We got some pretty terrible news yesterday. It's a very long and complicated story (just ask the few people who I actually tried to explain it to), but the basic gist is that the United States Citizen and Immigration Service (USCIS) has found issue with our I600 application (which is an application we file to make an "immigrant" (ie Josiah) an immediate relative...this is the first step in the US giving him a visa to be able to even enter the US at all).
I mentioned this on facebook about a month ago. But, for those that don't know...we started this application process immediately after we got Josiah's court approval in October. They have sent it back three different times requesting more information on his case and threatening denial. This last time was the beginning of January and our attorney in the DRC had to hunt down documents that just didn't exist. He did what he could, but I had this sinking feeling when I sent off this last bunch of paperwork, that this was not going to satisfy USCIS.
Yesterday morning I got an email from our USCIS officer stating that they had forwarded our case on to the US Embassy in Kinshasa for investigation (there is SO MUCH MORE to this story so if you really want to know all of that, feel free to ask but it's just too much and too complicated to try and explain on here). This was
not good news. This means there is something in our case and in Josiah's court documents that they want investigated. We have a strong feeling it is the abandonment stuff that is the issue. The US wants to make sure that no human trafficking is happening, which of course we totally AGREE. But, I can't even tell you how many documents (in BOTH English AND French) we have stating that he was abandoned. There is not much else we can. So the Embassy will now launch their own investigation. Track down the people that found him, where he was taken, etc.
So what does this mean? It means that his case is now sitting on the desk of a US Embassy employee in Kinshasa and will be investigated when they have the manpower to do it. We have no timeframe. They made SURE to make that clear to us. Our best bet is to call the US Embassy later this week and make sure they received our case. Put a voice and "face" to our file. Make sure they know we are real people, with a real waiting child. And then we wait.
I kind of had a break down in the midst of emails and research and phone calls yesterday trying to figure all this out. And by "kind of" I mean "total".
My strongest desire right now is to just GET THERE. I just want to see him. I want to see where he is living. I want to talk with his foster mom. I just can't wrap my head around the thought of having to wait for 6 more months or longer. It is "possible" for Mitch and I to make a visit trip, which we are praying about. But the likelihood of DRC giving us travel visas for "adoption purposes" is also very slim because of the issues the DGM is having. I would get on a plane tomorrow if I could.
Just to be clear, he is OURS. If we moved to DRC, we would be his legal guardians forever. He just wouldn't be a US citizen and couldn't enter our country. The typical response for people when they hear how long of a process this has been for us is to blame DRC....
"why do they make it so HARD? When they can't take care of their 'own' kids they should make it easier for YOU to take care of them!!". There are so many issues with that last sentence, but the biggest is that OUR government has made this MUCH more complicated that the DRC. And they are who we are waiting on now.
No sweet bow to wrap this up in today. I am still frustrated and weepy. God has definitely reminded us that He is still in this...through scripture, friends, and random emails from people who were awakened by God in the middle of the night to pray for Josiah and us the night before we got this email. I love that He reminds us that He has not forgotten us through the affirmation of others. We are grateful.
My devotional this morning couldn't have been better timed (King James speech brought to you by Charles Spurgeon)
"Believer, look back through all thine experience, and think of the way whereby the Lord thy God has led thee in the wilderness, and how he hath fed and clothed thee every day-how he hath borne with thine ill manners-how he hath put up with all thy murmurings.....Think of how his grace has been sufficient for thee in all thy troubles.... When thou hast thus looked back upon the love of the Lord, then let faith survey his love in the future, for remember that Christ's covenant and blood have something more in them than the past. He who has loved thee and pardoned thee, shall never cease to love and pardon."
