Adoption Update

I am sure you have been waiting and wondering where my adoption update is! Well, we still do not have our travel dates set, but we have gotten a few more updates since I last posted about our approval. I will update you by way of our case worker’s emails….this one was from last Wednesday, May 12th:

I wanted to let you know that Kofi has agreed to complete the visa exit interview in your behalf. This could shorten your required time in Ghana significantly. Now, the visa will be issued to Kofi so it will be in hand prior to you even arriving so essentially you can arrive to Ghana, pick up Samuel and come home as soon as you wish. The processing time for a visa is anywhere from 7-9 business days, they are always issued on a Friday. Kofi will be going to the US Embassy tomorrow again in your behalf. I will keep you posted as things progress from here.

So, this was WONDERFUL news! Having Kofi work to complete the exit interview on our behalf is certainly the most cost effective/time effective way to move forward. I had not been fully comfortable with setting a travel date to do the exit interview ourselves knowing that the Embassy often changes appointment times without much notice. I had nightmares of us booking our tickets to travel, getting there, and then having them change the exit interview appointment to the next week or something. It is much more reassuring to know that all of this will be completed before we travel, and that Samuel will have his visa in hand and be ready to come home once we arrive. Since this email, we had to fill out a few more forms highlighting Kofi as our power of attorney, and requesting the Embassy to schedule the interview appointment with Kofi on our behalf. However, as has been true to our adoption process, there has been a delay in getting the Embassy to respond to our requests….and there have been numerous requests. This was the update from our case worker yesterday:

Kofi has successfully completed Samuel's required visa medical, however he is having trouble getting the US Embassy to issue him 'the packet' which will allow him to schedule the needed interview. I have once again, sent the request for Kofi to pick up this packet, etc. If we do not hear back from them within 48 hours, we will need to make some phone calls.

As you can see from these updates, once the visa exit interview is scheduled things will progress very quickly, but we are having significant trouble getting the Embassy to respond back to us just to set up the interview with Kofi! Arrghhhh!!!!!!!!! I know that we will eventually get it scheduled, but right now we have no choice but to await the Ghanaian Embassy and their timeline. So, please pray that the Ghana Embassy would schedule the visa exit interview with Kofi as soon as possible.

Also, the visa interviews for Big Sam & Prince were pushed back to May 25th which is next Tuesday. Please pray that they will be approved for their student visas.

I will keep you updated as things progress!