Week in Review

Monday: Our agency suggests we show up at our local CIS office, explain the situation and ask to be fingerprinted. So, we gathered together any and all CIS correspondence along with our passports.

Tuesday: The local CIS office was very helpful. Our fingerprints were taken optically but Ramona's scores were low. The local CIS office says the fingerprints will probably be rejected and called later that afternoon to confirm it. Since we are in a time crunch, they will take a sworn statement on Wednesday when Ramona returns for fingerprints. If the fingerprints are rejected again, then this statement supersedes fingerprints. A criminal history letter from the county is also required. The Williamson County Sheriffs Department tells us that criminal history letters are issued on Tuesday and Thursday and must be requested in person. If the letter is requested on Tuesday, then it will be ready on Thursday, no exceptions. Ramona requests the criminal history letter and explains our situation and once again ask for an exception and if we can pick up the letter the next day. The response was "there are 100 gun permits in front of you". Well we certainly would not want to delay a gun permit! It was clear they did not "get it". We begin to gather, obtain notarization and make copies of documents needed to obtain Visas.

Wednesday: Ramona's fingerprints are taken but the scores are low. A sworn statement is taken. Larry drives to two counties for notary certifications and then to the state office for apostille.

Thursday: The local CIS office calls to confirm that Ramona's fingerprints were rejected for the second time. Larry picks up the criminal history letter and drops it off to the local CIS office. They say that the sworn statement and letter will be overnighted to the Memphis CIS office.

Friday: The apostilled FBI clearances and medical letters are mailed to Children's Hope in St. Louis. These will be sent ahead of us to Colombia for translation. Larry travels to ATL to obtain Visas. He dropped off the paperwork and they told him it would be about an hour. Larry picked up the Visas and the Consulate General came out to introduce himself. He wanted to tell Larry that he was very proud of us and our kindness to adopt these children. He said it would change these children’s lives. He also wanted to meet the children but since we live 4 hours from ATL that would be difficult. He comes to Nashville once a year and said he would call us to meet the children. We rarely think about how we are blessing these children’s lives. We just think what a blessing they will be to us and how honored we are that God is entrusting us with them.

We will continue to push and ensure the necessary CIS and National Visa Center approvals are obtained before we travel. We thank and praise the Lord that he made this a productive week. We know that he is in control and trust.