your first geography lesson

K

Okay, I feel like I have neglected your education. As an educator I need to be sure you are learning at a certain pace to you don't fall behind. So I have decided we will skip basic reading and math and we are going straight to geography. Yep. You need to learn about the study of lands, features, and phenomena of Earth. More specifically we need to work on your map reading skills and how to tell the distance between two points on a map. (I am finding this a little humorous since I read a geography test to a student yesterday. It was a test on reading maps.)

Why? Well little man, your file is on its way to Nairobi, Kenya. This morning the US Embassy in Addis Ababa emailed us to say your case was being forwarded to the USCIS field office in Nairobi. (It wasn't in my "inbox" this morning, so I didn't see it until I checked before lunch. Luckily your Aunt Marcia was there to hold my hand when I began to read it and read it allow when I no longer could read it.) They will be looking at your case to determine if you meet the US definition of "orphan" so the Embassy can issue you a visa so we can bring you home.

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 Depending upon which website I looked at, Nairobi is anywhere from 717 to 724 miles apart. Fun Fact: Indy and New York are about 710 miles apart. A website that can help you on a quest with your maps, says it would take about 12 hours to drive from Indy to New York. Another website that helps you to go with maps says it would take 29 hours to drive from Addis Ababa to Nairobi.

So what does this mean? Well, we will get an email from the field office in Nairobi when our file gets there. How is it getting there? K, the US Embassy is express mailing it. It should get there in 7 to 10 business days, but I have been told it could take a month to get there. So this isn't my idea of "express," but it is what we have to work with. (Personally, I think the file gets on a plane, goes to Washington DC and then gets on another plane to go to Nairobi. However when going back to Africa, it goes across the Pacific Ocean.)

From the time we get the email, the field office has up to 30 days to make a decision. (As of right now we are a little unclear as to whether this is business or calendar days.) They could issue one of three things a) clearance where your file would have to travel back to Addis Ababa for the Embassy to issue us a date b) a request for evidence c) intent for denial. We are praying for option A. (Who doesn't pray, hope, and plan for option A?)

So K, this is what we know about your case. At the same time, we know you are safe at Hannah's Hope being loved on by your Special Mothers. We know you are getting your rice cereal 3 times a day and a bottle throughout the day. Know you are loved little man. Know you have a Mom and Dad who want you home as soon as possible.

Love,
Mom

Family and Friends our pray requests:
-Please pray for our file to get to Nairobi quickly. Pray for the field office to go with option A, so we can go back and get K.
-For another AGCI family who learned their file was going to Nairobi as well. We were submitted to the Embassy at the same time and we played with their daughter while we were at HH in December.
-The staff at HH who is caring for our little man.