USCIS and Kente

Well, we finally received our final, notarized homestudy this afternoon. I picked it up, and then headed directly to the USCIS (immigration) office to file our I-600A. The people at our USCIS office were SO nice! Since our child is already identified, they are expediting the processing of our application, and expect to have it ready by early next week! They fingerprinted me immediately, which was an unexpected bonus, and are fingerprinting my husband tomorrow. Our dossier is ready except for that I-171H form, so as soon as receive it, everything will finally go off to Ghana!

More family news - I have been wanting a kitten ever since my beloved Shaundy died (he was 17, and had a good, long life). I have never owned a kitten - all my cats came to me as adults. But, when he died, we got 2 puppies instead. That was 2 1/2 years ago. This weekend, Lydia stayed over at a friend's house, and when I picked her up, we got to see 3 brand-new, 9-hour-old kittens! Though those particular kittens are not ready to leave their mommy, it gave the girls kitten cravings, too. My husband said, "No more cats!"

Then...the next morning I found him searching on Craigslist for a long time. When I asked what he was doing, he said that since he has been taking our girls fishing recently, he wanted to look for a used little boat. Hmmmm......I smiled and said that if he was going to get a boat, I should at least be able to have a little kitten! I caught him at the right time - he said yes! So, the girls and I went to the Humane Society while he went to look at the boat he wanted to buy. He got the boat. We got a kitten. (The kitten is cuter than his boat!)

So, I am glad to announce the arrival our our new, 8-week-old orange tabby. She is sweet and cuddly, smart and already well-trained to use the litterbox! After much deliberation, we named her Kente Claudia Hertz. Her first name is the name of the beautiful handwoven cloth for which Ghana is famous. Her middle name is to honor one my all-time favorite cats - a darling little orange tabby named Claudia that one of my best friends used to have.

Kente looks just like Claudia, except she does not have Claudia's little white tip on her tail.Kente likes to cuddle - she nestles between my shoulder and neck and purrs so sweetly. We've been keeping her in a dog crate when we're gone, to protect her from our other animals and from any other dangers. But, today, we found out that she has learned how to squeeze through the bars and escape! Those bars are only about an inch apart - it was unbelievable to watch her squish her little head and body right through!

So, without further adieu, I present Kente (and Kente cloth for those of you who haven't seen it):

Hugs,

Jeanie