In adoption speak, the "Golden Ticket" is known as Form I-171H. It is the approval from USCIS (U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) to adopt an orphan or orphans. A dossier cannot be submitted without this form and families often wait weeks and months for this form to arrive.
Our first approval arrived in November of 2007, and we were finally able to send our completed dossier to Ethiopia, and officially begin waiting for a child or children to be referred to our family. In June, when we found out about our 6 year old son who was soon to be 7 - we had to ammend our age range to include a child up to the age of 8. Once again, we waited months for the new I-171H Form to arrive.
Most recently, with our recent delays, we needed to update our fingerprints, which were to expire on November 7. So once again, we found ourselves waiting for the Golden Ticket to arrive. We were re-fingerprinted in September, and today .... we have the Golden Ticket in hand!!! Our updated fingerprints will expire in December of 2009 - and I certainly hope to have our children home by then! It's good to have this form in hand and know that everything is once again in place to finalize the adoption of our sons.
Also - 5 families are enroute to Ethiopia right now. It is a strange feeling watching dear friends leave ... and being left behind. And at the same time, I am following their journeys with great anticipation and looking forward to their celebrations. We are also looking forward to the possible court appeal next week so that we can gather D. into our family along with T! (Please pray for favor in the courts next week for 4 specific children who have been kept waiting way too long - VanWetten, Hutchinson & Wistrom!!!!)
Our first approval arrived in November of 2007, and we were finally able to send our completed dossier to Ethiopia, and officially begin waiting for a child or children to be referred to our family. In June, when we found out about our 6 year old son who was soon to be 7 - we had to ammend our age range to include a child up to the age of 8. Once again, we waited months for the new I-171H Form to arrive.
Most recently, with our recent delays, we needed to update our fingerprints, which were to expire on November 7. So once again, we found ourselves waiting for the Golden Ticket to arrive. We were re-fingerprinted in September, and today .... we have the Golden Ticket in hand!!! Our updated fingerprints will expire in December of 2009 - and I certainly hope to have our children home by then! It's good to have this form in hand and know that everything is once again in place to finalize the adoption of our sons.
Also - 5 families are enroute to Ethiopia right now. It is a strange feeling watching dear friends leave ... and being left behind. And at the same time, I am following their journeys with great anticipation and looking forward to their celebrations. We are also looking forward to the possible court appeal next week so that we can gather D. into our family along with T! (Please pray for favor in the courts next week for 4 specific children who have been kept waiting way too long - VanWetten, Hutchinson & Wistrom!!!!)
3 comments:
Hang in there, guys!
I'm about to update our fingerprints too... this journey takes longer than we all expected, espeically in your case. My prayers are with you as you wait!
*karen b
Praying with you ~ We may meet in ET!! Would be a great joy to pick up so many older kiddos together!! love, jori
Karen, we are praying with you. I can't wait to see your kids in your arms.
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