November Update

November Update from the creche:

W, the great soccer player and singer, he would like to become a great teacher. He always talks about his adoptive family and his sisters. He imagines how he will be when he will be in the US, kind and helpful to his family. He thinks he’ll buy a lot of stuff to play with.  He is one of the nicest boys at the crèche, but he doesn't like to comb his hair.  

lol!  That's our boy!

Haiti Adoption: Simple vs Plenary

Diana Boni, who works with the creche, God's Littlest Angels (GLA), has done a very good job explaining the details surrounding the plenary vs simple wording on the adoption decrees.  Check out her blog posts from October. Also check out this post from Dixie Bickel from GLA.  I think these will give a greater perspective on the challenges in Haiti adoption at this time.

Fyi, GLA is also in Kenscoff, only about 15 minutes away from our son's creche.  I'd love to visit someday.  They've been existence for 20 years or so, maybe more, and have done much for the children and families in the area.

Huge Homecoming Delays for Haiti's Adopted Children

Families adopting through Haiti's International Adoption Program are once again mired in confusion and significant delays.  But this time it's serious.

This latest delay affects approximately 100 families (that I know of) and their legally adopted Haitian children.  After an adoption case goes through the multi-tiered legal phase where the child is given their decree of adoption with their new last name (of the adoptive parents), the case proceeds to Haitian Immigration to obtain a new passport for the child.  The final step of adoption is US Immigration, where the child's visa is issued, and then he goes HOME!

The distressing situation families are facing now is that their legally adopted children are not being allowed to fly home to the US because US Immigration is not issuing visas...due to an issue of wording on the adoption decrees coming out of the Haitian court system.

Our agency explains it this way:

In November 2013, Haiti voted to actually follow their own new adoption laws, which had been "pending" for several years. Some adoption cases completed after Nov 2013 were processed under the old system; the adoptions were done in what is called a simple adoption .  Under the new laws, they needed to be completed as a plenary or full adoption. Adoption agencies were unfamiliar with this terminology and this wording could not be found in any of the documents issued, but apparently it is there (somewhere). 

Earlier this fall, the US was issuing visa's to cases that were classified as "simple adoptions" and were not insisting on the "plenary" language.

Now, suddenly, US Immigration is cracking down without so much as a, "Hey, guess what?  Get ready, because soon we will be making some changes in how we process visa cases..."

Bottom line, what does this mean?
It means that a hundred families and their legally adopted children who were about to come home, are now being forced to backtrack several stages and RE-DO steps of the adoption that had already been completed!  We are talking adding months to an already insanely long process .  I also suspect that additional money that families had not been prepared to pay will be required for the lawyers needed to complete the process the "correct" way.

This decision has created ripples throughout the process.  Cases that were 95% complete have now been thrown back to IBESR,  Yes, all the way back to the social services stage!  The confused staff at IBESR has been scrambling to make corrections in all these cases.  Everyone at every stage is wondering what really needs to be done to fix this complex problem.  Adoptive parents are calling their senators.  Adoption agencies and adoption and orphan advocates are contacting the US State Department.  Our agency says that these groups are asking "the US government [to] please step in and make some concessions and approve these adoptions."  Yes PLEASE!

So as you can see, friends, once again Haiti adoptions and the precious children need all of our prayers.  Delays, delays, delays.  Eric and I wonder if this situation is affecting our case.  Fortunately our case hadn't gotten far enough along (thank you, Lord, for your protection!) to be dealing with this "simple" vs "plenary" issue, but I do wonder if the added burden on IBESR is delaying our case (and others) from exiting...

Lord Jesus, hear our cries for help on behalf of all of Haiti's children!

W's New Birth Certificate Extract Received!!

Praise the Lord!!  We thought that getting this missing document could take many weeks or even months, but it didn't!!  God moved!!

Yesterday morning, our agency emailed us our September Update from the creche.  Here is part of that update:

Update from Noe:
W is a big singer and loves to dance.  He thinks of himself as a big boy and doesn’t like to play with the younger kids.  He used to be somewhat aggressive but now he is getting more and more kind.  He obeys the nannies and teachers better now, even better than the younger kids. W still excels as a soccer player and has a very good appetite.  (We've been told that after Eric and I spent those 15 days with him in Haiti several months ago, his attitude and behavior has improved a great deal.  Knowing you finally have a mommy and daddy who love you makes a huge difference in a kid's life...even across the miles!)

Legal:
This past Monday, we were finally able to get W’s birth certificate extract from National Archives and deliver it to IBESR so that they can issue the exit letter.  We anticipate this happening soon now that we have completed this hurdle.  (HALLELUJAH to The Mover of Mountains!)

Eric and I are praying to get that IBESR Exit letter This Week.  That is our heart's cry to the Lord.

Immigration Approval Extended

Remember our appointment at the US Embassy in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti in early March?  We filed our 1-600 application, which requests that our earlier approval be directed to a specific child, W.  This will allow us to bring W home to the US at the end of the adoption process. 

This is one of the few easy parts of the Haitian adoption process.  All we have to do is email the US Embassy every 3 months to request an extension of our I-600.  That's it.

Well quess who forgot to put that date in my phone calendar back in March?  Uhm, yeah, I completely forgot,,,until 2 weeks past the deadline!  One night last week, God interrupted my sleep and reminded me.  Truly!  So I zipped off an email with all the pertinent information. 

I was fearful we would have to literally start all over with the immigration process, including the fees and the waiting.  But I prayed the officials would be gracious and extend our approval.

I received this email today.  Praise the Lord and thank you, Jesus!!!

P.S. My calendar is now filled with reminders at every three months for the next year.  But let's hope and pray all those reminders won't be needed... ;-)

Big UPDATE and a Big Prayer Need

For those of you who are friends of mine on facebook, you get regular updates from me about our adoption.  For those who only know me from the blog, I apologize for my neglect of our adoption story.  We are still waiting to exit IBESR so we can move on to the court phase of the adoption -- the part where W legally becomes our son.  However...

Currently we are facing a potentially large and maddening delay in our already lengthy process.   And YET, it is another opportunity to bring caring people together in prayer and to see God MOVE on behalf of our son.

Here's a quick summary to get ya'll up to date:

Eric and I traveled to Haiti for our 15 day bonding trip to meet W at the end of February / early March.  We had an amazing time with our son, who stayed at the guest house with us the whole time.  In spite of the language barrier, we connected very well in 2 weeks.  He is an amazing boy!

Miraculously, God resolved a tricky situation with some delayed immigration approval documents (the I-171H approval form).  This approval documentation was needed for our required filing of the I-600 at the US Embassy in Port-Au-Prince.  With the help of an awesome neighbor back home and a couple of individuals here in the US with connections, God got the issue resolved.  Our immigration appointment took place near the end of our trip!

We also had a successful interview with the IBESR social worker.  She was austere but kind woman who spoke no English.  Papi Noe (one of the adoption coordinators at the creche and a favorite staff member of W's) translated the conversation, and she smiled at W a lot.  Whew!  It was such a relief to have both of those appointments taken care of and for both to go so well.

Fast forward to July...  I joined a 6 day mission trip to the creche to spend some much needed bonding time with W.  I split my time between playing with him and his buddies and working in the new creche garden.  I was thrilled that he got to stay with me at the guest house for 4 nights!  But I can tell you that leaving him was pure torture.  The two of us sobbed off and on for about an hour on the last day.  The tears started with him and this mama soon joined in.  I rocked him on my lap, sang hymns and worship choruses, kissed his cheeks and spoke words of blessing over his life.  He fell asleep at one point, but woke up, only to cry some more. 

My heart broke into a thousand pieces when I left him behind...and some of those pieces are still in Haiti.  His sweet face, deep voice and silly laugh is with me every day.  A prayer for his peace, joy, safety and hope are always on my spirit.

And we arrive at September 2015.

We are more than 6 months past our bonding trip.  Two families adopting from W's creche have already exited IBESR and moved forward to the court phase.  One of those families traveled after us.  I am so happy for these friends of mine and their precious children, but my heart has been so confused and discouraged to watch many other families pass us by as well.  (Being part of the large Haiti adoption facebook group can be a blessing and a curse.)  The average timeframe from socialization trip to exiting IBESR seems to be 3-5 months.  Some recent families have exited after only 1 1/2 to 2 months.  Wow!

"What is up with our case?  Why aren't we moving forward?" has been a constant echo in my mind.

Well, this past weekend we finally got some answers.

Our adoption agency coordinator and the director of W's creche had been discussing our case.  We received an email from our agency.  It turns out that we were not as close to exiting IBESR as we had thought.  "Any day now" turned into-- an important document is missing in W's file.

What?!?

What happened was that W's birth certificate generated by the local court was supposed to be registered in a big book at court (I'm kinda fuzzy on this point) and registered at Haiti's National Archives.  The lawyer hired by the creche is supposed to take care of these details.  Well...his birth certificate never got registered and therefore was missing from his adoption file at IBESR.  No one at the creche even knew about this until last week.

At this point, it looked to us like the original nightmare process of getting his official birth certificate the first time might have to be re-done!  This could take months!  One family on the big facebook group had a similar situation happen to them and it took 16 MONTHS to resolve.  16 MONTHS, people!!

Eric and I took the weekend to reflect and pray (and I took time to freak out and cry).  We also asked many, many people to pray for this issue in our adoption process.  Then yesterday we sent our agency and email with more questions and a desire to learn how much of a delay we were looking at. 

Our agency rep was swift to respond...with positive news!!  Praise God!!

To resolve the birth certificate situation, here is what is needed (well, this is my best understanding; it may not be 100% accurate but it is close, I think...):

A new "judgement" is needed from the court that issued W's birth certificate.
This judgement generates official documentation that goes to National Archives to be registered.
Then an "extract" (an official copy) of W's birth certificate can be obtained.
The extract goes into W's file in IBESR, which will complete our adoption file.
We get a final signature on our file and we exit IBESR.

The PRAISE is that the adoption rep from the creche started working to resolve this issue when it was discovered last week and already has the new judgement from the court!!  He also thinks he will have everything he needs this week to take to IBESR!!

So this is wonderful news, but we don't stop praying here.  This could still be a lengthy delay.  Eric and I are praying for favor over our case, for favor for the creche adoption representative, and for a swift and correct resolution to the problem followed by swift exit from IBESR.

You have joined us in prayer many times before...will you join us again?

God be praised for what He has already done, what He is doing, and what he WILL do!!!

Our Socialization Trip...continued

It's been a long time since my last confession, er, update. ;-)

After returning from Haiti on March 13th, I found myself in quite an emotional funk.  I planned to post lots of photos and continue the story of our visit with our son...BUT I was rather a wreck for many days after leaving our boy behind in Haiti.  Honestly I had a difficult time functioning for a couple weeks.  My heart was breaking.  Fifteen days really is enough time to develop quite an attachment to a little person and vice versa.  There were tears from this mama and tears from our boy.  Much good progress was made in planting the seeds of attachement and "sonship"...enough for all three of us to feel the pain of separation.

These past 5 months have, in turn, dragged and flown by.

I started a full time job the first of April.  Selah started preschool, and now prekindergarden.   Noelle and Eric traveled out of town 3 times over the summer for camp and various activities.  I took an online course on essential oils hoping to one day become a certified clinical aromatherapist.  Noelle started 3rd grade.  Lots of wonderful ministries are happening in the church and community.  Etc. etc. etc.

I also traveled to Haiti in July and spent 6 days with our boy!!!

So there is LOTS to tell.

Hmmmm, maybe this post is the catalyst to get me blogging again...to post the many beautiful photos of Haiti, to continue the story of our adoption--2 1/2 years in, to explain the ins and outs of the ever shifting Haiti adoption process, to share my heart and what God is doing...

And maybe, just maybe, if I ask Eric real nice, maybe he will do a guest post.

So ta-ta for now!

In Haiti - Doing Great! (part 1)

Bonjou from Haiti!

We are doing very well here!  W is simply an amazing boy.  He is sweet, funny, generous, kind, energetic, determined.  He welcomed us that first evening with a shy smile and a big hug.  It is precious to see how each day he is opening up more and more emotionally.  His walls are coming down a little bit at a time.  He still hasn't shared very much at all about himself or his life (part of which I expect is a language issue) and we have to ask questions and prompt him to get information, but he is definitely relaxing.  It will come, all in time.

He is enjoying the rides in the SUV back and forth from the crèche to the C4C guest house and so forth.  He wants me to sit close to him on his right side every trip.  I pat his knee from time to time or put my arm around the back of his seat.  He now lets me hold his fingers while we bump along.  He is fascinated with the many sights along the winding mountainous roads.  He is proud of the mountains of Kenscoff, as he should be.  They are breathtaking!!

He is very proud to show us off at the crèche.  He grabs my hand and pulls me around to show me things.  He frequently says, "Mom, look!" and "Dad, look!" all day long.  I cherish that!  Yesterday at the crèche he came home from school and Daddy and I were covered in toddlers, literally!  Then some of his buddies came around wanting attention from us.  It was quite interesting to see his jealousy start to spring up.  You could see it on his face.  He staked his claim on us by not letting kids take his seat next to us on the couch or taking both of our hands (he held on to at least one) or taking our undivided attention away from him.  Then it was time for Teacher Lou-Lou's class.  Yesterday they danced and sang to music on the internet then did an art project...I've got some great video!!  Eric and I kinda floated in and out of the small room.  Eventually we stayed in the "guest area" (with the couch and tables) and read/listened to books.  W came to check on us to make sure we were still there...several times.

When it was time to leave for our afternoon and dinner at the C4C guest house, W happily said goodbye to his friends, helped gather all our things, and lead us out to the truck for our ride.  Each day he asks if he will be going to the guest house with us, he smiles so happily and contentedly when we say yes. 

Yesterday, when we were still at the crèche, the three of us snuggled on the couch with several of his buddies there as well, chatting and playing, he asked us very seriously, "When are you coming?"

We said, "Coming?  Do you mean, when will we be coming back to see you again?"

He replied, "Yes..."

We told him that we did not know, but we would return just as soon as we could, giving him a big squeeze.  He didn't reply.  He just looked, thoughtful?..  Not sure.  But it was our first sign that he was thinking long term with our relationship.  Thank you, Lord; You are at work in his heart.  Oh how heartbreaking it will be to leave our boy behind when we leave the end of next week!

It is also very gratifying to watch W and Eric connect.  Eric is "teaching" him some karate moves -- he LOVES that -- and exercising together.  They play Batman vs. the Bad Guy, they run and race...yesterday they really had fun together.  I praise God how He has gone before us and is helping us build a relationship with our future son.  Adoption is God's idea and we are trusting Him to provide all that is needed for W and us to connect.  We also are praying for wisdom with how to "be" with W, as well as for God to open W's heart to us and to feel safe and trust us.

To be continued...

We leave on Friday!!!

Travel Plans!

So here's the latest...

We heard back via email from our USCIS officer about our new/updated I-600A/I-171H.  She said she approved us on February 18th (woohoo!!) and mailed it out soon thereafter.  The problem is,,,it hasn't arrived in the mail yet. :(  We are hoping and praying it arrives tomorrow...

Tonight we talked on the phone with our agency rep.  She gave us information about our trip and answered questions.  She is working very hard on her end to get us ready to fly out this weekend!

IF C4C is good with us arriving this weekend (arranging our accommodations and booking a driver)
IF we get our referral acceptance letter notarized tomorrow and emailed back to our agency tomorrow
IF we are able to finish filling out forms and gathering documents (on our end) needed for the US Embassy
AND IF our I-171H document from immigration arrives tomorrow (or Thursday at the latest)...

...THEN we will fly out this Friday morning and be holding our son, W, in our arms by this Friday evening!!!!!!!!!!!

If things don't come together as we hope, THEN we WAIT until March 13th (?) to fly to Haiti.  This is not terrible.  It's not that far away.  It will still be okay.

It would just be extra supercalifragilisticexpialidocious if it works out for us to leave in 3 days (insert big cheesy grin here).

Thanks, everyone, for all your interest, support and prayers.  Things will all come together as they should.  God is at work!