Form I-171H

Well, we haven't received approval from the Philippines, but we have received our I-171H form. This means that the UCSIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) has processed our fingerprints, and we are approved on the U.S. side to get visas for our child(ren) as soon as we are matched. The weird part about this form, is that if we haven't been approved in 15 months, our fingerprints expire and we have to do them all over again. If it takes longer than 18 months, then we have to re-apply and pay the fees all over again.

So a BIG prayer request that we have is to get matched with our child(ren) by AUGUST 18, 2008. We have so much to pay for already, that if we don't have to re-pay all of these fees, it would help a lot.

Well, we continue to wait on our Philippines approval. It can take a while for the Philippines to communicate with the adoption agency that we have been approved, so we may have already been approved for two weeks before we hear it. We've been doing a great job of staying busy, and not thinking too much about how we haven't been approved yet. I think the prayers of everyone are really helping us to remain patient. When we were trying to get pregnant, I felt like I was going crazy some days because I thought about it so much, and was so impatient for it. This experience is totally different, I feel such peace - even in the tough, waiting times. I know that this peace is not from myself, it's peace and patience that can only come from God.

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