SaturdaySurprise in the Mailbox

My husband stopped by the mailbox after work yesterday and brought in a letter from  "The Department of Homeland Security".  Hummmmm, we just received notice via email on Thursday that our I600A had been approved so it is wayyyyy too early for our I-171H to arrive in the mail.....or is it???

This is what was in the envelope:

 The pink pages stopped me in my tracks because in the world of I-600A's, pink slips mean that the USCIS need more evidence in order to process your paperwork.  Well, evidently, in the world of I-171H's, pink paper means.....APPROVED!


God literally moved mountains for this one piece of paper, literally moved paper mountains!  I am humbled to be in the midst of such things. 


I called our social worker and now dear friend, Ashley, and shared the good news with her and we rejoiced and gave words of thanks in prayer over the phone together.  You have no idea what a trooper Ashley was during the process of our homestudy.   Her long hours of research, weeks of compiling our HS and dedication are awe inspiring. God led us directly to her and He began the process of this very moment several years ago.   We had no idea His works were already being laid out when He crossed our paths more than three years ago.  Very humbling!


SO, there you have it, our mailbox surprise.  The long-awaited, USCIS I-600A approval called the I-171H.  

WHATS NEXT:

This document will now go to the Texas Secretary of State to be Apostilled.  We'll then send it, along with all our other documents, to EE to be translated and submitted to their adoption entity called the SDA.  Then we wait for our travel date to go to the SDA appointment which will be the 'official referral' for adoption for Matthew and Michael.  After the SDA referral,  we get to go meet the boys at their orphanage, then receive a Ukrainian court date and go to court to legally adopt them.  There will be a 10 day wait period after court and on the 11th day, WE CAN GO GET THEM and bring them home!  There will be some legal paperwork once back in America but I am told this will be a breeze.

It's so nice to see the end in sight, still quite a ways off, but in sight.  I often wonder what, if anything, the boys have been told.  Do they know there is a family in America who are desperately trying to get them out of the orphanage?  Do they know how much we love them and what a big part of our family they already are?  My mind often races to them as they lay in their cribs day after day trying to offer comfort to them, trying to will my love to go to them, trying to tell them to hold on, we are coming!  Thank you, Father, for taking care of our boys in our absence.  Please continue to give the orphanage workers a soft heart, gentle hands and great patience as they carry out the day-to-day care taking of our boys.