Gotta it in the mail today!!!!

Day 65, we received our approval from the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services! After my meltdown last Friday, I am shocked, but very grateful! I got a wild hair to call the Department of Homeland Security - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Chicago last Friday to check on the status of our case. Just to find out that we, the Scheele's, could not be found in their files, not even with our account number. I checked online and again, our name or number was not on file. I even tried to call back again, thinking that I may get someone else that surely knew what they were doing. Nope, we were not in their system. I lost it! Fortunately I was home alone, Rob did not have to witness my emotional state. I quickly emailed our adoption agency. Within minutes, Diedra, our Dossier Consultant emailed us back. She was sure that we would not hear anything for 90 days or more and that is why they didn't have us in their system yet. She probably knew more than she could tell me. I did feel better after conversing with her. The Lord gave me peace and I was actually able to get a lot done that day.

There was, however, one mistake on our letter of approval. They had the Approval Valid Until date at March 27th, 2008. It should have read March 27th, 2010. I called and it was corrected and a new hard copy will be put in the mail on Monday. Again, I am very grateful and excited that we are another step closer to getting our Log-In-Date (LID).

Thank you to those who check in periodically on our progress. I know that I was being prayed for last Friday. Any other time, something like this would have ruined my whole day.

Biometrics Done!

We made it to the immigration office 2 minutes before our actual appointment time, even with the 635 North ramp closed. This doesn't happen often in the Scheele family. The immigration office is located in an older part of Dallas down by Bachman Lake. There are a lot of older & beautiful homes, however, the office we wandered into was a hole in the wall with no signage on the outside. There were a few words on their windows, but they were very small, or maybe it was just mine and Rob's eyes! Rob decided that they paid cheap rent.

Upon entering, the process ran rather smoothly, that was until it was my turn. We each filled out additional paperwork and were then given a number. We were directed to the next room to have a seat until it was our turn. Rob was taken right away by an older lady. You could tell she knew exactly what she was doing. I had a seat until they, the workers, decided whose turn it was to take the next person in line. I then heard one lady say to a timid girl sitting at a desk, "you are going to have to do it sometime, you might as well get this one." Oh great!!! She gets up from her desk and walks over to me, she takes my paperwork and mumbles for me to follow her. I became a little concerned, okay, a lot concerned when I realized that I had gotten a new employee. It was quite apparent that she was not welcomed in this office. My heart felt for her and I began talking to her, trying to make conversation. She would answer me, but with only one or two words. It took her awhile to get my prints, and she had to repeat some of the prints 3-4 times. This may be common. It did bother me that she never cleaned the glass where my fingers were placed, however, she did clean my fingers. After every print, it came up "Matched Warning" with a number such as "66". I think the highest number was "72". I wanted to ask her what this meant, but I wasn't sure that I would get a knowledgeable answer. After finishing, she told me that I could have a seat and she would have someone come over and check her work. I have to admit that I was still concerned at this point, but kept reminding myself that the Lord was in total control of this situation. She then yelled something like "CA" or "GA" and went to take a seat. The lady who took care of Rob walked over and looked over the computer screen and said, "OK" and walked off. She then got up and told me that I was finished.

Feeling relieved that this was behind us and we were one step closer; Rob began asking me how it went. After expressing my concerns, he continued with his questions. "Did you see your prints and were they clear?" "Yes", I replied. Then he asked if another screen popped up with reversed colors and show the word "Passed" on the screen. "No, I didn't see this!" I told him that mine only showed "Match Warning" with a numeral below. He didn't remember seeing this on his and my screen never changed color either. Oh great!!! I then again had to remind myself that the Lord was in total control!

We now have to wait up to 3 months for clearance by Immigration/Homeland Security before we can have everything translated, sent to China, and receive a LID (log in date).

What a long process...we'll keep you posted!

We've Received Our Appt Date!!!

We have received our letter from CIS and our appointment has been set for Saturday, Dec. 27th at 9:00 am. I didn't know that government offices were open on Saturdays. Works good for us! We are making progress slowly but surely...

I was shocked...

I couldn't believe it when Peter came home and told me that he had signed up to try out for basketball. Peter, the one that would never play basketball on the playground with the other boys, Peter the one that would not play on the "Y" team, and Peter the one that said "basketball is not for me."

I was not going to discourage him. I didn't think that he would make it and if he did, I am sure him being 5'9" had a lot to do with it. Well out of 80-100 boys, they chose 36 boys. Yep, Peter squeezed in there and of course he made the "C" team. Hey, I would much rather be on the bottom and move up!

Their first game was tonight. I stayed home to take Samuel to orchestra (he's my basketball player and he didn't try out). After the game was over, I received a text from my husband. "I think we have a football player". That bad...

On the adoption front, our home study has been approved, so we are on our way to getting our paperwork sent to the CIS for fingerprinting.

My prayer is that Peter does not get discouraged, nor I in the midst of this long wait for our child/children.

And so we wait...

I can't believe that is has been a month since I have last posted. We have since finished our fourth home study. We are now waiting on our adoption agency to approve our home study report. Upon receiving the approval, we will send it along with other pertinent papers to the CIS and wait for an appointment to get fingerprinted. This is where we are and it is good!


But as for me, I will look to the Lord;I will wait for the God of my salvation;my God will hear me. Micah 7:7

Adoption Update

Our third home study is over and went well. Our social worker spent almost 3 hours with us in our home. We had a really good visit and learned a lot of interesting yet sad information pertaining to the orphanages in China. We again appreciated her honesty and knowledge. We have so much to learn before we go to China to pick up our blessing(s). Yes, we have asked for twins, but have been told that it is very unlikely that we receive them. We have also not specified a sex, there are also boys available. We will leave this in the Lord's hands. She spent time talking with the boys, for she had not met them before. They really liked her too. Next step is filling out government paperwork and getting finger prints. Once the home study is written, it may take up to 3 months to get clearance from the government. However, we are praying it goes quickly. We are encouraged, it only took us one week to get our passports, we couldn't believe it!

Thank you to those who lifted us up in prayer. We have so much to be thankful for!

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Colossians 3:15

Hurricane pictures from Aunt Sam's house

Here are a couple of pictures from Aunt Sam's house - the bottom floor is gone!
She is using the ladder in the picture to get to the second story.

http://www.mediafaxfoto.ro/photo_preview.php?photoId=3120597
http://www.mediafaxfoto.ro/photo_preview.php?photoId=3120596