Hello everyone! Just wanted to post an update since I've had quite an interesting journey so far.
Got the NOA2 from USCIS on 9/6/22 and was excited. 2 months went by and I hadn't heard from the NVC. I emailed them, but they said they had not yet received anything from USCIS. I got my immigration lawyer to check in as well and ultimately the USCIS would not check on our case until the 90 day mark. They made us wait 3 months. I had to contact my local congressman to help us check in on it. This helped quite a bit and would recommend for anyone else with a lagging case. The congressman was proactive and gave updates and insights we would have never otherwise had. Turns out the USCIS had forwarded our case to the Miami Asylum Office. Why? I don't know. They eventually sent it back to California where it belonged.
Then the 90 days were up. I contacted UCSIS again, this time they put in a Service Request for our case. Basically just a note to check in on our case. If we didn't hear anything in 30 days, we were to follow up with another inquiry. 30 days later, still nothing. I called again and they put in another Service Request. At this point our Congressman is still following up also. Finally, at the end of that second 30 day period, after 4 months of waiting, the day before our NOA2 approval expires... the NVC received our case.
Since then it's been smooth sailing and our case has been given an ID number and has now arrived at the embassy. We will fill out the forms and schedule the interview soon! I write all this in case there is anyone else like me who hit a bump in the road and couldn't find a lot of info. Just keep up on it, be persistent, and it should get though the system. Hope this helps someone!