Our birthmom didn't show again today and our paperwork expired at 5 pm. It wasn't a priority for her to show up. She thinks she should be done by now. She's right, of course. It's been almost 18 months since our paperwork got to Haiti. At least she hasn't changed her mind. We just have to convince her to go to her appointment. I'm writing her a letter with photos attached tonight and emailing it down to the orphanage. They are going to use it to try to get her to come in. She really wanted photos.


On another downer, I found out that the US Immigration office JUST RECENTLY raised their fees. Argh. Tell me that anyone else thinks it's fair that we have to pay another $600 for them to put a few new pieces of paper in our file and fax them to Haiti. Truly, I will be advocating for adoption reform when this is over. For now, I need to concentrate my efforts on my daughter.


I'd still love to have a few prayers. It's going to be a while before Janae comes home now. Please pray that our paperwork moves in record time and that our birthmom decides that she can spend a bit of time to get this finished.


Many thanks!

~Zaz

Just in case anyone is checking the blog today, please pray. Our paperwork expires at the end of the day. Janae's birthmom needs to have her interview today or we will need to re-file our paperwork. That will add months on to our process and will cost an extra $600 (I just found out the fees have been raised). We will persevere no matter what happens today, but it would be so much easier to have this part of the process finished. Then we could just wait for Janae's passport to be printed and bring her home.


Thanks for praying with us!

~Zaz

We haven't heard anything yet today. Keep praying, please!
~Zaz

I didn't feel like posting last night. Our birthmom didn't show. Our processor called and talked to her sister and told her that our paperwork is expiring on Monday. For the first time since we started this process almost a year and a half ago, I got scared. It isn't about the timing. If the paperwork expires, we'll deal with that. But if the birthmom decides she doesn't want us adopting Janae (wow, that was hard to type), she still has that option. The wording on the Haitian court documents makes it so that birthparents can evidently change their minds. The US government is trying to change that, but it might be too late for us. I don't know. I'm so afraid I made a bad impression on Adline. Haitians can be very hard to read. I have no idea how she feels about me. Now that she's missed two appointments, I really have to wonder.



Okay, so you've now just witnessed my human side. Today I feel frail and helpless. I worried last night about how I would tell Isaiah if things went badly. But today is a new day. I'm going to hold on to my "adoption verse" with both hands. Here it is:



Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.



So I'm asking anyone who is reading this to please pray today. Ask for God's will in all of our lives - ours, Adline's, Janae's. Then whatever happens, happens. And we will move forward, praising God either way. Years ago I told God that I trusted Him. I need to keep trusting. He has taken such good care of us when I let Him lead.



I will do my best to update again tonight. Thanks for praying with us!


~Zaz

Lots of stuff happened today, but not what we expected. I got the go-ahead from the head US guy in Haiti to submit copies of our paperwork for the review so that was good.


Our birthmom didn't get to the appointment today because there is a transportation strike in Port-au-Prince (protesting rising gas prices - they are a LOT higher than here). On an upnote, our processor called USCIS (Immigration) and they are WELL AWARE of our time constraints and offered our birthmom another chance tomorrow (usually it takes at least a week to get an appointment). Evidently the guy in charge knows about us (could be the email I sent to him) and that is helping our cause. I had to go Fed Ex paperwork that was missing from our file today, too. We also scanned and emailed copies. Thank God for the internet!


We're still in the race against the clock, but at least we're still in the race. Keep those prayers a comin'! :)


~Zaz

Just a quick note to remind my friends and family to pray for Janae's birthmom today. She has her US Immigration interview today. If they believe that she really is Janae's birthmom and her story of why she is having to give her up for adoption, all will be well. If not, they may require DNA testing to prove that she is Janae's birthmom. They may also require other documents.

So, today we are praying for these things:


*That God would be present in the details of the day

*For peace for Adline that she is making a good decision for her daughter

*That she would show up for the interview

*That no DNA or other documentation would be required

*That USCIS would believe her and all would go well


I woke up this morning thinking about Adline. She is a beautiful girl. Stunning actually. When we met, one of the things she was worried about was that we wouldn't tell Janae about her. I told her that I would tell Janae everything I know about her. We are planning to stay in touch through the orphanage. I wish I could've done the same thing for our son's birthmom, but I've always had the impression that she didn't want to meet us. We tried.

I'll post if I hear anything this evening! Thanks!

~Zaz

Just a quick update today:

I have it on good authority that the US government MIGHT accept a copy of our dossier and temporarily approve our paperwork until the originals are made available again after we get Janae's passport. They've done it before. It would save us time and a lot of money. Janae will still be stuck for a bit, but there are people working on that problem, too. Lots of kids are stuck.



So today we are praying that the official in charge would have mercy on us and accept what we currently have. We are also praying for Adline, Janae's birthmom, to show up at her US Immigration interview tomorrow. I don't know the time. We are hoping the the government doesn't require DNA testing to verify that she is Janae's birthmom. Please also pray for her heart. This cannot be an easy thing for her to do. She visits Janae every two weeks at the orphanage.



Thank you so much for all the love and concern that has been showered on us these past months. It helps immensely!

~Zaz

It seems that I don't like posting on my blog. I haven't figured out why though. :)


A lot has happened since my last post. I might have to post in chunks since I don't think I have the stamina to put it all down at once (I broke my elbow last year and typing still hurts). So bear with me. Please.


First things first. I was in Haiti last week and got to know my daughter. It was great. I also got to see all the kids at the orphanage. I was sad that so many of them were still there from last year, but many are almost ready to go to their new homes. Janae Barbara is one of them. We are awaiting her Haitian passport and US Immigration. But we are in a bit of a crunch. Our US paperwork expires (only good for 18 months) on Monday, June 18th. If we cannot provide them with the paperwork they require they will close our case until we refile and pay a fee of $545. That will take several more months. We need that Haitian passport. If we have that, we can likely get things finished up. The likelihood of that happening without an act of God is VERY slight. So, with that in mind...


PRAYER REQUEST:
Please pray that God would have great mercy on us and get our passport through very quickly. This is a mountain, but God is SOOOO much bigger than this. If it is His will, He can do it in a split second. Also, Janae's birthmom is supposed to have her interview on Wednesday, June 13th. I met her last week. I'm hoping I made a good enough impression that she is willing to continue this process. Even though Janae is legally ours in Haiti, her birthmom could still disrupt everything. We pray that she has peace about all this.


I will do my utmost to update this blog daily during the upcoming week. I know how much we all like to keep up with the things we are praying for.


Thanks for reading!
~Zaz

On Monday, March 26th, 2007, our dossier for the adoption of our daughter in Haiti MOVED another step forward. No, this doesn't mean I can go get her, but it does mean that we are still moving forward. I hadn't written anything here for a while because I was so sure I would have news at any time and I wanted to wait. Silly me. :)


I was beginning to feel really down about the whole process of adopting. Waiting is difficult. I'm usually pretty patient, but I kept getting my hopes up for news and they kept getting dashed. I know I won't hear anything again for a while now, so I'll be okay for at least the next month. After that, all bets are off. But I am finally doing something to help me in the wait. I'm hoping to go to Haiti in June to get to know my daughter before she comes home. I haven't seen her since July of last year. She doesn't look like the baby I played with last July. The photos I get of her now look so grown up by comparison. While I'm there I'm planning to file my US Immigration paperwork as well. It would take so much longer to do that if I filed in Minnesota. I don't know how I'll afford going on two trips to Haiti (I'll have to go back and get her), but God has provided so far, so I'll trust Him in this, too.


So, we still covet your prayers as the saga continues. I'll let everyone know when we move again!

I keep forgetting my account name and how to get where I want to go in the program that powers this blog. One of these days I'm sure I'll get the hang of everything - especially if I show up on a more regular basis. :)



It's cloudy today and I'm missing my daughter. In case you don't know, we're in the process of adopting our second child from Haiti (Isaiah, our four year old, was our first). Her name is Janae Barbara and she just turned two. We are currently stuck in the Haitian court system. We thought we would be out by now, but it seems there is no end in sight. I'm getting a bit frustrated since the American side of our paperwork is due to expire in June and I really don't want to pay the government another $545 to renew it. I will, but I don't know from where the money is going to come. Perhaps its time to lobby Congress to change the length of time that the paperwork is valid to two years. It seems to be taking a lot of people that long to get their kids home from many countries these days. Our dossier has been in Haiti since January 2006, but we've been dreaming of Janae since long before that. I had the opportunity to meet Janae this past July and Bryan went in November. She's a really sweet little thing with a great smile and huge eyes (the photo is from early January). Isaiah can hardly stand the wait for his little sister. He talks about her every day and what life might be like when she gets here.


"She might sit on me, Mom."

"Yes, she might. What do you think you would do if she did?"

"I think I might kiss her."

Smile.



So my prayer today is that we would finally move a little bit forward this week. A miracle would still bring her home in May.

Ahhh, wouldn't that make for a lovely Spring. :)

Once upon a time, I tried blogging. It didn't go well. We'll skip the details, but suffice it to say, I had limited myself to too small a topic and I didn't really feel like talking about it.



This time is different.



I am not limiting myself. I am just going to talk about whatever pops into my head on a given day. Some of you may get confused. I have a tendency to change subjects mid stream. It's just who I am. Concentration is not one of my strong points.



So pull up a chair and a cup of hot chocolate (I don't do coffee) and let me tell you a story or two. If you'd like to join in (make comments), by all means, do. Just try to be nice.


~Zaz