The Final Countdown

We are so close to Charlie that I can almost taste it.  We are fully funded and went for our USCIS (Customs and Immigration) fingerprints on Wednesday.  We drove over an hour to get to this place for our 9 am appointment, walked in at 8:45 and were back in the car by 8:59.  I texted our facilitator to let her know we had those done and she told me to start calling USCIS and bugging them for an officer.  When I had called a couple weeks prior we still had not been assigned an officer, our home study hadn't been matched to our application and they had sent us a letter requesting more documents before they could proceed.  

I called USCIS, gave whoever answered our case number and she told me, "Hold, please; I'll connect you to your officer."  We had an officer????!!!!!  I left a message with Officer M. and when she called me back the next day she informed me that she had reviewed our file, all looked good and that, once she got our fingerprints on Wednesday, she mailed our approval letter out the same day.  For those of you who don't know, this is absolutely unheard of.  The average wait time for approval is 75 days.  And that's once you've been assigned an officer.  Which can take weeks in and of itself.  If I could have reached through the phone and hugged Officer M. (who, by the way, was extremely friendly and helpful) I would have.  I can't tell you for sure how many times I thanked her but it had to have numbered in the thousands.  

As I texted Hubby and our facilitator to update them, the butterflies hit.  

In the beginning I was 51% terrified and 49% excited.  As we moved through the paperwork and things proceeded relatively easily, the scales shifted to 25% terrified and 75% excited.  I'll be honest, now that I know travel dates are looming on the very near horizon, terrified is back with a vengeance.  Before, this was all paperwork with an occasional picture of a very cute little boy.  But now that picture of that cute little boy is about to be replaced by the ACTUAL little boy.  

Sh*t just got real, y'all.  

The last of our dossier will be mailed next week and that's it.  There is nothing left to do but wait for travel dates.  So, as we end the paper chase part of this journey and enter the next phase, I'm praying for lots of peace and sanity.  (And wine.  I'm not gonna lie.  Because hey, sometimes, when all else fails - wine.)  I'm praying for the strength to use those butterflies for good and not for evil.  To focus on the goal and not get bogged down in the doubts, because daily it could go either way.  

Ready or not, Charlie, here we come!!!