Good news! Bad news!

Short and sweet tonight.

First, the good news.
We got our written orders! YES!!! We don't know for sure, but this should also mean the social services agency in India applied for her passport. If that is the case, we could already be a few days into the passport process. There were internet problems on the India side so the written orders were actually given a few days ago. We are just learning of them this evening. The passport process is supposed to take 2-4 weeks. I will believe that when I see it. Once the passport is completed, we can contact the consulate in India to schedule the necessary dates. Once that is done, we can arrange our travel. In theory, this could take place in the next 4-6 weeks. Again, I will believe it when I see it.

Now, the bad news.
Those stinking fingerprints I have mentioned repeatedly expire February 2, 2011. We have gotten our homestudy updated but that update contains the old dates of our original Ohio and FBI fingerprints along with our child abuse background checks. Our agency has requested that we begin pursuing those updates as well. It is possible that USCIS will approve the federal fingerprint extension without these updates. If so, we can move on as planned. If they require these updates before approving the extension, everything comes to a screeching halt until those updates are returned. We heard word recently that the child abuse background checks which usually take less than 30 days are currently running about 3 months. That could mean that India would be ready for us to travel in perhaps 6 weeks, but that the US will not allow that travel to take place for 3-4 months. That would be crushing.

We have a simple, but clear prayer request.
That CIS will approve our fingerprint extension without needing the extra updates. If the updates are needed, that they would be processed quickly.