hoops make NOOOO sense. Like renewing my homestudy for $750? There is NOTHING that has changed about my home....=( Except that it seems emptier every day wihout my little girl in it...

Amanda said...

So glad you got to speak to Miss Mercy this morning :~) She's definitely worth the hoops!

Annie said...

I think the fingerprints expire because the subjects might have gone out and robbed some banks or molested some children in the meantime.

But it seems such a short period of time, and the burden seems so great - the time, the expense, the wait.

Well, this will be IT! Last time.

kayder1996 said...

Laughing at the "if something actually made sense we would all be confused because it actually made sense" thoughts. So with you. As in, it makes no sense that we were old enough to adopt from Haiti two years ago but now are not old enough. And loving the renewing your homestudy bit. I don't mind that it has to be renewed but why they have to charge the amount they do, I have no idea. My best one yet though is when we decided to start adoption number two while still in process for adoption number one. We used the same agency to write our homestudy. We had to reapply with the agency, resubmit letters of recommendation, do all of it over. Never mind that they had all of it in their files because of our first adoption and that all of this information was current. We even had to pay the $250 application fee over. Seriously a waste.

Lena Just Lena said...

Sigh. BIG sigh.

Jen said...

Hang in there, she is so worth it... I am keeping you in my prayers...

The Gang's Momma! said...

Just think, with all this hoop jumping, your calves and quads will be so toned. . .

Sorry, I know it doesn't work that way. But I do know your FAITH muscles are toning up . . . :)

BTDT - praying about going back. How's that for sick and twisted? :)

Love ya!

Lois said...

Hi, You and I were on the same flight going to Ghana in Aug. I was with my daughter taking her back to visit her family to celebrate 10 years since her adoption.
My heart and prayers have gone out to you many times as you have faced so many obsticles. Hang in there, it's worth and some of it (well, a little) will actually make sense some day :)

sheri wiebe said...

Guess I better learn from you and get my appointment scheduled as our fingerprints expire in December. Patience...patience....