Progress Update #19

When I got home from the orthopedic office this afternoon with Annika, I found our mailbox absolutely stuffed with all of the mail that the post office had been holding since last Thursday. As I sat and sorted out the mail that needed to be looked at more thoroughly from the garbage, I had an inkling that something special like a check could be in the pile when I came across an envelope from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services...

I opened the envelope, and there for four sheets of paper stapled together. They are black and white photocopies. The first one has a Department of Homeland Security seal at the top that has been cut off when it was copied. About a quarter of the way down the page, it reads in all caps:

NOTICE OF FAVORABLE DETERMINATION CONCERNING APPLICATION

FOR ADVANCE PROCESSING OF ORPHAN PETITION

Huh? Could that mean what I hope it means? I think so!!

I ran upstairs with the papers to show William, and he's like, "What's this?" I told him that I thought it was what we were waiting for, and he says that he's not so sure about that. There are several boxes with X's on it, and he's also thinking that they're just reporting that they've done something or something is wrong...

UNTIL, he spies in the bottom left-hand corner, "Form I-171H."

HEY! THAT'S WHAT WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!

WOOOOO HOOOOO!

HALLELUJAH!!

PRAISE THE LORD!

SO, tomorrow we will get it notarized and authenticated by the NC Secretary of State with our home study and another document, and it will be all ready to go to FedEx tomorrow evening and to America World by Friday morning!!!!

About Annika: She is doing well on Ibuprophen. Today at the orthopedic office, the PA mentioned that it was a really bad break. Funny, how they didn't use that phrase Sunday at the ER! We go back next Friday for an x-ray to see how it is healing.