M ap Pratike Kreyol mwen (I am practicing my Kreyol)

OK. Bear with me on this one. Another mom who is adopting 5 children from Haiti, that is on another chat group that I'm on started another chat group for those learning or wanting to learn Kreyol. That's the language that they speak in Haiti, and is sort of a combination of French and African languages. I at least want to learn a little. Our children will probably be home before they're talking too much (at least I hope so :), but they will be so confused, that I want to be able to talk to them a little in Kreyol, even though they'll pick up English very quickly. Also, maybe when we go to Haiti, we'll be able to talk with others, such as the nannies, other children, and possibly if we get to meet Elijah and/or Josephine's birth parents. So here goes...

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M ap Pratike entwodiksyon mwen an Kreyol...
(I am practicing my introduction in Kreyol...)

Bonjou tout moun,
(Hello everyone,)

Mwen rele Lisa.
(My name is Lisa)

Mari mwen, Jock, e mwen gen youn petit fi kounje a (Kaylen - 4),
(My husband, Jock, and I have one daughter now (Kaylen - 4),)

e nou ap adopte de petit:
(and we are adopting two children:)

Ralph (nou ap nonmen li Elijah), 1, e
(Ralph, (we will name him Elijah), 1, and)

Celena (nou ap nonmen li Josephine), mwa 3,
(Celena, (we will name her Josephine), 3 months)

pou Port au Prince, Ayiti.
(from Port au Prince, Haiti.)
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And, I'll be trying to figure out pronunciation of this too - YIKES!

Elijah & Josephine

OK - We've finally decided for sure - on the first names at least. We know if you've been keeping up with our news recently, and especially if you've been talking to us about it, you're at least thinking about our son as "Ralph". Well, we decided that we're doing the same thing - getting used to calling him Ralph, when that's not what his name is going to be. So we decided to finally share their first names - Elijah & Josephine. We'll have to let you know later what their middle names are going to be, but at least we can start getting used to calling them by the names we'll give them when their adoptions are final.

Ralph & Celena

Here's the first picture of Ralph we received - it's the un-cropped version of what's on the orphanage website. You can see in the background more of the baby room he's in - the stacked double-decker cribs, lots of saucers and swings. Pay no attention to the date on the photo - I heard from a few other moms who were in Haiti that they tried to correct and/or remove the date from the digital camera, to no avail. I think this was probably taken in early June 2007, when he was 10 months old. His mom brought him to the orphanage on May 28th, because she cannot care for him, and his father will not provide support.

This is the un-cropped version of the picture of Celena from the website. It's the only picture we have of her so far, and it looks like they got the date function on the camera corrected - or they used a different camera. :) Celena just arrived at the orphanage June 27th (incidentally, that's the day our dossier arrived at the orphanage as well). Her mother died, and her father does not have the means to care for her.

And here's the proud big sister. I started talking with her about her little brother and sister this evening, and also showed her the pictures. I'm not sure she understands it all quite yet, but we'll get there. I'm sure she'll bring it up and talk a little bit about it and ask more questions in the next week or so. It will be interesting what questions we'll get from her daycare teachers as well. She tends to tell encrypted messages to them and they are so confused! When we did our home study update back in April, they asked us later that day what she meant - something about an important meeting about a brother and sister. So funny how things come out! She knows a lot more than we think sometimes!

Our Babies in Haiti...

We have been praying about a baby girl for the last couple weeks, while we've been waiting on more information and lab results for her. We received that information this evening, and she's healthy. We have the referral paperwork, which we will sign and send in tomorrow.

Kaylen's little brother and sister are Ralph & Celena. (Well, these are their names currently. Still working on the names we'll give them, but will let you know soon.) Ralph will be a year old on August 4th. Celena is nearly 3 months old - was born just a week before my 30th birthday, on May 3rd.

We'll also be posting pictures of them soon, but you should be able to find them on the orphanage/facilitator's website, under the "Meet the Children" link on the left. Celena will probably still be under the "Available Babies" page for a few days yet, but Ralph has already been moved to the "Children in the process of being adopted" page. UPDATE: Celena has been moved over there already today (Weds 7/25). (Thanks for the update, Terry!) :)

I do have a few other pictures of Ralph that others have sent me. He arrived at the orphanage during the last orpganage mission trip in Late May/Early June, so a couple other adoptive moms sent me a few extra pictures, and their memory of his arrival. We don't have any other pictures of Celena yet. There is another mission group heading to Haiti in the next month or two, so I'll of course be begging those going to take more pictures and give our babies lots of love for us.

Sherline has a family

We found out last week that Sherline now has a forever family. Last week, her family announced their intentions to adopt her. We've been praying for her, and for her to have a family. She tested positive for HIV antibodies. They are aware of this, but felt comfortable after talking to several doctors and HIV specialists. When babies are born, they don't have their own antibodies - they have only their mom's. Her mom was HIV positive, so when testing only for antibodies, she will test positive, but may or may not actually have HIV herself. She will develop her own antibodies and lose her mom's, but that could take until she is 18-24 months old. I think there is also another test for HIV that does not only test for antibodies that could return negative. We'll continue to pray that her future HIV tests will return negative, and for her adoptive family. I can't imagine the committment they've made, and am so fortunate that Sherline has a forever family!

Processing in Haiti

The processor in Haiti is beginning to work on our paperwork for Ralph (we'll soon be announcing the name we're planning to give him). We were concerned that they'd get too far on it before we know who our baby girl is, and then we'd have to wait until he's home until we can start her processing. The director reassured me that this will not be the case. They know we've been planning to adopt two children from the start, and they'll definitely be processed together so they can come home together. I'm still trying to figure this all out, but we'll get there! Thanks everyone for your prayers, and keep it up!

New Baby Girl Referral Coming Soon...

I know you're all waiting for an update, but we don't really have any information yet. I know we've told you this before, but Friday when I contacted the director, it sounds as though we should have info on our baby girl this week. We're excited, but reservedly, as we're trying not to get our hopes up too high. We do have a name and a picture, but no info and no labs, so we will let you know when we have more info.

July 13, 2007 (again) - Jeremiah 29:11-13

I've known Jeremiah 29:11, and I think I've read several times the context it comes out of, but this is really cool - a sort of call to prayer if you will...

11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

July 13, 2007 - Cite Soleil (pronounced city so-lay)

Cite Soleil (actually Cite should have an accent over the e, but I don't know how to do that in html coding yet) is where Ralph is from. I've heard of the conditions there, and it's hard to describe it. I'll try though - it's one of the slums of Port au Prince. It is where many gangs reside/preside, and there was tons of violence there in the last few years - especially when Aristide left the contry and leading up to their elections. That's about all I can think of right now, but I'm sure if you "googled" it, you could find lots more information Cite Soleil and about Port au Prince and Haiti in general. I saw this YouTube (Thanks again Angela!) video that shows some of the conditions there. It's a bit geared towards the AIDS crisis because that is so common there and that is their particular mission there, but some of the pictures just make me cringe. You might have to push the play button twice.

July 11, 2007 (Take 2) - Why Haiti?!

Some of you have asked, some of you have not asked but probably have wondered, or maybe some of you have just understood without wondering, but thought we'd clear it up for you anyway - curiosity or not.

It's always been hard for us to put into words why we wanted to adopt from Haiti. It's been a feeling of being led there - it's just felt right. Another adoptive mom put it into words, and has graciously allowed me to steal shamelessly from her post, and revise her words slightly to fit our purposes. Part of her post also includes an article, and I'm sorry that I don't have the reference, but I'm sure you'd be able to find out the same or similar information if you did the research yourself...

Haiti is where God led us. It is where our children are that God is leading us to - two years ago, and again this spring. He just knew that Kaylen needed us first! All in His perfect timing!

Some statistics from the article that Angela quoted: Why Adopt From Haiti?Out of all the countries one could choose to adopt from, why would or should Haiti be considered? • Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and has been plagued by violence for most of its history. (The article author has) traveled to Viet Nam, Ethiopia, and Mexico, and still the poverty of Haiti shocked (the author). • Haiti has an estimated 8.2 million people. • The unemployment rate is about 80%. • The majority of the Haitian population lives on less than a $1 a day, with the median income about $60 per year. • Only 25 percent of the population has access to safe drinking water, and less than 30 percent of the population has access to adequate sanitation. • Just under half of the population is literate. • The average life expectancy for Haitians is less than 50 years. • About 70% of the population is children, with approximately 23% of the children under five suffering from malnutrition, and 10% of the children dying before the age of four. • Between extreme poverty and death, there are an estimated 1.2 million orphans in Haiti. • There is an obvious need for adoptive families in Haiti.

Other pros for Haitian adoption include: • The Haitian people are beautiful. • Haiti has an interesting history and rich culture, and is one of the least expensive countries to adopt from. • You can have your child escorted home, or you can travel and bring them home yourself; with an in-country stay of 3-5 days. • Some agencies/facilitators allow parents to visit their child(ren) while in process. • The children are generally healthy. • Infants are available, as are toddlers, preschoolers and older children. • Sibling groups are also available (you can also adopt two unrelated children at the same time). • You can usually request the gender of your child. • You can adopt with the help of an adoption agency, or save money and adopt independently. • Single women can adopt.

If you are currently deciding which country to adopt from, please consider Haiti.

July 11, 2007 - Waiting

Wow! The waiting again - and this will be the story of our adoption journey for quiet some time yet. We haven't heard anything yet about another baby girl being brought into the orphanage, but I imagine we will as soon as she arrives, as this is what we're waiting for. Then I imagine we'll have a bit of another wait until they have her referral information and can get lab results back on her. I'm not sure how long this takes. We're praying for her, whomever she is, and for her birth
family in the tough decision they're probably making right now. We're also praying for those at the orphanage to accept her with open and loving arms, as we will do as well. She is already in our hearts.

A couple weeks ago an adoptive mom posted a plea for prayers on the orphanage's Yahoo Group message board. She was having a day of absolute frustration at the delays she was experiencing in gathering her paperwork. Another adoptive mom posted this encouraging response that I wanted to share with you. I think of it often...

I hear your frustration and I want you to know that you are not alone. There are many, many of us waiting in one step or another for others to act on our behalf and where we have no control. For me, some days are easy and other days I struggle with frustration and impatience. I know exactly the struggle with the flesh that you are talking about. We are human and it reveals so clearly our need for the Lord. We each have an amazing story of how God led us to adopt and how we came to this organization. There are countless stories of how God led us to the child(ren) He chose for us and how He has provided the means for these adoptions. These tangible ways of seeing God at work in our lives are precious gifts from Him to help us on this journey. It is a journey. We are, as Paul says, running the race and the end of the race is not our children coming home – although that is a HUGE reward and blessing – the end of the race is when we meet our Savior face to face and He says “Well done, thy good and faithful servant.”

He DOES have a plan and He WILL bring our children home! We just have to decide how we are going to run in the race today. Are we going to give up short? Are we going to run with our eyes on the Lord and learn along the way? Either way He is the wind beneath our wings and, if we let Him, He will get us there. The 2 verses that go over and over in my mind each day that help me are:

1. In Nehemiah 8:10 – the end of the verse “Do not grieve, the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

2. And then I think of Job, who went through far more than we can ever imagine and he said: “I know that you can do all things; NO PLAN OF YOURS CAN BE THWARTED.” WOW!!! I want to trust like Job!

My prayer is for you today, and each of us waiting in whatever step that may be. That we would hold on to our joy in the Lord, have patience, and trust God like Job; knowing that no plan of His could ever be thwarted! Lord, carry us through today because we cannot do it on our own strength. Help us to remember that this is only one small leg of the race and that you are the finish line. Carry us in the palm of your hand, and teach us each something new to help us grow closer to you and further from that place out of which you brought us. May our JOY IN YOU be our strength. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

The other adoptive families on this Yahoo Group have been a blessing to us many days, and I'm thankful each day for the positive encouragement that is asked for and received by other members of the group. To know and commiserate with and pray for and celebrate with others going through the same process is such a blessing.

July 10, 2007 - USCIS Pre-Approval

Today in the mail we received another approval (one more amongst many). This time it came from USCIS (US Citizenship & Immigration Service). Several weeks ago, we sent them our I-600A form (Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition), which basically is a pre-approval application for our side to make sure our home study, record checks, birth/marriage certificates checked out. Then they sent us an appointment for fingerprinting, and we did that on 6/27 - I think this was to check to make sure there were no FBI files on us. Today we got their approval, in the form of the I-171H form/letter, basically saying that we have been approved to adopt two children. YEAH!

That approval is good for 18 months, so we have until about December 2008 to file our two (one for each child since they are not biological siblings) I-600 forms (Petition to classify Orphan As an Immediate Relative), which is one of the final steps (if not THE final step) before we can bring our kids home, basically that the US government recognizes them as orphans and will allow them to be adopted by us and become US citizens. I think also, if we're running close to the 18 months, we can apply for an extension on the I-171H approval, but I'm not sure how that works - I've just seen posts referring to this on one of the message boards I keep up on. Hopefully we don't have that problem though - that would certainly be really frustrating if we have to wait that long. The other funny thing is that our fingerprinting is only good for 15 months, so if we think we're going to be hitting close to that, we can renew our fingerprints at 12 months just to be sure they're still valid at the time we file the I-600. Sheesh - this is complicated!

Anyway, one more set of documents to go in that fireproof/waterproof safe we bought. I'm thinking we're going to need another one - or a bigger one! Maybe I'm just being paranoid though. :)

July 7, 2007 - Not Sherlene

I didn't wake up in the wee hours of the morning to "MOMMY!!!" Still a touch of the virus lingering, but for the most part, much better today! YEAH! :)
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We found out yesterday that we will not be able to adopt Sherlene. Her labs results became available, and there was one we were not comfortable with. That's always a possibility with babies, until their labs are back, and they will allow us to choose another child. They are going to identify another baby around her age that would pair well with Ralph. All of his referral information and labs turned out fine. He's healthy as can be - or at least the things they test for, which are HIV, syphilis (RPR), Hepatitis B (HBsAg), and sickle cell trait (Hemoglobin Electrophoresis).

Jock and I were talking about it again this evening, and it's strange how this hasn't been bothering us too much. I think we hadn't grown too attached to her yet, and maybe in the back of our minds we didn't allow ourselves because her labs weren't back yet. Also, maybe we knew she's not who God has chosen for our family, and we're waiting and praying to see who else He has in store for us for Kaylen & Ralph's baby sister...

Will let you know if we hear anything else. I assume it would be this coming week at the earliest. The facilitator director did tell me it probably wouldn't be this weekend, so that gives me hope that it could be fairly quickly, but you never know. She said, "We turn away 80 children per month. There is no shortage of children available. I will contact the orphanage, but I may not hear anything until Monday. I will try though. We will look for a girl in the same age range." I think they're full at the orphanage. (I presume partly because of the recent delays in processing of passports so legally adopted children can't come home to their families).

The "turning away" comment brings a tear to my eye when I think of the desperation of the parents and/or other relatives/friends that must love these children so much to be so unselfish to give them up for adoption because they are unable to care for them. Also, watch for another post about Ralph's arrival at the orphanage - a few of the other adoptive families were there on the May/June mission trip and have shared with us...

July 6, 2007 - Sick Preschooler (day 3)

Kaylen woke up at 3:30 this morning screaming that her tummy hurt, and hot as can be. It's getting earlier every day - YIKES! I gave her some Tylenol and Children's pepto again and sent her back to bed. When we got up again around 8, she seemed to be feeling better, but I made a doc appointment for her just to be sure the fever and illness wasn't related to her cough - like maybe strep or something. Well, by the time we went in she was all peppy and they were probably wondering why I was bringing in a perfectly healthy child! Well, they did say her tonsils were large and red, but the rapid strep test was negative, and her ears were fine. We knew the stomach/intestinal flu has been going around, so that's what it was - just viral. :)

July 5, 2007 Sick Preschooler (day 2)

Well, we did make it out to see some fireworks last night. Our town doesn't do anything for the 4th of July (their Summerfest is July 12-15, and they'll have fireworks then), so the closest we found that were actually on the 4th (not already last night), was in the next town to the SW. They shoot them off from the country club, so we watched below from the park around the public library. They started them at around 9:40, and we were leaving by 10:00. It was short but nice, because by the time we left, Kaylen's fever had spiked again. We got home, gave her some more Tylenol and all went to bed. You wouldn't think spending most of the day lounging around home would be so tiring. Although Jock did mow the front lawn - it was getting very ragged and looks much nicer now!

I (Lisa) am home again with Kaylen today. She woke up around 5:30 this morning, again screaming that she didn't feel good. She was so hot, so I gave her some more Tylenol, cuddled her a bit, and sent her back to bed. I think she's feeling some better now, because she's mostly been playing on the couch since she got up again at 8:15. It's now nearly 10:00, and she asked when Daddy was going to get up. :) Um... He's at work! I think she's confused by having a day at home in the middle of the week. Probably thinks it's the weekend. She'll be really confused when (if) she goes back to daycare on Friday, for just one day! Will have to clear that up for her later.

July 4, 2007 - Introducing Ralph & Sherlene, Sick Preschooler

Hope you are all having a wonderful Independence Day. We're spending it relaxing at home, which is nice for a change. Also, because Kaylen is sick. She woke up screaming with a stomach ache and a fever, and has been lying on the couch much of the day. She got up a few times to play, but was back on the couch after just a few minutes. She even took two naps! (Usually it's a struggle getting her to take one!) We are hoping to make it out to see some fireworks this evening. She does keep asking when it will be dark because she wants to go. At least she's not throwing up, but I'm not sure the staying up late will be that good for her when she's been sick. We'll see...

Wow! We can hardly believe it's been 3 weeks since we've updated this! It's been quite the busy few weeks! Let's see, where did we leave off...

Well, after hearing from the facilitator's director the week of June 11th that she would send us information about our children, we still had not heard anything by the middle of the next week, so we again emailed her on June 20th. We were so anxious to hear anything, but we tried not to sound that way. We also told her we were done with our dossier, and asked if we needed to wait until we had our referrals in order before sending it on to Haiti. She emailed back the next day (Thursday) that she'd gather the referral information for us on Friday. And also told us to go ahead and send our dossier to Haiti, and she would let them know who we're adopting after we accepted referrals.

Well, still no referral information that week or weekend either. We did get our dossier ready to mail over the weekend, and Lisa spent her Monday lunch break at FedEx Kinkos. International mail isn't all that fun after all. A package of papers about an inch thick, weighing just under two pounds? $72! It did arrive safely on Wednesday though - probably faster than we could have flown it down there ourselves, so I suppose it was worth it. :)

On Tuesday, June 26th Lisa got a phone call from the director. She left a voice mail that she had some children that she wanted to propose to us. Wow! We were both so excited, but when Lisa tried calling her back the rest of the afternoon and evening - not even an answering maching or voice mail. Lisa got ahold of her Wednesday morning, but she was on her way out the door, late to a doctor appointment, so she said she'd call back. She finally called back Thursday afternoon (6/28). We had carpooled to work that morning for our USCIS appointment (fingerprinting for immigration checked off the list!), so Lisa luckily was riding home with a coworker and could answer the phone and take notes about the children! She first apologized for not getting back to us sooner, and told just a bit of what she's been dealing with from a few other adoptive families breaking their contract, her family being sick, and also her best friend being diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. YIKES! Makes our anxiety pale in comparison!

She gave us a few options to work with and emailed us pictures of the children that weren't already on the website. There was a set of twins about 18 months old, a girl about a year old who would pair nicely with a couple different babies (boy or girl), or a boy nearly a year old with a baby girl. We felt immediately drawn to two of the children proposed to us, but gave it the weekend to think it through. We did email her back Thursday evening asking a question about the 1-year-old boy and baby girl. They were really only 6 months apart. She had told Lisa on the phone that she thought it would be best to keep about 9 months between them if the children are not bio siblings, because artificial twinning can sometimes cause problems. We weren't sure if we had the right two matched up. She assured us that we had the right two, and she thought the age difference would work well, even though it was only 6 months.

On Sunday afternoon we emailed her back, and told her that we would like to adopt Ralph and Sherlene. She emailed right back and said that she would send referral information as soon as she had it on both children. She had Ralph's information, but not yet for Sherlene as she is very new to the orphanage. When she has the information, she will email it to us, and we'll have to sign and return it to her. So, it's not yet official, and we don't have a lot of information. Here's what we do have: Ralph turned 11 months old today, and Sherline will be 5 months old this coming weekend. We do also have pictures of them, but will share at a later date - probably will wait until the referrals are official.

June 14, 2007 - Consulate Legalization, Awaiting Referrals

Saturday (6/9) we saw a message posted from our facilitator's director that said those of us working on our dossier should know that they had new instructions for legalization from the Haitian Consulate. They no longer need 10-15 documents legalized - only four! So Lisa emailed the lady she'd been in contact with at the consulate, and asked her to apply these changes to our dossier. The $500 money order we'd sent her was way more than was necessary, as they only needed $100 now - $25 per document.

Monday (6/11) she emailed me back that she'd received our dossier, that she would apply these changes in instructions to our dossier, and send back our $500 money order to us with our dossier if we'd send her a new check for $100. I guess she didn't want to mess with cashing it and then writing us a check for the remainder. That was nice of her, because it's cleaner for our tax purposes too! So right after work, Lisa went to the bank to get the new money order, and got it mailed first thing Tuesday morning.

Wednesday (6/13) we received our dossier and the $500 money order back in the mail - and we knew from the tracking number that she hadn't even yet received the new $100 check we'd sent her. So trusting - that's refreshing in this day and age! Although she did have all our information - she definitely could have tracked us down quite easily if she needed to. :) Anyway, after all that worrying last weekend, we got everything back from them, all in one piece. They kept all our passport-style photos, but no big deal - Lisa had previously scanned them in, so she just printed some more on our photo printer. OUR PAPERCHASE IS DONE!!! As soon as we have our referrals, we'll be sending everything to Haiti!

Also this week, we've been anxiously awaiting our referrals. We know the facilitator's director is back from Haiti, and Lisa emailed her about our email problems last week, just to let her know that if she doesn't hear back from us (at least confirmation that we'd received it, that she should try sending it again, or send it to one of our other email addresses. She emailed back that she had sent us something, but that her email had gone bonkers while she was in Haiti as well. She said:
"We have two children that I think fit your desire. I will be getting info together this week and sending you their information. I will be in touch later this week."

We've been watching and waiting, but Lisa read from one of her posts on the web forum that she was sick with very high fever a few days since she's returned home, then her daughter got sick, and then she fell and broke her toe. And she's trying to catch up after being gone for over three weeks! Lord, give us peace in Your ways and patience in Your timing!

June 8, 2007 - Dossier to Haitian Consulate in Chicago

This morning, Lisa was annoyed that she had to dress up for work on a casual day, but she'll survive. She had to attend part of the board meeting, in case they had questions on some calculations on a document to be released to the public, the media, etc. about what they do at IFMC. Then she found out that she'd have to go at noon, in case they're ahead of schedule, but at least they told her to come up and have lunch with them. So, she took an early "lunch" break at 10:30 to go to the post office, since she needed to be back...

We weren't really sure how this was going to work, but we knew that we wanted to do a flat rate envelope, express mail. Our dossier barely fit into the envelope, but Lisa was told by the nice lady at the post office that was OK. We also had to insert another prepaid, pre-addressed, flat rate express mail envelope into the one we were sending so that the consulate could send it back quickly and without hassle. Well, we ruined one envelope getting it in there, but the second one worked, and the post office lady taped the envelope shut just to be sure. We've got the tracking number, and she said it might arrive tomorrow, or they'll deliver it Monday if they can't on a Saturday, so we'll be watching it. Lisa's also really kicking herself for not writing down the tracking number from the return envelope. YIKES!

Really, really praying that it makes it there quickly and safely, it makes it back to us quickly and safely, and that no pages get lost or damaged in the shuffle. And that everything's done right in the first place - although I'm not sure if the consulate checks that it's done right, or just finds the documents that they know need stamps, and stamps them legal. Guess we'll find out! We completely understand what people mean when they refer to their dossier as "their baby". (At least until it's sent off and approved and we know who our babies are going to be :) Lisa's so nervous about it. Jock's more laid-back, but probably because he wasn't as involved in the organization and gathering as Lisa was. It took us just over three months of very hard work getting to this point! And probably have a couple more weeks until it's actually in Haiti!

One request:
Please pray for us throughout all of this - sanity, patience, and seeking God's will, are some things that come to mind. Also, Lisa's now beginning to feel a bit like some others in the process have mentioned to us - a sort of a let-down when the paperchase is all over with and then you just have to wait out the long months, through each stage of the process in Haiti. Although, we're still waiting on our referrals, so until we know who our kids are, and the dossier gets sent to Haiti, it's still a little nerve-racking. Lisa's dad told us once you're always nervous or worried about your kids - sometimes just more than others, and he's sure right! Definitely have that with Kaylen, and even that way when we don't know who our next two are yet! That's probably all right though - we wouldn't be good parents if we didn't, right?! We hope to have some news in the next week or two. We'll probably be shouting it from the rooftops when we do!

June 7, 2007 - Email Back on Track

By noon, Lisa decided to email the translator, because we were starting to get worried about it. She asked her if she'd received it, and if not, to let us know and we'd resend it to her right away. Around mid-afternoon, we had an email back from her saying that she'd not only received it, but had sent it back about 20 minutes after she received it, but would resend it immediately. But another strange thing - why did that email's time stamp say it was received at 12:20, but it didn't actually show up in Lisa's inbox until after 2:30? We still hadn't received the document by the time Lisa left work at 4:30, but when she got home around 5:15 it was waiting in her inbox, with a time of about 12:20. What's going on here?! Something's definitely wrong with Lisa's hotmail inbox. Oh boy! Wonder what else got lost in that email inbox?!

Well, anyway, we got the translation, got it printed, and the last piece is ready to send to USCIS, and our entire dossier is now ready to send to the consulate! Now, how do we mail the dossier? Doing some looking online on how we can send it quickly, but not pay a fortune for delivery...

June 6, 2007 - Waiting on final Translation

By evening we still hadn't seen anything from the translator, but we're giving her a bit more time - maybe she just had something come up. Lisa had picked up the money order for the consulate's fees at the bank today, so it's ready to send as soon as we get that last translated page!

June 5, 2007 - Scurrying - Last document (part 2)

Lisa went to CFI to pick up the home study licenses over her lunch break. When she got home from work and picking up Kaylen she scanned it in and emailed it to the translator. We didn't get any response back from the translator, but will see tomorrow.

June 4, 2007 - Scurrying - Last document

We heard back from our home study worker. She will have a copy of the license waiting for us tomorrow. We emailed her and told her to make it two copies, since we had to have one for our dossier and one for USCIS. Then we emailed the translator another heads-up that we would email it to her Tuesday evening as soon as Lisa could get home and get it scanned in. She emailed us back and said today was her last day of school, so she could have it back to us within an hour of when we send it. We were thinking, what if she's at the grocery store or something?! ....but anyway, VERY nice of her to do this so quickly when it was something we overlooked in the first place.

June 2, 2007 - Taking a Break!

Instead of going to the post office, we went garage sale-ing... Kaylen found a funny tiny stuffed kitty in the free box at the first one we went to, that she enjoyed the whole morning. We also found a LeapFrog electronic letters game (actually several types of letter games) that has lower-case letters for buttons instead of upper case, so hopefully that'll help her learn them a little quicker. She wanted to play it in the car, but we decided it was too loud, so when we got home she played with it for quite a while. We found a kitchen table and chairs. The table and chairs were filthy, one of the chairs was rickety, and one the back was completely broken, but it was only $25! We figured for that price we could do the work to clean them up and put them back together. Now (or at least soon when we get all the work done) we'll have a table and can actually eat in the kitchen instead of the formal dining room, which we'll now save for special occasions and company. We also finally got some vertical blinds for the sliding door, and put them up. We had ordered them on sale from JCPenney and they came today. They have sheers over the vinyl verticals, so they look a little nicer than regular vinyl vertical blinds. Anyway...

June 1, 2007 - Missing One document?!

We received information back from USCIS, that they had received our packet, but that they still needed one more piece of information. (We thought we had everything together!) Our home study did not include the agency's license to perform home studies in the state of Iowa. They needed that before they could process our application.

We then realized that our dossier probably needed to have this included too - and on top of that, it would have to be translated. We were planning to mail the completed dossier to the consulate tomorrow, but that will be held up now.

Of course, we didn't find this out until after 5:00 on Friday, so we could not get ahold of anyone at CFI. We left a message, and also emailed the lady from CFI that had done our home study for us, asking her to please get back to us as soon as possible, and let us know when we can pick that up. We also emailed our translator, and told her that we would have one more page coming via email, and asked her to email the document back to us so we could more quickly print it ourselves, rather than wait for it to come in the mail. She said that would be fine. We're so glad we went with a translator that charges a flat fee for the entire dossier. When she sent back the rest of the translations last week , she told us that if we needed to have anything redone or additional documents, that was covered in the fee we paid her, and to just let her know.

May 31, 2007 - Dossier Completed

We received all our translations back. How awesome to have this back. Now we have to get them photocopied (we're keeping two photocopies of EVERYTHING for ourselves just in case), and the collate them so we're ready to send the dossier to the consulate. Planning a trip to the post office on Saturday morning.

May 28, 2007 - Happy Memorial Day

Today, we remember those serving in the military, past and currently. We thank them for their service, and thank their families and friends for their sacrifices while they are away.

One of the website chat rooms Lisa follows posted another encouraging Bible Verse:"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us" Eph 3:20 NIV

May 25, 2007 - Translations, I-600A Mailed

We got an email from our translator today. She should have our dossier all translated and in the mail on Tuesday. We should have it by next Thursday! Then it's off to the consulate to have legalization stamps!

We mailed home study, birth certificates, marriage certificates, and I-600A application to USCIS. :)

Also, we're praying for the mission teams who are traveling to Haiti over the next few weeks. The first teams, mostly made up of families currently in the adoption process from the same orphanage, have arrived this week. They're working on various projects at the orphanage while there, and also spending some quality time with their children, possibly meeting their children's birth parents, and meeting with government adoption officials in Haiti to move their files along. God bless their work, and safe travels for all!

May 17, 2007 - Progress of our Paperchase

On Friday, May 4th, we sent off the first packet of our paperwork to the translator. We'll wait until we get our finalized home study to send in the last four pieces to be translated.

On Monday, May 7th, we sent off our application to the facilitator. We learned from the director on Thursday, May 10th, that we'd been approved to adopt children from their orphanage, and use them as our facilitator, coordinating the process in Haiti for us, via the orphanage and their lawyers. They can't have had our application for more than a day, because we mailed it Monday, and they're based a few states away. What a wonderful birthday gift for Lisa!

We have now heard from their stateside adoption coordinator, have been assigned an adoption buddy (another adoptive parent who is further along in the process) to help us and answer questions as we go along, and have been invited to join their Yahoo Group. It's basically a web forum where people post messages, ask and answer questions, and encourage each other as we all go through the various stages of the adoption process in Haiti.

We have also discussed with the director about the possibility of getting referrals instead of choosing our children ourselves. (See our last post.) She said they'd be very willing to pray about it and prepare referrals for us, if we just provide our age & gender preferences for them to work with, and we've done this now. She will be in Haiti for the next few weeks, and said she'd be looking for our children and praying over it.

Yesterday, we received our completed home study. Today over lunch, Lisa ran a marathon of errands: to the Secretary of State's office to get the notary certifications for the last four documents, then made photocopies and sent them off to the translator.

Next steps:
- Send in I-600A form, home study, and birth and marriage certificates, and await appointments for fingerprinting for CIS/INS pre-approval.
- When we receive all of the translations back, send dossier to the Haitian Consulate in Chicago for "Legalization".
- When our dossier is back with legalization stamps from the consulate, and we have our referrals in order, send the dossier to Haiti.
- Then of course, the long wait begins.

May 3, 2007 - Nearing Completion of the Paperchase!

Well, it’s now the beginning of May. It’s been two months since we started working on paperwork. We’re close, but not quite there yet. We don’t anticipating any problems completing the paperchase in three months from our start on March 3rd. We’re planning to send in our application to the facilitator over the weekend. Our home study is almost completed. When that’s completed we’ll send in our I-600a application to the USCIS office in Des Moines, and work on completing translations of our entire dossier. When we get the translations back, we’ll send it to the Haitian Consulate in Chicago for “legalization”, and then it’ll be ready to send off to Haiti.

Somewhere in there we’ll have to decide on our children. Recently this has been a topic of discussion amongst us and our family. This is going to be difficult for us to choose our children, but we’re not alone. I’ve been following a web forum for a while, of other families adopting from Haiti. Choosing your children from a photo listing vs. being matched (called receiving a referral) to your children has been a recent topic of discussion. Several such posts told stories of their prayers and how they became “matched” or “chose” their children, which very much matched our sentiments. Even though the orphanage may allow parents to choose from a photo listing, we’re looking for God’s direction regarding who our children are. We know He will give us the confirmation we need to know we’re making the right decisions and following His will.

Another post, to the contrary, from a woman who is adopting from an orphanage that does the matching for you after they receive your dossier said that she didn’t know if God was involved in her referral, nor did she care. I don’t know this woman, so I hesitate even mentioning this, but my only thought was, how sad that she doesn’t know the joy and hope that God can bring to her life, if only she opens up to His presence in her life. I can’t imagine how lost I would be without Him in my life! Anyway…

We felt led to this orphanage twice (two years ago, and again this year), and we know He will lead us to the children He has chosen for us. We strongly believe in His plan for us. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jer 29:11 NIV. This is very much a theme in our lives, and has been for quite some time.

Process in Haiti

• Steps that happen in Haiti, after sending our dossier, before we can bring our children home:
  
  
  
  • Agency/Orphanage combines dossier with information on the child(ren), and submitted to the Minister of Foreign Affairs to be authenticated – aka "First Legals". 2-6 weeks.
    
  • While file in "First Legals", lawyer gathers social history of child(ren) to be combined with parents’ home study and prepared to submit to IBESR when back from Ministry of Foreign Affairs
    
  • IBESR – social worker reviews file and decides whether or not to approve adoption. Four signatures required: IBESR Director, IBESR lawyer, head of adoption services at IBESR, and the IBESR social worker. 3-6 months
    
  • Civil court – adoption will be finalized and child is legally ours. 1-2 months
    
  • Judgement (new part of the process as of late 2006), 1-2 months
    
  • Legalization (aka "Second Legal") – signed and authenticated by various government entities. 2-4 weeks
    
  • Haitian staff gets English translations and sends to adoptive parents for them to go to their local CIS office to file I-600
    
  • Haitian staff in the meantime apply for child(ren)’s passport(s) at the Ministry of Interior Affairs. 2-4 weeks
    
  • Child(ren)’s passport(s) issued and printed through Haitian Immigration. 1-6 weeks
    
  
  
• Our part for end of process in Haiti, when applying for child’s passport FedEx the following to Haiti for USCIS appointment in Haiti:
  
  
  
  • I-600 for each child being adopted (both signatures notarized) ***Not anymore – now done stateside? – but still in dossier instructions, so need to check on.
    
  • G-28s (if not already sent in dossier)
    
  • I-171 (copy of the one USCIS sent us showing that I-600A approval has been cabled to Haiti)
    
  • I-864
    
  
  
• After final USCIS approval & passport(s) received, an appointment is made at the consulate for the children’s Visa, after which the parents are then able to bring their child(ren) home.
  

The Paperchase

Here’s a condensed list of all the things to do/documents we're working to gather: (OK - I know this is REALLY LOOOONNNNGGGG, but it really is condensed!)

• Keep a list/receipts for ALL related expenses to document for tax credit
  
• Apply to Facilitator:
  
  
  
  • Fill out application form, including demographic information, why we want to adopt, religious background, health, finances, housing, personal info, child preferences
    
  • Two reference letters
    
  • Recent family picture
    
  • ** Once our application is approved, we will sign an agreement. Then we can choose our children at any time, but must be done before we send our dossier to Haiti.
    
  
  
• Home study (in our case an update, as we had one completed in Jan 2006)
  
  
  
  • Find an agency that will do this for international adoptions, and does not charge an outrageous amount, and can do it within a reasonable amount of time. Have arranged for Pam Kracht from Children and Families of Iowa to do our home study update.
    
  • She will come to our home to meet with us and would like to meet Kaylen as well.
    
  • She will need the following:
    
    
    
    • 6 or more references (no more than three from family) – names, addresses
      
    • Most recent pay stubs for both Jock & Lisa
      
    • Criminal checks – go to DCI @ Wallace Building, one for Jock two for Lisa (current and maiden name)
      
    • Medical letters for both Jock & Lisa (can send them to her if we don’t have them ready when she comes)
      
    • Copy of prior home study
      
    
    
  • Make sure that the home study includes the worker’s license and notarized signature before it gets sent on to USCIS or with the dossier.
    
  
  
• Apply to the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (local office – Federal Building, downtown Des Moines) for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition (form I-600A)
  
  
  
  • Send in with a cover letter:
    
    
    
    • I-600A
      
    • Photocopy of certified birth certificate for both Jock & Lisa
      
    • Photocopy of certified marriage certificate
      
    
    
  • Have home study sent directly there when completed
    
  • They will send back an appointment for fingerprinting, and then when that is completed, they’ll send us our I-171H (I-600A approval) letter and send approval to the US Consulate in Haiti. We were told not to wait for this to send our dossier.
    
  
  
• Dossier:
  
  
  
  • *Letter to director of IBESR (Haitian Social Services) introducing ourselves, why we want to adopt, requesting authorization for adoption.
    
  • *Criminal report letters for both Jock and Lisa from local police station – check on our licenses and showing we have no outstanding complaints/charges against us.
    
  • *Power of attorney letter for the attorney in Haiti
    
  • *Employment letters for both Jock & Lisa – nature of employment and current salary.
    
  • *Bank letter stating we are a customer and our accounts are in good standing.
    
  • *Medical letters for both Jock & Lisa – stable health condition, and test results (not summary) for CBC, HIV, VDRL
    
  • *Psych letter (psychiatrist or licensed psychologist) – good mental health – one interview with us both together all that is needed – no extensive testing needed for Haiti
    
  • *Two reference letters
    
  • *Two G-28 forms (one for Jock and one for Lisa) for EACH child that we are adopting
    
  • *Home Study – 5-6 pages
    
  • 6 passport-style photos each for Jock and Lisa
    
  • One copy (front and back) of three different types of photo IDs for each Jock & Lisa – work IDs, drivers’ licenses, passports
    
  • Certified copy of birth certificate for each Jock & Lisa
    
  • Certified copy of marriage certificate
    
  • Copies of three recent bank statements
    
  • Copies of last three years federal income tax returns (1040s and W-2s)
    
  
  
• Notarizing: All documents with * above need to be notarized – be sure that these include:
  
  
  
  • The notary’s sworn statement - something like: “Subscribed and sworn to me in the state of Iowa, this ___ day of _____, ____. Witness by hand and official seal.”
    
  • The notary’s signature and seal, including the date his/her commission expires.
    
  • The date of the notary should match the date of the letter.
    
  • The notary’s commission should not expire at least until after you get your authentication (see below), or possibly for another12-15 months until your adoption is finalized. (have heard conflicting info here though)
    
  
  
• State Authentication
  
  
  
  • For all documents that were notarized.
    
  • Fill out form showing notary information – they don’t need the actual documents.
    
  • Mail or walk in the documents to the Secretary of State’s office – if walking them in, takes 5-15 minutes, depending on the line and how many notaries we used.
    
  
  
• Translations – everything except tax forms, bank statements, photo IDs, and lab test results need to be translated into French, including every part of the notary and authentication. Have arranged for Deb Blaz to do this – turnaround about a week for the whole dossier, or can send as we get documents – email or mail photocopies to her – charges a flat fee (some charge per page!).
  
• Assemble documents in the following order: original, authentication, translated document, translated authentication. Notes:
  
  
  
  • Try not to change the order that the secretary of state’s office has put the documents into.
    
  • Try not to remove staples that a notary or the secretary of state’s office has put in place.
    
  
  
• Send the dossier to the Haitian Consulate in Chicago for legalization. Include:
  
  
  
  • **Call the office to check fee schedules before sending – it’s per document that they legalize.
    
  • Cover letter:
    
    
    
    • Explaining that we’re adopting from Haiti and would like our dossier documents legalized.
      
    • Include a list of all the documents included.
      
    • Include at least two phone numbers for them to contact if they have questions.
      
    • Request that the power of attorney letter have the Haitian consulate stamp directly on the letter, not on the authentication page – IBESR now requires this.
      
    • Note the amount of the money order, and request that they return the amount that was overpaid.
      
    
    
  • Prepaid air bill for return postage.
    
  • ** Note: you must send your entire dossier (all documents, not just some), even though they will legalize only some of them.
    
  
  
• When everything is back from the Haitian Consulate, review EVERYTHING very carefully:
  
  
  
  • Everything was returned (except for two of of our passport photos that they will keep)
    
  • Everything in same order it was when it was sent
    
  • All stamped documents have signatures they required
    
  
  
• Select the child/children if you haven’t already
  
• Send dossier via FedEx to Haiti (include children’s name(s) on a sticky note)
  
• First payment (cashier’s check) – more payments to follow...
  
• WAIT – 8-15 months after dossier arrives in Haiti until the process is complete and we can bring the children home.
  
• What do we do while we wait?
  
  
  
  • Pray!!! (although this is throughout the entire process)
    
  • Visit children (join planned mission trip with group)
    
  • Learn some Kreyol/Creole words (Haiti’s national languages are French and Kreyol, but the locals mainly speak Kreyol)
    
  • Learn about Haiti’s rich history and cultures
    
  • Fundraising, donation collections for orphanage
    
  • Preparations for when children come home: child care, bedrooms, car seats, clothing, pediatrician
    
  
  

March 28, 2007 Post - Working on Internation Adoption Paperwork

We always said we wanted to have three or four children – definitely not an only child, and even before Kaylen’s adoption was finalized, we had talked about adopting a little brother and/or sister for her. After things slowed down a bit for us – following the adoption, the holidays, and Kaylen’s 4th birthday in late January, we again started considering adopting from Haiti, and officially decided to go forward with these plans on March 3, 2007. We're hoping to adopt two children at the same time, both younger than Kaylen, but are not sure on ages yet. That will depend on the children available at the time we send our dossier to Haiti. We decided to go with the independent adoption route with a facilitatorThis would mean a lot of work collecting documents ourselves, but we're up for the challenge.

Lisa immediately sent a few emails and started working on some research. She sent an email that evening to the director, who emailed back some instruction documents within just a few minutes – on a Saturday night! Well, Lisa is a cautious planner, so while studying the instructions, taking notes, and jotting down questions, but before proceeding, she put out some messages on some web forums to get recommendations (not asking anything about this particular orphanage/facilitator), and did get a couple for them, and also some positive comments in general about how adopting indpendently can save you a lot of time and money because some agencies charge a very outrageous amounts for some of the processing that we would have to do a lot of ourselves anyway. So we’d been confirmed that this was truly the direction we felt we should be going.

So, we moved forward and started preparing our dossier. This is basically our entire file of documents that we’re gathering that will go to Haiti to be processed through their social services and adoption systems. We’ve heard that it takes most people 3-5 months to complete their dossier. We are aiming for the short end of this range, and maybe even two months, if possible – we will see how things go.

New Blog!

Hi Everybody. I'm moving my blog to a new, more friendly environment. I enjoyed learning a bit of html coding to get my website up and running, but I'm wanting to make this easier for me to update, and this seems to be the way to go. I'll be working to move all my other posts and info from my Mediacom website over to here, so please bear with me in the transition. I hope to continue to keep you all up-to-date while I'm moving things as well.