Progress, I think?!?!

So last Friday we got a call from a woman at the State Dept. who said that they were assigning us a State Dept.  lawyer to deal with our situation.  I called and talked to him on Tuesday and this is what we found out in a nutshell....  This lawyer has been dealing with this issue for a couple months, a few weeks ago he sent the needed information to the Embassy of China to authenticate the signature on the new form, and hopefully we should have a resolution to this in a few weeks.  I am praying that he is right and this only takes a few weeks, but with the way things have been going I am trying not to get my hopes up.  I know that our baby is out there, I just wish the journey to get to them wasn't so curvy.

Ashley

Good News/Bad News

Got some interesting news today and thought I would share.  We had sent a copy of Mark's original birth certificate with a copy of the new one to the Embassy in DC to see if they would take it. Unfortunately, we found out today that they rejected it.  However they included a letter that stated that they have not gotten the necessary information from the State Department to authenticate this form.  It sounds small, but until now it has just been word of mouth that they wouldn't accept the form b/c of lack of info.   Also we have gotten an email from one of our Senator's office's that they are looking into this.  Even better is that we have spoken to (twice this week) someone at one of our Congressman's office's that has been very active in trying to help us get this resolved.  She said that she actually talked to the Congressional liaison to the Embassy's in DC who knew nothing about this situation.  Here is where the good news comes in.......Now that we have an actual letter from the Embassy about this issue it is going to be given to the liaison in DC so they have something concrete they can follow up on.  It is a small step, but at least it is a step in the right direction.   It really is a huge weight lifted to just know that there are people actively trying to fix this situation.  We are trying to just stay positive and are working on the assumption that OUR baby is just not ready for us yet.  Keep the positive vibes coming.  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. 

Ashley

Needing some positive vibes

Soooooo.  Got some bad news today.  Here is the short version.  Mark was born in Germany while his father was stationed there.  This means that he has what is know as a Consular Report of Birth Abroad.  This is the birth certificate for anyone born a citizen, but not born on US soil.  We got a new copy of this from the US Department of State a few months ago.  Here is where the problem arises.  This form has changed several times over the years.  The newest version came out at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately the Embassy of China has either not received (not sure if it just hasn't been sent or they didn't know what they were getting) the information needed to authenticate this new form.  We found out that this has been an issue for numerous families in the last 6 months, but nothing has been done to rectify this situation.  The Department of State says they have sent the info and the Embassy of China says they have not gotten what they need to authenticate this new form.  The problem being that this form is a required document in our Dossier.  Essentially:  No form = No Dossier to China and we are at a complete standstill. We have a copy of Mark's original form from years ago so we are trying to send that with a copy of the new form to see if the Embassy will authenticate it that way, but only time will tell.  We have already contacted our local Senator and requested assistance in getting this issue resolved between the Department of State and the Embassy.  We know that it all happens in God's timing and that one day we will look back and laugh, but right now it seems crushing to know we have come so far to be halted by a miscommunication.  Please keep us and the other families involved in your thoughts during these coming days.  Hopefully we can get a quick resolution to this so we can bring our children home to their forever families.

Mark and Ashley