In between

"Do you have children?"

It's a simple conversation starter, and for most of the world, the answer is yes.



But for those of us who don't share our lives with tiny people, it can be a hard question to be asked repeatedly. I've answered it a variety of ways depending on who I was talking with. Most people took my short "no" or "not yet" at face value and moved on. Some pressed for more information such as "don't you want kids" or "why don't you want a family?" or my personal favorite, "oh, so you are a career woman, are you?"

I've had my answers down pat for years. But I stumbled today when I was asked "do you have children?" I wasn't sure how to answer! None of my routine answers quite fit. I'm sure she thought I was a bit loopy because I paused before answering.

I'm bursting at the seams and want to shout yes, we have a child! But I feel like there's a giant asterisk hovering over my head when I say that--we have a child but we haven't met him yet and are waiting to bring him home from Korea.

The conversation went fine, and I explained that we were in the process of having children.

But I don't like this in-between phase. Almost a family, and not yet a family. I'm so ready to get this show on the road.

I know, I know...soon.

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On the paperwork front (which is why I'm probably a bit grumpy) I found out yesterday that our I-600 has been sitting in Madison since March 7. We shipped it to Madison on March 4 where it should have taken a few days to get the interstate compact clearance and then be forwarded to USCIS for immigration clearances. However, the interstate stuff is taking a LONG time for some reason. And so our paperwork sits in Madison. How frustrating. Hoping to hear this week that it was finally sent to USCIS.

Estimates for getting clearances through USCIS have varied greatly. I know some folks who recently got their I-600 approved in 10 days! Our agency said about 30 days, but they always give the worst case scenario. Fingers crossed for the 10 days clearance time.