Post #6 - A Week Late

And now for something completely different...
Well, not really. It seems like bureaucratic mishandling is the norm - not different. So I am going to keep this short and sweet - because the end IS sweet.

So on Friday, 12/4, I ssat all afternoon in the USCIS office. When I finally got to deal with real people, they actually tried to be very helpful. I was grateful for that. Fortunately the first person I got to deal with was the Deputy Director of the local office. He made sure I talked to the correct person - a Deputy in charge of Adoptions - Deputy Clarke. This young woman was really trying to get to the bottom of the situatuion but basically, at least at the point, she only know where was a "snag" in the central system that had rejected every application that had come in.

Long story short, Deputy Clarke called me everyday this week to let me know that she was working on it but didn't have a definitive answer. At least not until Friday 12/11. And to word is......

Alyona's paperwork was accepted on December 1 - 3 days before her 16th birthday!!!!

This is such great news - Thank you, God!

Now we can continue with some minor amount of confidence that we can actually bring Alyona home some time sooner rather than later. Next stop - tackling the Ukrainian govenment.