Paroled.

I am incredibly happy to report that our prints have been paroled from fingerprint purgatory.

Incredibly happy.

I last spoke with nice fingerprint lady(whom we shall from this point forward refer to as N.F.L.) on Tuesday. She said that it looks like it would probably take at minimum another two weeks as all of the Census prints were being expedited.

Hmmm...didn't Census taking already start? I dunno.

Anyway, a few days later as I was sitting in the living room pondering the possibility of hacking off my actual fingers and Fed-Ex*ing them to the FB*I to speed things along I decided to log on and check my status myself.

And there it was.

"Completed."

-sigh-I love that word.

So I called N.F.L. and she looks in her system and sure enough. Completed.

So then I call T. N.M.A.D.H.R.(the nice man at DHR) and he looks in system and sure enough. Completed. Told you I like that word.

He says that the letter stating that we are in fact not criminals(uhhh, I coulda told them that) was mailed on the 23rd. Yay! I thank him profusely and hang up.

And then I realized....

that today is April 30th. Hmmm....I live like 10 minutes from this guys office.....7 days ago he mailed me something and I still haven't received it?

Not cool.

So being the pest...or....errrr... concerned mother that I am, I call him back and he corrects himself to say that we were cleared on the 23rd and that the letter was probably mailed out a couple of days later.

Well lookie-loo what was staring up at me from the mailbox today.


Ahhhh, isn't it perty? (Disregard my messy counter. Disregard people, disregard.)

And my fingers? Well, they are pretty pleased that they get to remain attached to the rest of me.

Sooooo, in case you were wondering as far as our timeline goes here's what's next!

• On Monday our social worker will plug in our "all clear" date from this letter into our home study.
• She will then send the home study to our agency. Who hopefully will then approve it the same day as they have already seen it and made any necessary corrections.
  
• Our social worker will then overnight an official notarized copy to us.
  
• I will spend Tuesday sitting at the front door waiting for the Fed-Ex* guy so that I can tackle him, rip the package out of his hand, and take it and the rest of our documents back to the Fed-Ex office and mail a stack of forms to USC*IS.(United States Citizenship and Immigration* Service....I think.)
• They will then review our birth and marriage certificates, our home study, and our big fat check we have sent them.
• They will then send us a letter giving us another fingerprint appointment in our designated regional USCI*S office. Yes. Another fingerprint appointment. Joy. Just plain joy.
  
• Once those prints come back and they have reviewed our file they will say yes, you may bring an orphan or two into the country. We think you are cool people and are fit to parent.
  
• This entire process is projected to take about 4-6 weeks.
  
• Once that happens they will issue us some kind of form which is the final piece of the dossier puzzle.
  
• That form will arrive via Fed-Ex. I will sit by my door that day too(with my running shoes on this time because Mr. Ex knows the tackle and trauma that awaits him so a chase will ensue. I will win because nothin' stands between a momma and her kids.) I will yell out an apology over my shoulder as I run into the minivan to send our entire dossier to our agency who will then send it to China.
  
• And then we wait.
  
• And Fed-Ex* man searches for a new job, because this one is just waaayy too dangerous. Those housewives are crazy people.