God May be Laughing at My Plans

Finally the story behind our LOA.  Monday began as any other day.  I saw a few LOAs trickling in.  Many were less days from LID than typical but none quite as low as ours.  I really didn't expect ours would come in but was hoping it would be soon.  I thought if ours did come in I wouldn't get the email until late in the day.  Imagine my surprise when about 2:45 I checked my email and we had LOA.  I was in shock!! Nicholas, my 17 year old, said he had never seen me that way, I was walking around with  my mouth wide open repeating over and over again "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, we got our LOA."  Thirty Eight days was the least number of days I had ever seen and ours came at 33 days.  Yesterday a couple came in at 26 days.  That is amazingly fast!

Once the initial shock wore off I announced to all my adoption groups.  Didn't even have time to do a creative LOA photo.  Lots of paperwork to do.  Monday- 2 I800 applications to complete and review and review some more.  This were sent via Fedex Tuesday morning along with a copy of our LOAs and additional paperwork to USCIS.  Once it reaches our officer she will make sure everything is in line with the previous application and homestudy approves us for the needs of the boys.  We have a great officer so I feel confident once it gets to her we will have a quick turnaround.  I am concerned our I800s won't make it past the lockbox though.  The lockbox checks to make sure all the documents are in order.  Ours are but our case is complicated and happens rarely so it may be rejected due to one box that should be yes and no but we could only pick one box.  If it is rejected we may lose some time.  Our officer doesn't think it will be but I really think it will be returned to us. Time will tell.  Tuesday- the boys visa applications.  Seems simple but we had to keep redoing them.  Wednesday-gathering paperwork for our new post placement agency since the last one closed.  Another added stress because I am afraid somehow it is going to slowdown our process.

If you remember the plan I posted last week I said my plan was to leave on June 13.  Since we received our LOA so quickly I am now adjusting my plan to leaving May 23 with a slight possibility of May 16.  Of course if we have problems with our I800 getting through the lockbox my plan will be adjusted again.

I love when God laughs at our plans and they are far better than I could imagine.  Even though we still may have a delay with our I800 application his plan was far greater than mine.  I would be even more stressed if we hadn't received our LOA so early.  At least now I know worse case we would be traveling on my old plan.

Now the reason it took me so long to do LOA photos.  I had to consult with my creative team(Zachary) and he had a busy week at school.  Finally last night he was able to decorate cakes for me and help me take photos.  I think he did an excellent job.  I told him we need to plan ahead for TA so we can post the photo right away.

Giving all these worries to God.   It is out of my control and I need to trust in him.