Memphis

Today was our CIS interview for Hannah. It was intense right from the start. The office we were assigned to started on the attack right off. We didn't have an attorney with us at the beginning because the attorney in GA couldn't get in touch with the Memphis office until this morning. So we go in by ourselves and the officer immediately starts demanding to know how she got here and why we just hadn't adopted her already, and how could she be declared abandoned if we brought her here and have been caring for her. We could barely answer one of her questions before she was demanding an answer to another. Then she wanted all the paperwork from Mexico. The attorney finally showed up and started pointing out that those weren't necessary because we had a court order. When the officer stepped out of the room the attorney said that she has had trouble with her before. She was so rude, I told Jeff even the FBI wasn't that rude when they interviewed us. Finally, the officer said she was going to request more evidence and that we would have to turn in all the paperwork from Mexico. Then she went to talk to her supervisor. After about 15 minutes she came back and said the Mexican paperwork wouldn't be necessary and she would mail her decision to us. So now we wait. The lawyer said she has no grounds to deny approval, but she probably didn't want to do an about face with us sitting there, so she just said she would mail the decision. Even if she does deny us, we can appeal and go before the judge in Memphis. So let's pray she gets her "happy pill" and sends the approval so we don't have to take extra steps.

Prayer Request

Some of you may know already that we received our interview appointment with immigration. The appointment date is next Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 7:30 a.m. in Memphis. This interview is for Hannah to get her approval for status as a legal permanent resident which then means we can do a TN adoption. It is vital that we get this approval.

Our lawyer has explained that the Memphis office can sometimes be difficult, but that she fully expects us to be approved. Since she resides in Georgia, it is cost prohibitive for her to attend the meeting. However she is contacting a friend who is a prominent immigration attorney in Memphis to see if he can represent us.

So here are my specific prayer requests that I would like to ask you to intercede on our behalf for:

1. That God hand picks and places the interviewer in position to hear our case.
2. Hannah doesn't have a Mexican Passport. Pray that will not create issues.
3. Pray for wisdom and guidance for Jeff and I as we answer questions.
4. Pray that the lawyer in Memphis will be available.
5. Most of all pray for us to walk out of there with approval!

We will probably no go in right at 7:30, so I can't tell you a specific time to pray. Once we go in it should only take 15-30 minutes.

New Order

Jeff went to cout on Wednesday and we got our new Order with the new wording. Now we are just waiting for INS to set up the interview.

Long Time, No Post

Okay, my friend Candace (yes, I am naming names) commented that she was disappointed that I have not blogged in a long time. I have been debating about keeping up with this blog or just letting it go. I can't seem to find much time and feel that I am doing too much with FB and a blog. But since Candace shamed me, I decided I would go ahead and post anyway.

On the adoption issue. We received an e-mail in December saying that the wording had changed on the Order we got back in May. So we have to get an amended Order with the new wording before we go to our Immigration Interview (no date has been set for that yet). This means we had to go back to our TN lawyer and get him to file the paper work which is now going to cost us more money. He filed the paperwork and the court date is set for this Wednesday. Jeff is going to court and I am going to Ft. Worth for work. The lawyer says it shouldn't be a big deal since we laid out everything in our original order. But you know how things go with us, so please pray.

I have one more week to wear this stupid boot on my foot. For those of you who don't know, I broke my foot three days before Christmas. Yesterday I didn't wear it around the house and I was severely chastised by my oldest child. She asked me why I was not wearing my boot. When I said, "I didn't want to.," she replied, "Mom, we all have to do things we don't want to do sometimes." I guess she's heard that before : )

Said daughter has started competition season. She is now a level 8 and doing fantastic. I had to miss her first meet, but will be there for the rest.

Youngest son starts basketball tomorrow. He was all gung ho until I reminded him last night. Then said, "I am not sure I am really into basketball anymore." I told him he had to try since I have already paid. His response, "Do I have to do the whole season?" Uggh what am I going to do with him?

Dearest hubby is still trying to adjust to life at Riverdale. He misses Oakland and the friendships he formed there. I keep praying that he will feel better about the situation.

So that's the updates. I'll try to be better about posting.

Frustrated

We received letters from immigration stating that they will be sending us another letter with a date, time, and place to take Hannah to get fingerprinted. Did I mention that we got 4 letters in 4 separate envelopes telling us the same thing? Our tax dollars at work. Anyway, the only probably is that she has to have a Photo ID. All the options were out of the question because she's too young to drive, too young to join the military and get a military id, or a state issued photo identification. Oh, and the last option a Passport, yeah which we don't have because she came here on a Humanitarian Parole. So I e-mail our lawyers who now inform me that we should have been trying to get her a Mexican Passport all along. Nice to know now. And they advised us that the Embassy is not too friendly to adoptive parents, so it could take awhile. Well, of course it would. Nothing has gone quickly thus far. So in the meantime, I am trying to get a photo id from her school which will hopefully be acceptable.

Latest Adoption Update

I e-mailed our attorney's office in Georgia to check on our status. See her response below.

We have confirmation that INS received the package, we are waiting for receipt notice from them and then a finger print
appointment for the child.

So I am not totally sure what that means, but hoping it means we are one step closer. I am guessing we will have to go the the airport for finger prints. That's much better than when Jeff and I had to go to the Rutherford County Jail and the Bedford County Jail booking area. That was an adventure.

New Update

The lawyers in GA called this afternoon and told me they are 95% ready to send our papers into INS. I have to send in some copies of our previous paperwork tomorrow and then it's away we go. Wish me luck and locating those papers they are from 1997, but I am pretty sure I have them. If not INS in Memphis does. They said it wouldn't keep us from filing if I don't have them, but it will just be more evidence that can help us. So I am off to dig through my piles of paperwork!

Not Finished, But One Step Closer

We were granted the Order of Depriviation which means she has been declared abandoned by her birth parents and TN has jursidication over her. They put her in our custody. This was a praise because now we move on to the Immigration Attorney to apply with INS for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. This will give her legal status in the US and make her eligible for a domestic adoption. So not finished, but one step closer.

A Little Bummed

So our court date is coming up next week and still no contact with the guardian ad-litem. I decided that I would e-mail him today and see if his discussion with our lawyer was sufficient or if we should expect contact soon. Well, you know what came back immediately? An automatic reply e-mail that said he was out of the office from May 8-May 19. To borrow a phrase from my niece, "Are you serious?" I need exclamation marks after that. I mean come on that's the day before our court date. I really didn't want to hear that he's out enjoying himself when I've been stressing about him contacting us for a month. But then God said, "Slow down, I've got this." My devotional this morning was about trusting in God and not our own means, and not ten minutes later, I am worrying about my own means again. Maybe God should be asking me, "Are you serious?"

News On the Home Front

Today was a day of mixed news. First the good, I e-mailed our lawyer because we haven't heard from the guardian ad-litem. Our lawyer said he had a long talk with him and that he is aware of our case, but has more urgent cases that need his attention. Our lawyer said that he will contact us well before the court date. They way he talked it's just a formality.

The not so good news is that Jeff got called into the principal's office and told he was being involuntarily transfered to a rival high school in the county. They blamed it on the budget and for the betterment of the system he needed to go teach at the other school. Jeff is really sad because he graduated from Oakland and always wanted to teach there. We are grateful that he has a job, it's just a lot to process. His principal had an assistant principal come to his room during a class and tell him to go to the office. When he got there they told him he had to transfer and handed him the papers to sign and then sent him back to class to teach as if nothing had happened. That really is a crappy way of dealing with employees if you ask me. So we will survive and we'll buck up and Jeff is determined to do his best no matter where he goes, but at heart he'll always be a Patriot.

No, New News

We are still waiting for the guardian ad-litem to contact to set up his visit. Our lawyer sent him a letter last week, but still no word. Hopefully, he gets to us soon. We don't want our court date to be delayed.

Today Was the Day

We appeared in court this morning. Our lawyer explained that he wanted us there in case the judge had in questions. His hope was that the judge would hear the motion to have Hannah declared abandoned and that the birth parents didn't respond and go ahead and do everything at one time. But he didn't, he decided to be on the cautious side because this is such a complicated case.

So, here's what happened. The judge got his law book out and decided that it would be best to appoint a guardian ad lit-em (sp?) for Hannah. He's words, "I just want to make sure I cross my t's and dot my i's." This means that the guardian will need to talk with us and come visit and then come back to court and tell them she is being cared for and yada, yada, yada. The judge also agreed that temporary custody could be granted to us since we have been taking care of her all this time. Basically, he wants to rule in our favor, but he wants to be sure nobody can come back and say, "Yeah, but you didn't follow the true letter of the law, so now we can contest."

All that to say, we have a new court date of May 20. On that date, the judge will hear from the guardian ad lit-em, go over all the motions from our lawyer, and hopefully grant the Order of Deprivation we need to send to the next lawyer in Georgia.

We're getting closer!!

A New Date

We received a copy of the Default Motion from our lawyer today. At the bottom it said that the motion is due to be heard in the court on April 1. So that's the new date to pray for.

Good News, I Hope

Here is the latest word from our attorney:

Nothing has been served on us, and 30 days have passed. We are filing a motion for default (you will not have to be there). After it is heard, we will get a court date for a hearing on the merits.

I believe that the motion for default is just to say we sent notification and got no response. We want the judge to accept that as sufficient notification so that we don't have to go and try to find the birth mother in person. So that is our specific prayer now. I don't have a timeline as to when this motion will be heard.

The Lord has gotten us through the first hurdle, and I cling to the promise that He that has began a good work in me will carry it on to completion.

Half Way There

Today I got word from our lawyer. Someone at the birth mother's house signed for the petition we sent on Jan. 22. The petition we sent to her lawyer was unclaimed. This means she has until Feb. 21 to respond. Then we can make our next move.

I told Jeff that I am glad that her time is half over because it meant less time for me to worry and think about what will happen. I guess our specific prayer is for her to let the time lapse so we can all move on with our lives.

More importantly, I know if she doesn't respond that I can truly put any doubts to rest and know that I can feel at peace with our decisions.

Slow Progress

I got word from our attorney today that papers were sent certified mail on January 7.
So far they have heard nothing. He said he will have his legal assistant call UPS on Monday and track the delivery. So there is progress, but it is slow. I am not sure if that means our 30 days have started, but lets pray that either they won't respond or if they do it will be in our favor.

Strange Twist of Fate

Okay, so many of you know that about 10 years ago we were interviewed by Fox News in LA in regards to Hannah's adoption. We have been in contact off and on with one of the investigative reporters from that original interview. And during some of his investigating it was alleged that the lawyer for the birth mother was also the birth father. Well, today the reporter called and talked to Jeff. He said that the lawyer and his wife have since adopted a child. (makes me wonder if that was the plan for Hannah) It's kind of strange to think that he may also be an adoptive parent and I wonder if he is (I have a little trust issue with believing a lot of what we are told. Wonder why?)an adoptive parent if he can sympathize with how we feel. Not that it is really important how he feels, but hopefully when he gets served with papers from the court here, he will let things drop and think about what's truly best for Hannah.

Promised Update a Day Late

I am going to quit promising to update by a certain time. It never works out. Anyway, our lawyer sent us a copy of the petition he is filing in the Juvenile Court. We proofed and then sent it back. He said they were mailing it and expected it to arrive at the court on Monday. Hopefully, the court will process it and send the service papers back to him on Tuesday so that he can then send the service papers onto the birth mother and reported birth father/lawyer for the mother. We have to wait 30 days from the time of service for a response. During that time he or the courts may ask for a hearing to grant temporary custody. (I know we've had custody since 1997, and you would think possession is 9/10 of the law, but it's a hoop we'll jump through anyway) It's just a good feeling to know that somebody is actually working and following through with what they said they would do.

New Lawyer On the Team

We went to another lawyer's office in Nashville today. He is going to start a petition right away. He is going to send a copy to the birth mother and her lawyer. They will have 30 days to respond. Then we will file our petition here in the TN courts. He also found out that the case we were called to give depositions for in front of the FBI was closed in 1999. It sure would have been nice for somebody to have told us that then.

So pray that their is no response from the birth mother or her lawyer and that when we file here the judge will be favorable to granting us the Order of Deprivation.

Lawyer 5,273

. .well, not really, but a new one on the team. The TN attorney we contacted has referred us to another lawyer to complete the Order of Deprivation and work with the Juvenile courts. She hasn't done this type of court order so she wanted us to be with someone who has. Once he gets the courts to give us the order, then the lawyer in GA deals with all the federal immigration work, and then the first TN attorney will do an adoption. Add that to the two other lawyers we may need if any special circumstances arise and I think we're up to 5. (I sorta feel like I should be on an episode of LA Law or maybe I could start a new joke, How many lawyers does it take to get a kid adopted? Wait, I don't really want an answer : ) I wonder if the government will give me a bailout package, hmm. All that to say we have a meeting on December 2nd with the new lawyer.