Better Together

My first concert at Bonnaroo with
Austin, Olivia, Chase & JD

Before you get too excited about seeing a new blog post.....we don't have any news to share as of today.  Our paperwork is currently at USCIS and we hope to hear an update in the next two weeks.  Despite feeling pretty frustrated, I'm pretty proud of the way we've handled this minor setback and how we've kept ourselves relatively busy.  

So, what's one thing that we've done in the last three weeks? 

Bonnaroo.

Yes, that's right, after all these years of saying I would never go, I wound up going. For the past couple of years, it's become a tradition for the Cooper siblings to camp at Bonnaroo and attend the entire event, with most years even including Austin's dad (Skip).  I always said it wasn't my scene and never had any desire to attend.  The only exception to that was if Jack Johnson ever made his way back to the farm, then I might consider it.  The scheduled headliner this year was Mumford & Sons and while I like their music, I wasn't the least bit sad thinking that I would miss their performance.  On Thursday night, I heard on local radio that their bassist had been hospitalized with an aneurysm and they might not be able to perform.  Rumors began swirling as to who the replacement would be and by Friday night, it was official--Jack Johnson was going to be the replacement headliner.  Austin was already there and we began texting about whether or not I should try to find a ticket.  By Saturday morning, I had almost convinced myself that the whole process of finding a legitimate ticket along with the logistics of trying to get myself there was just too much to deal with.  Austin and I continued to text until Saturday afternoon when I took a chance and looked on StubHub.   They had ten tickets remaining.  I could hear the advice of my sweet friend Melissa who days before had said to me:  "Abby--if you have anything you want to do before Shay comes home, do it now."  I thought this was one of those opportunities to be spontaneous and within 30 minutes, I had bought a ticket, packed an overnight bag, grabbed my pillow and arranged Skip to pick up me up in Murfreesboro and drive me down.  Less than two hours from when I bought  the ticket, I was standing in Centeroo with Austin, Chase, Olivia and JD.     


It turned out to be an absolute blast--seriously, it was so much fun!

Yes, it's pretty gross there.  
Yes, there are some strange people doing strange things.  
Yes, there are lots of hippies (which I happen to sorta like).  
But you know what?  It was pretty much awesome. 
We sang at the top of our lungs, we danced crazily, we avoided being crushed by people crowd surfing, and we laughed to the point that I couldn't catch my breath.  

We made memories.  

In the pit, waiting on
Jack Johnson to begin

It was one of those moments where I know I will look back years from now and smile thinking about it.  I realize that once Shay comes home, I know life will be a new kind of wonderful, but it also will be different.  Last minute plans to attend Bonnaroo aren't so easy to work out when you have a little one at home.  And while I am desperately waiting for that day to arrive, I'm thankful in the meantime to be making memories that I'll cherish for a lifetime.  

One of my favorite Jack Johnson songs (and there are a lot) is Better Together. If you don't know the song, take a listen.  The lyrics below have lots of significance for where Austin and I find ourselves.


Love is the answer,
At least for most of the questions in my heart
Like why are we here? And where do we go?
And how come it's so hard?
It's not always easy and
Sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together

We truly are better together.  

A Reason To Hope

After months of silence, news concerning our court case arrived on Tuesday

morning.  As I was leaving for work, I received an email from The Home of God's Love (the orphanage in Taiwan serving as the legal "arm" of our adoption) stating that were missing some required paperwork.  A few months back, we were notified via mail about a new process USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration) was implementing for Taiwan.  It's called a PAIR (pre-adoption immigration review) process and it went into effect April 1st of this year (if you are interested, you can read more about it here).  Our court case was filed in late March, therefore, we (wrongly) thought we were exempt.  As it turns out, our court case was filed in one province prior to that date, however, it was transferred to another province (to Taitung) after April 1st.  As a result, the courts wanted to see our PAIR documentation.  The email stated they were sending the required documentation via FedEx.  I rushed home after work yesterday only to find the package had not been delivered because a signature was required.  I met Austin near our exit and picked up the form and headed right back to Nashville to get our package.  

As soon as I got back in the car at FedEx, I ripped into the package.  The amazing part of this?  Inside this package was information about Shay and his birth family we may not have ever known.  I know the name of the clinic where he was born, what tribe he is from, and maybe most importantly, I have have a written account from his birth mother on why she decided to put him up for adoption.  This is an amazing gift that I will blog more about later.

I called USCIS as soon as they opened this morning, only to be transferred and be forced to leave a voicemail.  

Fail.

I wish I could describe the mental and emotional energy it takes to spend trying to understand the legal/government part of this process.  It makes me want to pull my hair out at times because it shouldn't be this hard.  After several phone attempts and finally finding an email address for USCIS, I got some information.  

When we filed our immigration paperwork, it was the I-600A form (that "A" is really important) which is required for Non-Hauge countries.  We received approval for that in late December.  The email stated that we now have to file an I-600 form (which is a totally different form that the I-600A) and submit the following documents along with it:

1. Evidence of availability for intercountry adoption generated by the Taiwan island-wide database 
2. Signed adoption agreement between birth parents and prospective adoptive parents for use in Taiwan District Family courts 
3. Power of attorney appointing the Taiwan ASP to represent the prospective adoptive parents

Thankfully, all this needed documentation was part of the package we received last night.  So tonight, Austin drove to my office after work and we spent over an hour completing the form and making copies for our records.  After that, we drove to FedEx and had the package sent overnight to USCIS in Lewisville, Texas.  Per the email I received late this afternoon, it could take up to four weeks for USCIS approval........

 

Sigh.

 

And that my friends, makes for a looooonnnngggg 24 hours.  I'm pretty proud that I only had two major meltdowns, one of which my case worker (Jeff) had to witness over the phone (sorry about that).  Despite all this, we are one step closer to bringing our son home.  No matter how hard this is, no matter the roadblocks we run into, we will never ever give up. Shay is our son and we will keep fighting until we can bring him home.

 

Please join us in praying that our case will be expedited and that it will not take four weeks to receive approval.

 

Love you all! 

PS--For those of you that know us well, you know Austin and I both love music and it's constantly on at our house.  As I was writing this post tonight, we were listing to Ron Pope's song A Reason to Hope.  It seemed very fitting for the title of this post.