The orphanage director and our agency believe that the errors won’t be a problem, but our case does have to go back to court. They anticipate it was only take a few days to correct and we should be out of court again. We’re changing the language of the documents somewhat, but not completely. The new language makes me nervous –not so much that the court won’t approve it, but that it won’t suffice for immigration. Having gone through several immigration processes with Ken, I know that they’re very particular about things, and their appreciation for creativity in language and procedure is different than mine. Hopefully our agency right in that this is no big deal and that the wording is not all that important.

My students did the sweetest thing for our adoption today. They actually created t-shirts last semester and sold them, with the profits going toward our adoption. They presented me with a rather large check today. I was speechless! Fortunately, I had some new pictures of the kids to show them, which was fun. Lots of ooo’s and ahhhh’s over the two of them, and over Emmanuel’s sweet smiling face. Then they had a good laugh over one of Rose’s pictures– you can see the mishchief written all over her face. Everyone seems to agree that we will have quite a character on our hands.

I can’t wait!

We finally received copies of our court documents, which tell a little more of the story of why our case has been in court so long. There are several reasons, all of which are not pleasant. But, the good news is that judgment has been pronounced, and we’re now progressing through the non-appeal period.

We hope.

There are lots of little errors in our court documents. Mostly misspellings, which should be easy to correct.

But there’s one big error: Ken’s citizenship. The court documents indicate that he’s an American, and although he looks like one, he is in fact, Canadian. This is not a simple typo. I don’t know how easy it will be to correct. I don’t know if there’s a different process for Americans-married-to-Canadian couples, other than the fact that the American of the two of us is the one who has to travel to the DRC. (The Canadian of the two of us is going to help keep me safe.) I do know that I am required to be the primary adoptive parent. So I really think it does make a difference. We had to fill out our initial immigration approval forms differently because Ken is Canadian, and had to provide extra documentation to prove his status in the U.S. Having dealt with immigration before, I know the only mistakes they gloss over are their own.  Will we have to go back through the court process again, or will they just be able to correct it, as if it’s a typo? I don’t know. Our agency is contacting the orphanage director to see if corrections can be made and how this will play out.

For now, I’m going to finish correcting a few dozen other typos.

Sigh . . .

After yesterday’s slightly less than stellar news, I was thrilled to see that the woman who is currently in the DRC to pick up her daughter went to the orphanage and took over 200 pictures of the kids and posted them for the families in our agency to see.

Up until now, we’ve had only one good picture, and the kids were not smiling. The others were such poor resolution, it was hard to discern their facial characteristics.

These pictures are FANTASTIC.

There are over 100 children at the orphanage, with 15 “mamas” taking care of them. In the sea of children’s faces, we quickly recognized Rose. She worked her way into more than a dozen photos, with several of just her. In every picture she has a different expression, as opposed to the somber-robot look she has displayed in all of the photos we’ve had up until now. She has the sweetest dimple on her left cheek, and what appears to be a significant amount of sass. Ken and I got to laughing because the more we looked at the pictures, the more we realized that she had snuck into so many pictures. She’s frequently in the background, and in one picture of children sitting at a table eating lunch,  you can see her eyes just peeking from behind the shoulders of the other children. She’s our little “Where’s Waldo!”

Emmanuel was a bit harder to find. We haven’t received as many pictures of him, and after studying the ONE good picture of him that we have, and the photos online, we think we have figured it out. One of the reasons it’s been so hard to figure out who he is is because he’s smiling! He’s joking with friends, laughing, and even casting glances at his sister who indeed, worked her way into the “boys only” photos. He has the cutest button nose, and has already lost a tooth.

All in all, there are about 2 dozen new pictures of our kids. We’re not allowed to post pictures online for security and privacy reasons, but I can show them to people in person. It has been so good to see our kids with different expressions, having fun, and being well cared for!

We finally received word today that our agency has received our court judgment and is now sending our documents for translation.

Wait.

Didn’t that happen in October?

Apparently, our agency was verbally informed that we passed court on October 11th, but the judge didn’t actually finalize the judgment until January 6th. We are now in the beginning of the 30-day appeal period, which we thought began on October 11th.

Sigh.

So the good news is that there’s finally paperwork coming through. The bad news is that we are literally 3 months behind where we thought we were. But at least something is happening!

So, what does it look like from here?

• After the non-appeal period is over (February 6th) it will take 1-30 days to receive the Certificate of Non Appeal. We also need several other documents to be processed during this time too, but I don’t want to bore you any more than you already are. 😉
• Once all of the documents are received, we prepare another monstronsitron pile of paperwork for US Citizenship and Immigration Services for final approval. (We’ve already received pre-approval.) It takes an average of 6 weeks for this approval, although right now, things are being processed a little faster — depending on who our immigration officer is.
• Once immigration approval is received, an embassy appointment is scheduled for our kids. Right now, they are scheduling appointments about 6 weeks out from the date one is requested.
• It takes 2-4 weeks for the embassy to issue our kids’ visas, and then we can schedule travel.
• Somewhere in there we get our own visa to travel, but I’m a little fuzzy on when that happens. We can’t apply for a visa without travel dates, but we can’t schedule travel without a visa.

I’m resisting the temptation to do things like add up the minimum times and add up the maximum times and project a window for travel.  We have already significantly exceeded the time it would take to get the court judgment. Every step could take longer, or things could speed up. I don’t want to drive myself crazy trying to calculate a timeline I have no real control over. More than governments, or immigration officers, or judges, there is One who already has our travel date set. And I’m resting in the fact that it will come on the exact day He has planned.

Nothing.

I actually got an email last week from our program coordinator that I had documents to review and correct, which is what we’ve been waiting for, but she was wrong. She was tired and thinking of someone else.

False alarm.

We’ve been told for over three months now that we should expect progress “any day now.”

That day hasn’t come. Yet.

But it’s coming.

Once we get our court documents, there are still a half a dozen steps to complete, but it seems like we could travel as quickly as about 3 months, or it could be much longer. It really all depends on the government workers both in the Congo and here in the United States.

I’ve been on the fringes of the online discussion boards for all those who are adopting from the Congo through our agency. A few weeks ago, we shared our blog addresses, and I’ve been following the posts of others families. One of those families got word last Thursday morning that her daughter’s visa was being issued, and she flew to the Congo on Thursday AFTERNOON.

Her stories have been fascinating. Her little girl sounds precious, smart, and eager to be a part of her new family. I found out that the orphanage has been having someone come once a week to teach English, and her little girl was already able to count and knew a few basic other words. Otherwise, their daughter did NOT speak French, but Lingala. Oh dear. We still don’t know what language that our children speak, but since we had been told that the language of the orphanage was French, and now that we know it’s not, I think we might want to take the time to learn some Lingala as well.

She has also written a whole list of tips for those of us travelling after her. Things to bring, what to expect, people we’ll meet. It’s been so helpful. We’re excited to know that we’ll have some internet access, and fairly reliable electricity. We’ll be pretty much confined to the convent, for safety, but we will have meals and a courtyard where we can enjoy some fresh air.

The one thing I’m certain we won’t fully grasp until we get there is the level of poverty. Even though she is a seasoned traveller, she has been unable to communicate the gravity of what she has seen. I know that it is the poorest country in the world, and the most hungry nation in the world, but I don’t think anything can really prepare me for what we’ll be experiencing soon.

Any day now.

Since most of blogdom is doing the same, I thought I would take a look back at the top three most popular posts on this blog in the last year. In fact, there are probably not three other posts on this blog that better encapsulate what we have been through this year: the worst of times, and the best of times.

Even though I wrote the words, I still found it good to go back and reflect on how God has spoken to us this year. Yes, they still bring tears to my eyes. Healing from the events of the last year is still a process — a process that takes its own sweet time. At the same time, however, God’s fingerprints are written all over our story, and there’s no better place to be than exactly where God wants us.

Take a minute to read back through, or if you’ve joined our journey recently, read them for the first time. I think it will be worth your time.

In chronological order (with popularity).

Good Grief (#3)

Time for a Miracle (#1)

Our Miracle Has Arrived (#2)

May you be blessed this New Year with the assurance that you are exactly where He wants you to be.

Happy New Year!

We received new pictures of Rose and Emmanuel yesterday. (And as with all things important, we can’t post them online.) Believe it or not, it was the first full-size picture that we had of the two of them in which we can clearly see what they look like.

The photo actually captures them standing together, and they look like they could be holding hands. They both look healthy and strong. I can tell they are being fed well as their cheeks are full and their bellies are pleasantly preschool pudgy. (We pay ongoing monthly childcare fees to ensure that they are well-fed and cared-for, so at least we don’t have to worry about that.) I so wish I could jump into the picture and tickle under their chins or hug them. Anything to bring a smile to their t00-somber faces.

Hopefully soon.

Many people have asked what the latest is. We really haven’t heard anything since October, and trust me when I say that if there was something to post, my first three moves are:

1. Tell Ken
2. Post on Facebook
3. Post on the blog, which also posts on Facebook

All within minutes. Promise. I know not having updated the timeline or info pages makes it seem like I’ve neglected them. There’s nothing that I’d love more than to update them. There’s just nothing to update.

I am really excited for those ahead of us in the process of adopting from the DRC through our agency. Paperwork seems to be flying and progress is being made. There are a number of families who will be travelling in the next couple of months. Hopefully we won’t be far behind them!

If you noticed, on the Eighth Day of Christmas, we dropped off letters to Santa. Odd for adults to do? Of course! But the letters weren’t really for us. Ken and I each wrote letters to Santa, and dropped them off before sharing their contents with each other.

We were informed that we could expect a response from Santa, but what we got in the mail on Christmas Eve was much different from what we expected. I was expecting a generic form letter, perhaps with the names changed at the top. Instead, Santa wrote responses to Ken and I together (even though we had written two separate letters), and a letter to each of our kids. I know it’s a long post, but it will be worth your time.

Ken’s letter:

Dear Saint Nicholas,

Dear Santa,

I know I’m a little old to be writing you a letter, or even to be telling you what I want, but before you put me on the naughty list, know this letter isn’t for me. It’s for my kids.

My kids are Rose and Emmanuel. They are ages 3 and 5, and they live in an orphanage in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We’re in the process of adopting them, and things have come to a standstill since October. There has been an election, and rioting, and much instability in the country. We were hoping to be travelling to get them this time of year, but we still have months of paperwork and processes to go through before we can get them. I don’t even know for sure that they know we exist, or that they are loved.

So, here is my Christmas wish. Would you let Rose and Emmanuel know that they are loved, and that we are desperately trying to bring them home? Would you make sure their mosquito netting is snuggly around them, and that they have a toy or a blanket to cuddle with? Would you fill their caregivers with an extra amount of love, joy, and patience, and help their security guards to be brave and strong? Would you give them the gift of laughter on Christmas day – even though they may not even realize what day it is? Most of all, would you protect the places in their hearts that are meant to be occupied by a mom, a dad, and Jesus so that they don’t give up hope too soon?

I know this is a lot to ask for, but I’d appreciate your help. Next Christmas, I hope to be helping Rose and Emmanuel to write letters of their own.  

Merry Christmas,

Robin Jewett

To Rose and Emmanuel —

We tried so hard to get you home before the end of the year in time for Christmas. We hope you know that you are loved, not only by us, but by our Heavenly Father, who will have to be the One to hold you tight this Christmas.

We got some additional information on our kids today, including their birthdates (which I can’t share) and a bit of their background of how they came into care (which I also can’t share).

But what I can share is that we officially know how old they are. Emmanuel has had a birthday since his referral and is now 5 years old. Rose won’t turn 4 for quite a few months. They are almost exactly 18 months apart in age.

This information makes me feel better on several different levels. Of course it feels great to know when our kids’ birthdays are. I’m also even more glad that we can keep them together, especially being so close in age.  I had also been wondering about the paucity of information known about them, and if that might slow down the process. Now that I know there is more information, I have hope that our adoption process can continue to move forward.

So, while we’re still waiting for our court paperwork to be translated, at least we’ve received some news!