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China Adoption Update: Fingerprint Cards

September 8, 2009 By

It’s been two weeks since we had our fingerprints taken in Kigali in order to process our FBI Clearance. All of the paperwork necessary to renew our USCIS Approval to Adopt an Orphan from overseas was successfully submitted on time a little over a month ago. We are now waiting for FBI Clearance, thus the fingerprint cards.

We were blessed that the USCIS in Nairobi arranged for us to have our fingerprints taken in Kigali (rather than having to fly to Nairobi).

We were told by the USCIS in Accra to mail the fingerprint cards directly to them. However, the US Consular in Kigali said that she had different instructions as to where they need to go and would not let us have them to mail to the USCIS in Accra.

It’s been two weeks now and we’ve had no word as to the status of the fingerprint cards. We pray every night that the Lord would assign an angel to hand deliver those cards wherever they need to be.

Our China Adoption is dependent on many things. Having FBI clearance through successful fingerprint processing is one of those. Without this clearance our adoption stops where it is. So, you can see how important this is.

This morning I wrote (again) the USCIS offices in Nairobi and Accra as well as the Consulate in Kigali asking for any information as to the whereabouts of the fingerprint cards. Please join us in prayer today asking the Lord to make sure that those fingerprint cards get to the place where they need to go AND that they will be processed properly and our FBI police clearance granted quickly.

Thank you for your prayers…they’re helping us bring our daughter home.

Filed Under: China Adoption, Murphy, Prayer Needs Tagged With: ,

China Adoption – FBI Fingerprints

August 11, 2009 By

We recently re-applied to renew our USCIS I-171h approval to immigrate a foreign born orphan into the US  (i.e. adopt a little girl from China). The USCIS Accra received our application and sent a request to the FBI to re-submit our old fingerprint cards for processing to see if we have any FBI records on file.

The response from the FBI was that our fingerprint cards could not be found. So, the USCIS Accra office told us that we need to be re-fingerprinted at the nearest US Consulate.

Today, we went to the US Embassy here in Kigali and the Consular said that their office in Kigali does not have the authority to do the fingerprints. The nearest place to do the fingerprints is in Nairobi, Kenya.

Guess what, we now have to fly to Nairobi, Kenya, make an appointment with the USCIS office there to be re-fingerprinted, then fly back to Kigali…. It’s interesting to discover all of the twists and turns that this adoption is taking us on.

When this is done, we will be one step closer to bringing our daughter home. Smooth out the road ahead of us Lord Jesus!

Filed Under: China Adoption, Murphy, Prayer Needs Tagged With: ,

China Adoption Update

July 22, 2009 By

It’s been awhile since we updated everyone on how our Adoption in China Process is going. That’s basically because not much has changed except that more time has gone by and now our USCIS paperwork is expiring for the second time. Each time we apply to the USCIS to bring a foreign born child into the US as a citizen the approved application lasts for 18 months. Well, our second 18 month period ends next month. So, it’s time to apply again.

Since our first two applications were adjudicated (I love that term!) by the USCIS office in Accra, Ghana, all of our subsequent applications must also be sent there, even though we are living in Rwanda. Both the USCIS Nairobi and Accra offices have been VERY helpful this time around. They’re answering emails within hours and answering all of my questions. This is such a blessing for which we are very thankful!

We’ve spent the last two months updating police reports, supporting documents and our home study to get ready to reapply. Today I finished getting everything together. Tomorrow we will FedEx the application and supporting documents to the other side of Africa.

Everytime I put this paperwork together I’m reminded of the AMAZING MIRACLE that the Lord did for us three years ago in Accra, Ghana. Click here to read the story. Thank you Jesus for answering our prayers and coming to our aide!

Pray that this is the last time that we have to do this paperwork! Lord, please speed things up in China so we can bring our daughter home!

Just to let you share in the joy of our paperwork, here is a list of all of the documents that we had to put together for this third application.

  • Crowson’s Request for One-Time, No-Charge Extension to the current approved Form I-600A.
  • Crowson Home Study & Supporting Documents – Updated July, 2009.
  • USCIS Documents:
    • Updated I-600A.
    • Copy of USCIS NAIROBI’s email explaining that this I-600A needs to be adjudicated by the USCIS ACCRA office.
    • Photocopy of expiring CIS Approval Notice (Expires 08/20/2009).
    • Photocopy of expired CIS Approval Notice (Expired 11/30/2007).
    • Photocopy of two previous I-600 Petition Fees Paid Receipts.
  • Murphy and Christine’s Marriage License and Identity papers
    • Crowson’s Marriage License
    • Murphy’s Birth Certificate
    • Christine’s Birth Certificate
    • Murphy’s U.S. Passport
    • Christine’s U.S. Passport
  • Murphy’s Police Clearances (Updated)
    • Murphy’s Police Clearance and Child Abuse Registry Check from Texas, our previous U.S. Residence.
    • Murphy’s Police Clearance from Rwanda (where we are currently living) translated in English stapled to the translator’s certification.
    • Murphy’s Police Clearance from Rwanda (in French).
    • Murphy’s Police Clearance from Togo translated in English stapled to the translator’s certification.
    • Murphy’s Police Clearance from Togo, where we lived prior to Rwanda (in French).
    • Murphy’s Police Clearance from Benin translated into English with translator’s certification stamp.
    • Murphy’s Police Clearance from Benin, where we lived prior to Togo (in French).
    • Murphy’s Police Clearance from Arkansas (we have not returned to Arkansas since this report).
  • Christine’s Police Clearances (Updated)
    • Christine’s Police Clearance and Child Abuse Registry Check from Texas, our previous U.S. Residence.
    • Christine’s Police Clearance from Rwanda (where we are currently living) translated in English stapled to the translator’s certification.
    • Christine’s Police Clearance from Rwanda (in French).
    • Christine’s Police Clearance from Togo translated in English stapled to the translator’s certification.
    • Christine’s Police Clearance from Togo, where we lived prior to Rwanda (in French).
    • Christine’s Police Clearance from Benin translated into English with translator’s certification stamp.
    • Christine’s Police Clearance from Benin, where we lived prior to Togo (in French).
    • Christine’s Police Clearance from Arkansas (we have not returned to Arkansas since this report).
Filed Under: China Adoption, Murphy, Prayer Needs Tagged With: , ,

Our I-171h arrived!

May 6, 2008 By

Thank you so much for your prayers for our China Adoption Paper Work! Although they mailed our paperwork to us via Ghana/Togo mail it hadn’t arrived as of last week.

So, we asked our contact at the US embassy to email the USCIS office in Accra and ask them if they would just sent it to her at the US Embassy in Lome and then we could pick it up! Rather than mailing it, they scanned it, emailed it to her and then she forwarded it to us!

Yeah!!!! Now, all our paperwork is updated and in the right place. Pray that God would move His Powerful hand in China so that more children will be made available for adoption so that we can bring our little girl home sooner!

Blessings to all!

Filed Under: China Adoption, Prayer Answers

Thank you for your prayers…

April 22, 2008 By

Although it breaks our hearts to say this, we are not able to adopt the little girl that we mentioned. The primary reason being that our insurance said today that she would not be covered for any preexisting diagnosed condition and we cannot prove that we have the financial means to take care of her medical needs without insurance to the Chinese government. She would be covered from the day we adopt her for anything new. Any other condition would be covered after two years.

Thank you so much for your prayers for us today. We prayed and cried about this today but feel peace that this is the right decision to make. Our prayer is that there is another family out there who can better care of this little girl’s needs.

Thank you again for your love and patience with us.

Murphy and Christine

Filed Under: China Adoption, Prayer Answers

Please pray for our China Adoption

April 22, 2008 By

Dear family, friends and prayer warriors. Today we ask your special prayers for our China Adoption. Although our paper work was approved on Feb. 22, we have not yet received it in the mail (two months today). Pray that it somehow navigates it’s way through the Togo mail system.
Also, we need special wisdom and God’s guidance today as we pray. There is a Special Needs little girl that has been brought to our attention. We have a few doctors reviewing her records and a few photographs (which we can’t release to anyone but them). We need God’s special guidance today to know if this is the little girl that He is bringing into our home. They took her file off the Special Needs list and we have 24 hours (which ends tonight at 9pm) to decide whether or not to proceed. Then they will put her file back on the list. Obviously, this is not easy.

Thank you for your prayers!

Filed Under: China Adoption, Prayer Needs

Our Adoption paperwork has been approved!

March 10, 2008 By

Here is the message that we received today from the USCIS-Accra office (via a friend in the Lome US Embassy):

“The Crowson’s I-600A has been approved. Our office forwarded the approved application and all supporting documents to Guangzhou on Feb 22, 2008, via Diplomatic Pouch with Registration Number 6432569.”

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Lord.

To explain further, in order to adopt internationally we had to get pre-approval to bring an foreign born orphan into the United States. Basically, they are granting a US Visa and Citizenship to an unknown child based on our US citizenship and ability as healthy parents to raise and be responsible for the child. In 2006 we did this paperwork and were approved. However, the document is only good for 18 months. So, last November our first I-171h (the title of the document) expired and we had to reapply.

Today we heard that we were approved again (for another 18 months)!!! Praise God!!! Thank you for your prayers. God listened and answered!

Filed Under: China Adoption, Murphy, Prayer Answers

Still waiting on fingerprints

March 1, 2008 By

We heard from our contact in the Lome US Embassy that the USCIS-Accra office is still waiting on our fingerprints to clear. It’s been three months now since we submitted the fingerprints and they should have cleared by now.

Pray that they will clear in the next week. Then they can process our application and we can rest until we receive our referral.

Also, it occurred to me this week that I need to be praying for China to allow more orphans who desperately need homes to be adopted. The waiting problem isn’t because there aren’t children who need loving homes. The waiting problem is that not all of the children in the orphanages are put in the adoption system (for reasons unknown). So, I’m praying that God will move mountains to let more children who are already in the orphanages to be available to loving, Christian families.

Filed Under: China Adoption, Murphy, Prayer Needs

Adoption Update

February 8, 2008 By

Hello everyone. Thank you so much for your prayers for our adoption. We had some news in the past few weeks that we wanted to share with everyone.

The USCIS office in Accra did receive our application to renew our I-171h. We were logged in November 20, 2007, two days before our old I-171h expired. This is the US paper work that will allow us to bring an orphan into the U.S. We were granted permission in 2006 (the document is called the I-171h) but it was only valid for 18 months. Our old one expired, thus the need to renew:)

Today we heard that they are waiting on our FBI fingerprints to be cleared. I think that when those clear, we will be granted our new paperwork!!! Yeah!!!

Communication is funny. The Accra office won’t email me directly. I fax them every 2-3 days. They won’t call me. They won’t fax me. However, if I email the Rome office, they email Accra and then tell me what Accra said to them. That’s how I found out that they received and logged in our application. Today’s update came through a friend at the U.S. Embassy in Lome. She emailed her contact there who told her about waiting on the fingerprints and then she emailed me.

Hey, as long as we hear bits and pieces of news here and there, we’re happy!

Filed Under: China Adoption, Prayer Answers

Making contact with the USCIS

January 23, 2008 By

We submitted our application to renew our US government paper work for our adoption on Oct. 22. To date, we have not heard anything from their office.

Now that we’re back in West Africa, it’s time to get in touch with them. They do not answer the phone. However, the USCIS office in Rome gave me their new fax number, so I’m going to fax them until they call me! Sweeky faxer gets the phone call:)

So, fax #1 sent today…Pray that they make contact:)

Filed Under: China Adoption, Murphy, Prayer Needs
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