Trip to get *biometrics* at USCIS today and a random act of kindness...
I thought I would also share our interesting trip to get fingerprints done or *biometrics* as the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) calls them. First off, the morning was kind of a bad morning to be on the roads (but thank God for taking care of us on the way there and on the way back). Out of all the mornings of nice weather we've had lately, it decided to snow last night....but first it rained, which meant icy and dangerous roads. I don't know what it is about I-675, but that road is ALWAYS bad when it ices up around here.
So, we made it just in time for our appointments to get fingerprinted. That process was rather painless and easy, actually. The people working in that office seemed really clueless though, and that kind of bothered me. We were both really tired because we had an early morning appointment and then afterward as we were heading back we stopped into Starbucks so Aaron could get some coffee. Now, recently, I've gotten in the habit of asking everyone if they have a military discount. I was promptly told they didn't, so whatever...a lot of places don't (though I think they should). I guess this lady standing in line behind us heard me ask and while Aaron was putting sugar and cream in his coffee, she came up and handed us the cash we had just paid for our coffee with and said he was too fast at the register, but she wanted to pay and thank him for his service. I thought that was very kind and it made the morning of trying to rush, rush to get to the USCIS office better.
Now that our *biometrics* (ha ha, the government has to have a fancy word for everything) are done, we just have to wait on our home study to be approved by the Russian agency and send it to immigration, then wait on the I-171H or Immigration approval, which our agency said takes about 4-6 weeks after we send them our home study. Then, we can work on Dossier #1, which when sent to Russia and translated into Russian then gets us in line for a referral. Then, once we get the referral, we get to travel usually soon after to the area in Russia and we will at least have a face to put with our beautiful name, Katie Allison.
There are many times when we lay in bed at night and think that she could have already been born, pray for her and hope she is getting some love. Her room is done, so now we just have to get through all the paperwork and honestly, sometimes it seems like a lot of "hurry up and wait.." because I absolutely pride myself in being very prompt and fast with paperwork or when there's something adoption related to do. Maybe this is because being a mother and a father is something Aaron and I want with all our hearts.
So, we made it just in time for our appointments to get fingerprinted. That process was rather painless and easy, actually. The people working in that office seemed really clueless though, and that kind of bothered me. We were both really tired because we had an early morning appointment and then afterward as we were heading back we stopped into Starbucks so Aaron could get some coffee. Now, recently, I've gotten in the habit of asking everyone if they have a military discount. I was promptly told they didn't, so whatever...a lot of places don't (though I think they should). I guess this lady standing in line behind us heard me ask and while Aaron was putting sugar and cream in his coffee, she came up and handed us the cash we had just paid for our coffee with and said he was too fast at the register, but she wanted to pay and thank him for his service. I thought that was very kind and it made the morning of trying to rush, rush to get to the USCIS office better.
Now that our *biometrics* (ha ha, the government has to have a fancy word for everything) are done, we just have to wait on our home study to be approved by the Russian agency and send it to immigration, then wait on the I-171H or Immigration approval, which our agency said takes about 4-6 weeks after we send them our home study. Then, we can work on Dossier #1, which when sent to Russia and translated into Russian then gets us in line for a referral. Then, once we get the referral, we get to travel usually soon after to the area in Russia and we will at least have a face to put with our beautiful name, Katie Allison.
There are many times when we lay in bed at night and think that she could have already been born, pray for her and hope she is getting some love. Her room is done, so now we just have to get through all the paperwork and honestly, sometimes it seems like a lot of "hurry up and wait.." because I absolutely pride myself in being very prompt and fast with paperwork or when there's something adoption related to do. Maybe this is because being a mother and a father is something Aaron and I want with all our hearts.
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