Done!!!!! Praise the Lord.

Seeing sibling's photos on a church wall.

Door to Adoption Opened: 6 years,1 month, 1 week, and 3 days.

First application paperwork in the mail until receiving Fritzlin's American passport in the mail: 5 years, 5 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days.

We will continue to pray for adoption paperwork to move forward, now it will be for the other kids that Fritzlin shared foster homes with or other families as we are finally done.

We will be heading home to Haiti the middle of this month, starting a new phase of life at Délice.

For the first time in over 6 years we can travel at will!

It really does not feel real.

The waiting is over.

So many answered prayers.


Thank you to all who supported us through this journey, through: prayers, help with paperwork, encouragement, and sharing the ups and downs.

First day of second grade. 

Fritzlin was more excited to see the eagle in his American passport than the one sheet of paper that is his certificate of citizenship. He was jumping up and down saying 'Now I'm an American.'

Campus Cookout for Anna's class

Free pizza for library summer reading program.

So he's been an American for a while, but now he's an American who can travel across boarders!

Very exciting as we're getting close to our final week in USA and preparing to return to Haiti.

All that remains is to receive all the documents we sent in for his passport and to send off some copies to our adoption agency.

Praise the Lord, through Who all blessings flow!

Sept. 2013. Home-study paperwork.

We learned and changed so much through this journey.

So many things we did not know or expect back six years ago.

We experienced almost every emotion from positives to negatives and sometimes several in just a few hours time.

We will forever be grateful to the Lord for allowing us the privilege of being Fritzlin's family.

    For being part of the family of God.

For opening so many closed doors on our behalf that finally allowed Fritzlin to join our family.

Thank you Lord.

Prayer Request & Week 10 in USA.

Fritzlin continues to do very well with all the major changes that come with living in the USA.

 Lots of interesting things to do:

• Open-house and 4th of July parties
• 10 church visits so far. Children's church
• Visits with family- including Fritz's second forster family. Plan to meet with his first foster family next week. 
• Medical visits: eye doctor, dentist, health department, labs. ALL GOOD!
• Swimming, library, garage sales, restaurants
• Lots of new foods and different types of ice cream.
• TV shows...not enough TV time but we figure that is typical for 7 year olds.
• Visiting Lake Michigan

We even have managed to complete first grade math and are very close to finishing up hand-writing and reading.

Our agency and other experts tell us that because of the way the paperwork was filed and visa given that Fritzlin IS an American citizen. 

BUT....because we also live outside of the USA there is a grey area. 

We have been asked to submit additional documentation. At this time if nothing changes Fritzlin will not be getting a Certificate of Citizenship.

We are not totally clear what that would mean in the future.

We have all the papers needed to get Fritzlin's American passport but if then he would receive a green card things would be very complicated.

So while he is an American....getting the paperwork to prove it, his Certificate of Citizenship, could be 'challenging'. 

We hope to be able to return to Haiti shortly after Eli and Anna start college classes on September 4th. 

I'll post here for adoption specific issues and rare updates.

To follow Friztlin's adjustment and our family, click the tab at the top of this page labeled 'Blog' to go to our normal ministry/family updates.

Thank you for your prayers. 

Captian Curious arrives in America!

We packed up and moved the last of our belongs from the neighbor's house to our house on Monday.

Tuesday we traveled to Fauche to deliver Anna's cat for the summer and have a going-away party.

Wednesday we returned to COTP and spent some time with Fritzlin's last foster family. Lots of laughs and fun until the good-byes.

Thursday morning Fritzlin was not feeling well at all so we picked up some cough medicine before heading to the airport.


Fritzlin just wanted to sleep.

On the plane he did get to meet the pilot and see the cockpit.

ECHO's goats

After that he napped-turning off the movie and refusing anything to eat or drink.

Once in the Miami airport, waiting for more than an hour began, as we slowly worked our way forward through the Immigration line.

Poor Fritzlin would move from post to post so that he could rest his head on his hands.

Once we reached the front of the line we were taken to a smaller room for Immigration. I'd only enough time to give him a dose of medication before his name was called and we moved into a second room.  In a few minutes we were handed back his Haitian passport and told we could go.

Fritzlin perked up a bit as we made our way to the rental car. Once in the car he fell asleep. Not even a Wendy's Frosty could keep him awake after the first bite. His breathing was rapid and difficult.

He slept soundly all night.


The next couple days were filled with friends, family, and TON's of questions.

Starting day 5 now, and Fritzlin has enjoyed ice cream every day so far!

This week we will be at our Area Retreat with other Global Partners folks before heading to Michigan.

Thank you so very much for the prayers!

Keep them up as we bond with family and learn so much about the bigger world.

Visa Approved!!!

The picture taken for the visa...

Celebrating tonight that Fritzlin's visa to American has been approved!


We will travel to Port au Prince on Friday to pick up the visa at the US Embassy. Will let them know tomorrow so that Cory's name can be on the list to get in without a long wait on Friday.

Only one more piece of paper to go, an exit letter from IBESR that should only take a day or so..

We plan to fly out in early May to attend our Global Partner's area retreat in Florida.

Working on summer plans for after that!

Very excited to finally be at this step.

The type of visa issued means that as soon as we enter the USA we will meet with the officals and Fritzlin will be an American citizen before we leave the airport.

We will then wait to receive his Certificate of Citizenship.

Thank you for the prayers.

Medical and Embassy visits.

Medical visit went OK once everyone who needed to be there arrived. A communication misstep had us waiting for 3 hours at the doctor's office before everything came together: us, embassy letter, staff member, Fritzlin's passport, and most improtant Fritzlin.

Then the actual visit took about one hour. Fritz enjoyed a sucker but not the TB skin test placement. It was great to see and personally hold his Haitian passport for a bit and read Frtizlin Thede, all spelled correctly!

Then a needed second errand came to light as photos were needed for the next day's Embassy visit and for IBESR. So off to the photo studio we all went...and more waiting.

Tuesday morning in front of the US Embassy, adoption cordniator for COTP joined us, the first (Port au Prince based) staff person, and Fritz with all the needed paperwork for the final visa interview. I stayed in the truck and prayed, and prayed, and prayed some more.

Praise the Lord ! No further information was requested...because Fritz had already seen the doctor they kept his passport. The first staff member will bring the medical report when it is completed and then we should hear in 3-5 business days.

Moringa tree where I waited for them at the Embassy.

Wednesday morning we did a return trip to the doctor for the skin test to be read. Then once the report is completed and placed in an envelope it can be/was picked up and delivered to the Embassy.

Results were not shared with us and should the envelope be opened before reaching the Embassy the process would be delayed.

Not sure when or if the report has been delivered so we continue to pray for favorable results and the issuing of Fritz's visa so we can travel.

Once the visa is issued we will return to Port-au-Prince to personally pick up Fritz's passport complete with visa in it for travel to the USA, along with a sealed packet of papers for entry into the USA.

Waiting is hard at this point...you'd think after 5 years, 3 weeks, and 5 days that we would be at professional patience levels but seems we are running thin. Thank you for the prayers-we know that the Lord has used each prayer to get us to this point!

I-600 Approval !!

During yesterday's lunch break, to our great delight, an email  informed us that Fritzlin's I600 visa application had been approved!!!

 A second email included the next steps...how to fill out needed forms; set up the medical appointment; and what is needed for the Embassy interview.

We celebrated with our traditional cheesecake.



Next week staff members, Fritzlin, and we will travel early Monday for the medical appointment in Port-au-Prince; go to the Embassy for the final interview on Tuesday morning; and Wed. will return to the medical clinic to have his TB skin test read.

After the interview...there may be additional information needed to be researched or resolved before the visa can be issued or they may only need the final medical report. Once all information is in place there will be a short 2-5 business day wait while the final paperwork is prepared.

Then Fritzlin would be able to travel with our family to the USA and he will become an American citizen when he enters the USA. We plan to travel in early May to join other Global Partners missionaries in Florida for our area retreat.

This morning we awoke to no internet. Very thankful that we were able to get it working again so that we could work on the needed forms and paperwork for Fritz's visa.

Picture from before we met. 

Prayers:

• Good travels for all involved
• Political stability and no protests to interfere with any of the travel or appointments
• Good medical report
• No additional information needed for the visa
• or rapidly getting any information needed for the visa
• Getting travel set up for the area retreat and summer plans

News on Kris' fingerprints

You may remember that we started asking prayer for fingerprint renewal for F's visa back last spring in May because they were set to expire on June 29th.

We heard that Cory's fingerprints were refreshed a few months later. But they could not find mine due to my name being hyphenated.

So every month or so we've emailed our social worker...and then she would send off an email to the Embassy adoption folks asking about my prints.

Well today we received an email from the adoption unit that the reivew of F's adoption chart is done but as my fingerprints are outdated I am required to travel to the Embassy on Friday morning to be fingerprinted.

The email said ' as you know, we previously tried to refresh your fingerprints and the process failed'...well we did not know but now we do.


So we plan to head down the mountain starting around 4 a.m. on Friday morning so that I can be in the line early close to 7am. Then we will do a bit of house build shopping or if it would happen to work out, to go to an office to get an appointment for our held-up residental visa renewal for Haiti.

Thank you for the prayers. There have been some protests recently in Port so we hope that by going early we can avoid problems and major traffic issues.

They also asked for a copy of F's passport for the file.

This is being enquired about by the staff.

Thanks for the prayers. Every step we get a bit closer.

Passport Picked Up !

Thankful to receive news today that the staff have Fritzlin's passport in hand.

Next step will be travel to Port-au-Prince for Fritz's medical exam.

Because of the TB skin test that will need to be read two days after placement it will likely mean two nights in Port and a day of shopping in between.

We are now at the half-way point for the estimated time for the review of his visa application.

No request for further evidence yet so that is good news....no word at all so we continue to wait and pray.

Our 'paper pregnancy' now stands at 4 years 11 months 1 week and 2 days...since the day our first paperwork was in the mail.

So really a bit longer than that as we had to fill in all the forms before mailing them.

Passport done but not picked up.

After asking a couple times this week about any passport news, as we've been waiting for seven weeks,  we heard today that Fritz's passport is done.

The lawyer who went again to ask about it and received the news could not pick it up as she did not have the original receipt.

So the one staff member who can pick it up, Ivinge, with the receipt in hand will go to try.

Once he has the passport in his possession, he will tell our social worker who will relay the information to us.

Will be very exciting to see that cute face in a passport-representing one more step toward being able to travel together as a family.

The agency tells us that sometimes when Ivinge goes to pick up passports he's turned away, being told that the requested passport is not ready.

So praying that we hear soon that the passport has been turned over to the agency.

So far no word from USCIS office about our visa. We are 1/3 done with the 'estimated 6 week processing time'.

Praying that the review is going well. So far no request for additional evidence or information.

Document Review

We entered passports just after Christmas and were told that they were taking about two weeks...figured that the holidays would extend that a bit.

Here we are on the last day of January, over a month in passports and still no word.

Our agency informed us today that they have 'enlisted the assistance' of a team at the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince to try to 'push things along'.

They know of no issues on our end that are holding up Fritzlin's passport and we know of others waiting more than 2-3 weeks as well.

[Facebook chatter about passport books being out...if so praying that more arrive soon.]

So we wait....

We also received word today from the USCIS office in Port that they are currently reviewing our adoption documentation.

They will contact us if they have any questions or require any additional information.

The approximate time line for processing I-600 visas is 6 weeks.
"Maybe longer if the adoption was finalized outside of Port-au-Prince".

My head reminds me that 'approximate' can mean much longer.....at this point you think I would be good at waiting but honestly 'six weeks' sounds like a long time.

So we pray and wait.

Our 'adoption paperwork pregnancy' timeline  stands at 4 years, 10 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days...and counting.

This count starting on the day the first paperwork was mailed, not the start of our adoption journey.

Prayers:

• Passport
• No delay or issues with I-600 visa [fast would be GREAT!]
• Timely medical appointment in Port
• Visa appointment: same trip as medical
• Keeping a good attitude as we wait to be able to make travel plans. 

Happy New Year from Passports

Happy 2018!!

On January 4th, we received an email informing us that after Christmas Fritzlin's passport application was turned in and a number received.

Around that same time I read about a family who was told that their child's Haitian passport was delayed because of a lack of ink.

We've heard a few times since starting the adoption process about delays due to lack of ink or lack of the passport booklets. Thankfully we heard since then that the passport ink was located.

So we continue to wait. We belive that the next steps [providing that we do not get delayed due to Kris' fingerprints or name misspellings] after Fritz's passport, will be his traveling to Port for a medical exam and a final visa exam.

Then an exit letter will be provided and we can travel internationally.

It will be great to know we can travel as a family! We plan to travel to the USA after Fritz has his visa and he will become an American citizen when we pass through imigration in the airport.

At this point, assuming we can travel in the next few months we don't plan to go all the way to Michigan. Because Anna is now planning to attend college in the fall we would preferr to visit in the summer so we can help transition her to the USA.

Thank you for your prayers. We enter 2018 with high hopes to finally reach the end of the adoption paperwork that we started in 2012/2013.

We pray that all the steps will continue to progress in a timely fashion.

We hope to be able to introduce Fritzlin personally to many of you when we travel to the USA, likely combining Anna's high school graduation celebration with one to celebrate and introduce Fritz.

Keep watching for updates.