I realized it's been over a week since my last post so I figured I should get something out here! Nothing has really happened to move us along in the formal process since the travel meeting.
First - an update on our two outstanding official items:
Our Dossier is still in the RMI being considered and we haven't seen a referral yet. I wish we had a better idea of where they are in that process... it's the last major unknown before we travel as everything else seems more of a formality. The comment made to me at the travel meeting about referrals coming "soon" has not come true... I have to keep remembering that things run on island time. Island time is great when you're sitting on a beach drinking pina coladas, however, not so fun when you're waiting for the call. My friend Lori has predicted we'll hear at 10:30 Friday morning... If we don't, blame her ;-)
The I-600A (immigration paperwork to the USCIS) is still being processed. It seems that going in early to get our fingerprints done didn't help speed things along afterall. I guess it's all we can do, right? I emailed with the agent assigned to our case last week and she told me that applications are taking around 90 days. This isn't outside the timeframe of what we were told to expect - just on the long end of it. But I am still hopeful for a less-than-90-days turnaround since our new friends from Duluth just received theirs last weekend! Congrats guys!!! They had a slight delay due to poor fingerprint quality and they still received their final approval in 8 weeks. Our paperwork was submitted about 3 weeks after theirs so maybe we'll see something from the USCIS in the next two weeks.
While we wait, I've been trying to keep busy by gathering things we'll need for the trip. My "shopping" spree at Jen's last weekend produced a Jeep full of baby things and we had to leave two items behind - no more room! We scored big on a high chair, exersaucer, and a bouncy seat that can be taken apart to fit in our suitcase. Everyone's said if you can bring a bouncy seat, you're golden! But wait, there's more! My amazing friend also graced us with a set of new bottles of the Playtex "drop-in" variety - apparently they're great for traveling too so you don't have to sterilize the entire bottle. See all the things I'm learning?! We also have a couple baby swings, a glider, extra diapers of various sizes, pacifiers, some cool toys, play mats, a baby bjorn, a bumbo chair, a mobile... Whew... Thank you, thank you, thank you to Jen and a special thanks to her oldest for letting me borrow these items as long as I bring them back when I'm finished :)
Plans for this weekend include lunch and shopping with the girls on Sunday. Without a referral I'll be limited to getting things instead of clothes. Not knowing the age, size or gender makes it difficult to buy stuff that needs to fit.
I promise to try and write more often and be less verbose... if I keep one of those promises, I'll consider it a success. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments or just get in touch with me. And lastly, hello to everyone just recently added to the list!
Take care!
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