Embassy Visit

Yesterday morning we prayed as a family, before Cory and I headed to the truck at 4:30 a.m.

We arrived at the Embassy without any problems shortly after 6 a.m. and joined the line by 6:30 a.m. Far better to be early and not stressing than to arrive late in our opinions.

As we waited, we looked around now and then expecting a worker from the orphanage to come up and introduce himself, but this did not happen. I prayed for him not knowing where he was.

With our appointment letter, we smoothly entered through the security check points and did not wait more than 10 minutes before being called up to the widow to turn in our documents.

The lady who accepted the papers told us with a smile that she was from Port Margot! And she knew the Wesleyan campus and hospital. She helped us complete our I-600 form by answering the few questions we had about our situation.

Then we sat for a longer wait, before being called up again to a window for our interview. Smiles greeted us from this employee as well as she learned how long we'd lived in Haiti, and that we could converse in Creole. Soon we received our paperwork and were on our way.

As soon as we exited the Embassy, we noticed a young man waiting beyond the barrier. He had been told our appointment was at 10 a.m. not 7 a.m.

We talked a bit and noted a couple of things that needed to be looked into or changed. He plans to turn in some of his paperwork today at the Embassy.

On June 30th, F and his mom or aunt have an appointment at the Embassy for his visa. By August 25, if possible, 15 different documents need to be submitted on F's behalf. This includes the paperwork proving that we've adopted F in Haiti.

 If the adoption is not yet complete, then we will need to file an extension. Easy to do we're told, most often several extension periods are needed due to the slowness of the process, but we're praying that F can come home as soon as possible.

At the top of this page under the tab labeled 'Steps' you can find the process as we understand it. Now both phase two [Haitian adoption] and phase three [USA visa] are in progress.

How long?? Only the Lord knows. The very fastest we've heard from someone in the Facebook group is 3 months from socialization to visa...but most people continue to exit IBESR for many months before even starting the adoption process in Haitian courts, so it is possible that we may wait for another year or more.

Keep praying!

Praising the Lord!

On Thursday, May 7, we received an E-mail from our agency asking us to please make a 'quick call'.

Our hopes soared while we tried to hold them back not wanting to be disappointed if the call happened to be about paperwork and not a referral.

PRAISE the Lord! Our referral paperwork was signed on May 5th. While the translation of the letter would take another day, we could read the French, learning our son's name and age.

We do not feel at liberty to share details at this time over the computer, will refer to him as F for now.

We will share that the details came together rapidly and after a phone conversation Friday afternoon with the mission director, we excitedly packed and traveled for our required socialization trip on Saturday.

So in less than 48 hours we received our referral and met him in person!

Very exciting. We stayed on the same campus as the crèche and were able to spend some time in the mornings and afternoons with F and his foster family. 

Cory and I reviewed his paperwork on Monday and then traveled to a notary in Cap Haitian on Tuesday to sign our acceptance letters. The letters were scanned that same day and sent to the agencies. 

During our time, the staff person from Haiti's social services came twice. The first time he watched us interact on the playground with F and some of his friends and the second time he asked us a few questions.

See the normal family blog for other activities during our visit. 

We enjoyed getting to know F, seeing him in various parts of his day, interacting with his foster family and the people on the compound. We learned about his personality from stories and pictures, as well as spending time with him. 

F will not be directly told we're his new family until the adoption is near completion. Then his house parents will start sharing pictures close to when we return to pick him up.  However, he's very observant and smart, so he may have an idea.

Because of this, we tried to act as visitors and play with the other children in the home as well, but our attachment started and grew with every encounter. 

His eyes sparkle with intelligence and mischief many times during the day, so watch out world!

We ask for an Embassy visa appointment the day-after missionary retreat so we would not need to travel again down to Port. [The missionary retreat will be held about 1 hour from the Embassy and over four hours from our home.] 

So we plan to be in line at the USA Embassy by 6:30 a.m. on May 26th. This will be to start the process of obtaining F's visa to travel to the USA and for him to become a US citizen. 

At the same time, our paperwork now along with F's will need to negotiate the various and complicated steps of a Haitian adoption. Only the Lord knows how long this may take, but we heard of a recent case moving very fast from the bonding trip to visa in three months....on the other extreme, some people may still be waiting to exit IBESR and get into the courts for over a  year.

Lord knows. Still praying for His timing.

• Translation French to English of F's paperwork this week for Embassy appointment
• Timely Exit IBESR
• Courts/ Haitian adoption
• I-600 Visa appointment-next week
• Translation of home study update and other steps.

Update

Sorry for not blogging.

Late last week we learned of a trip we needed to make and it fit best in our schedule to travel the next day.

So on Saturday we headed out. Anna played on two volleyball teams (15-16 year olds and 17-18 year olds, younger kids can play on the older kids teams, they won one and lost one) in Cap Haitian and then we continued on our trip.

Everyone is doing wonderful and making memories.

Some down time, some scheduled time as we interact with other missionaries as well as have a chance to help by teaching some Haitian staff and neighbors.

Internet is slow.

Becca, Global Partner's member care person for missionary children, will be joining us on Thursday.

On  Monday we plan to return home. Depending on an appointment we're trying to set up in Port-au-Prince we will either travel on Wed. or Thursday. [Wed. if we get a Thursday appointment]

The area retreat will be starting Thursday night as we join all the current Wesleyan missionaries living in Haiti as well as 4 new couples/families working on their support to come.

Thank you for your prayers. Will update when we can but may not be until next week.

God can.

As Watchman Nee put it in The Normal Christian Life:
“It is not a case of trying but of trusting; not of struggling but of resting in him.”

God knows. God cares. God can.

These words came today in a devotional e-mail from the Christian Medical and Dental Association.

I needed to hear them. I know I can't try to rest. I can't work at trusting....not really. I need to rest in Him.

Ask Him to help me trust more, rest more, increase my faith and peace.

As our time in Haiti winds down, I need to focus more and more on the Lord.

Surrounding myself with encouraging music helps to keep away the negative thoughts.

Never dreamed we would be in a race to fit in a bonding trip in the final days of this term...but maybe we are not.

Only the Lord knows if we will get the referral in time to fit in the trip.

Can He? YES, He can.

Will He?? Time will tell. We still want His plan, His timing, His way.

The last couple of weeks a few small issues came to light...with our paperwork, a missing staple delayed our home-study update paperwork, one number off by one means redoing a page, filling an empty spot on a template letter raised false hopes.

Nothing big.

Small frustrations.

Not road blocks, just detours.

Thank you for your prayers.

Ups and downs.

No call today....sigh but some adoption paperwork news, both bad and good.

Bad news first.

We asked the agency who did our home study and update to send it for the notary authentication in California before sending it on to my folks. [Then needs translation and then will be sent to the Haitian consulate in Chicago before going to our agency and to Haiti.


Well that was plan A. Today we received the notice that the letter made it to Michigan but when mom sent us the scanned papers one was a letter stating that the home-study could not be authenticated because it was not stapled together.  SIGH.

So many e-mails back to the agency and my folks resulted in Plan B...folks will send all the papers they received today back to the agency who will staple together the home-study and resend it for authentication and then back to Michigan, again.

Good news. We already have the 11 page updated home-study and now the 1 page update scanned so we contacted the lady who translated everything for us back in 2013. She still translates and can get it done in the next few weeks...then when the authentication paper for the notary comes she will do that so we can send both language copies to Chicago.

Will be asking the translator to also translate our 1-page acceptance letter [leaving blanks to be filled in once we know who, when, where....].

Good news. Due to no mail plane coming on Tuesday we received this week's mail today and it included our I-600a renewal from the U.S.CIS, department of homeland security.

Already scanned and send to our agency. Now have until mid-Nov. to get a referral and file for a I-600 before it expires.

I blogged today about the building referral anticipation on our 'normal' blog... here.

Today we entered the 'get creative and change up plans' zone for our bonding trip. While we can still fit in the two week visit to the orphanage we will need to fit some ministry plans into the picture.

Have not heard of any referrals this week but still holding hope out for tomorrow. Thanks for the prayers.

Daily IBESR visits...

First a bit of review:

• Our USA agency did not receive renewal of their license to continue to work in Haiti
• They did confirm that they could complete the cases that entered IBESR
• Three cases, including ours wait for referral.
• The agency representative started out visiting IBESR twice a month to check for progress, then twice a week.

Now the cases, within a couple signatures of completing the referral letter could be done any day. 

With the 14 day limit to have the acceptance letter [or refusal] back to IBESR the pressure and responsibility on the representative increased significantly.

Interestingly, IBESR does not call the representative or e-mail the agency to let anyone know about the completion of the referral letter. 

Only when the representative physically shows up to ask will they release the letters. 

So the visits will now be a daily occasion by the agency's representative, increasing the costs.

Some prayer requests:

Representative: Will be healthy. Safety in travel with no strikes or protests to block his path.  Motivation, resources to do the job well. Perfect timing of the visits.

IBESR: Sign papers. Everything done correctly. Work efficiently. Honesty and motivation. 

Paperwork: Done correctly. Not lost. Not damaged. Safe.

Agencies: Again timely and efficient work to get the referral to us. Phone call would come through.

     

Answers: Find answers, in a timely fashion, to questions specific to our unique case [due to living in Haiti]. 

Timing: Any travel needed would work well. Getting things set up and accomplished. Getting the letter back to IBESR in time.

Equipment: That the computers, phones and internet would continue to work well.

Our family: To use this time well, getting done what needs to be done without distractions.

Praying vigilantly, fervently and with gratitude for His plan, His power, His timing. 

Still waiting...

Today marks our 15th month in IBESR waiting for a referral and four weeks since the 'keep your phones on' e-mail.

Two days ago marked the 'two months before we fly to the USA' date.

Trying to wait well with complete confidence in the Lord's plan and timing has me asking more and more people for prayer.

I'll confess I find myself frequently reminding the Lord that a referral this week before the bonding trip in the next four weeks would be great. No need to fly back to Haiti for the bonding trip and to postpone/ cancel church visits or appointments. Both Eli and Anna could easier go with us [if allowed by the orphanage]. No additional costs for changing our flights or tacking on an extra trip.

My head knows that the Lord sees the bigger picture, loves us, knows the plan and has the power to execute the plan as He sees fit. My heart longs to jump up and down with hope and joy more than sitting calmly at His feet praising Him while I wait calmly.

I like to pray as specifically as I can but after years of praying for our adoption process, I'm finding myself running out of ways to keep saying, asking, thanking the Lord for the same issues, needs, and wants.

I want to move to the next step. I want to bargain with the Lord to move things along. I want to know facts. However, more than all that I want HIS WILL.

A dear friend who's walked this walk wrote me this last week: "And for the adoption.  I know that your logistics are different from ours here.  But I think every adopting parent has hoops that look impossible and horrible and strike terror to the heart.  But I can't get away from the fact that he led you this far.  And he isn't the kind who takes you into the middle of the Red Sea that is piled up on both sides, walking on dry ground, only to pull a trick and let the water come crashing down.  No.  He will get you ALL THE WAY across.  You WILL hold your children.  He will finish what he started.  He will hold you up until it is done.  And then some more."

So pray for me.

Pray for us, to be content in the wait, knowing 100% that the Lord's way is best. He's actively interceding for our family and our child/children.

Pray that we can praise Him wholeheartedly, giving Him the honor and praise that only His deserves.

Pray we can keep our eyes on Him and not get distracted. That we can focus during our days on the opportunities before us to serve Him with love and joy filled hearts.

He cares for the flowers, animals and knows the hairs on each head. He loves each of us with an unconditional love. He cares for me, you and each life.

Thank you for joining us in prayer.

P.S. Someone on the Facebook group posted that IBESR may start up parent interviews again in May.