A few short days after our last post (about getting all of our documents to US Immigration), we entered the COVID-19 quarantine and our progress ground to a halt. We received instructions from USCIS to submit fingerprints, but by the time the letter got to us, the Pittsburgh location had locked down and our appointment was cancelled. Several days after that, Bulgaria announced they were suspending adoptions until there was better control of the virus. And then about a week ago we got word that, with our Pittsburgh agency leaving the international adoption space, there was a possibility that we would perhaps need to start over with a new local agency. By "start over" I mean starting from the beginning with new interviews, psychological exams, paperwork, home visits, etc. All this news was enough to make a grown woman cry, and cry I did!
I think quarantine is also a time for reflection about life goals and desires. And being trapped with our own (lovely) children with no end in sight, Brad and I asked ourselves (more than once), what are we doing? We are actively pursing another child?? And if we start over, what is the time frame? Oliver could be 10 before we have Baby 3.
We set up a meeting with our agency that coordinates with Bulgaria and explained all of our hesitations to continue. We didn't know that we had it within us to start over. We also didn't know how the adoption closure in Bulgaria would effect us and the wait time. I've had adoption on my heart for as long as I can remember and the possibility of us closing this chapter was really difficult for me. I did a lot of praying and crying and letting go and eventually left it in God's hands - that's all I could ever do with adoption even from the beginning and the more I tried to take control, the more frustrated I became.
Since then, we've had a lot of overdue good news!
Bulgaria should be opening up again soon with adoptions and we should be no further behind in the process than we were in March.
With the US government, I'm going to call this week but believe that we should now be able to reschedule our fingerprints and move forward there. We've been delayed about 2 months, but in the grand scheme of things, not too bed.
The best news of all, our local agency and the National agency have worked together to come to an agreement and we will NOT have to start anything over. We can continue down this path uninterrupted.
Our social worker still thinks we are about 2 years out from a placement, but that's doable for us. We are a few weeks away from the 1 year anniversary of deciding to adopt and what I'm learning is that time is not a factor for any government body or private agency. The adoption will happen when it happens and it is up to us to continue to trust and take the next step.
Hopefully by my next post, I will be able to report that Bulgaria has our documents and we are on the waiting list. And that's something to really celebrate!
Comments