Switching Blog Address

I am switching blog address for two reasons:

1) Its a new season and direction in our lives and so I'll create a new/different blog in a new location.

2) The user ID that I created the adoption/missionary journey under is one that I rarely use, so I had to log in and out often - it was very inconvenient. This is the primary reason for the new blog. I will, no doubt, be updating it less frequently - we just don't have multiple significant things going on as we did in Haiti.

The new blog will be at:

http://schlorf.blogspot.com

See you there... (all the old posts are there too so if you want to see what we did, you don't have to switch between the two).

General Update

Some highlights of our trip back and so far of our life back in the States:

• Lou liked the plane rides and got to sit with the co-pilot (his hat says "Future Pilot").

• Immigration for Lou was a little bit of a pain, but we got through without any major issues. A customs lady behind the desk was giving me as much attitude as she could - welcoming me back to the States.


• My parents have warmly welcomed us into their home. They moved things around so that we could settle in better and it seems to be working well.


• We went to the Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells and had a very good time. Lou liked going down the big water slides and he would move his hands in a pinching motion the whole way down. I'd hold his hands so he wouldn't scratch himself. When we got to the end, he wanted to do it again. (He pooped his pants once in the waterpark...look out! Fortunately it was contained and not left floating.)


• Tina and I went to Duluth for a much needed break. We stayed at Superior Shores (in Two Harbors) and had lots of time to think, analyze, and plan. We are looking at houses and I am looking at jobs, so we got a lot done to help us in these directions.

We have nothing planned but the usual Thanksgiving and Christmas things that we were not home for last year - we're looking for to seeing all of our family again!

Kayla misses her friends at the mission and has been emailing them back and forth. She found a friend at church that she missed and they exchanged information. It was fun to watch the reaction because her friend seemed to think that she would be gone forever!

We Are Here...

Duluth (taken this morning from our room)

We will get back to the Twin Cities tomorrow afternoon. Many thanks to my mom and dad for watching the kids!!

I didn't get to post pictures and updates before the weekend like I thought... I should be able to get to it soon (I hope). We are enjoying seeing people we haven't seen in over a year and trying to get settled in.

Still Here

It is not my intent to be gone from this blog, but we took a little trip the early part of this week and got back yesterday. My computer also decided to stop connecting to the internet after I installed my free upgrade to Windows 7....so that throws a little monkey wrench in it (I have to get CDs for Vista to downgrade to that OS then try to reinstall Windows 7 again).

I'll get some pictures and some information on here by the end of the weekend (at the latest). Thank you for your comments, thoughts, and prayers! Things are going very well! Praise God!

God is Good - We Made it Back!

We left yesterday at 7AM. After we prayed for our travel with the BHM missionaries for good travel, we had very, very good travel (thank you all!).

We were expecting to get to Minneapolis at 11:45PM, but barely caught the earlier flight that allowed us to get home at 8PM instead - a great blessing. Tina was feeling pretty ill and I was a little ill, too. We didn't eat enough I think. Anyway...

We are here and getting settled in. Lou liked the plane rides and I'll post some pictures in a little while.

PRAISE GOD!! Whoo-Hooo!! We are HOME!!

Dog

Our nice lap dog, Oreo, is going to go to a new home Monday (Lord willing). The Livesay's hooked us up with someone who wanted her. She isn't really a lap dog, but I love making big dogs lap dogs (even our old great dane). I often have Oreo (full bred Lab) on my lap. She will make a good pet for someone - I have no doubts! We will miss her!

Just a Few

Only a few days left. We are mostly packed up and are anxious to leave. Lord willing, in a few days we'll be on our home turf. It'll be a long day, but worth it!

November Anniversary

November marks the one-year anniversary of the school collapse (from my blog: Part I and Part II) that happened in Petionville. A memory, for me, that I will never forget. I continue to see buildings that look like they will be the next ones to fall down. It often reminds me of the graces and kindness of God that we simply pass by without notice.

Lord, forgive me for not recognizing all of your works and for neglecting to thank you and praise you!

Tina and I were just talking about how this adoption process could have continued to go much, much longer and things could have been much, much more difficult. God knows we are, perhaps, at our limits. :-)

Picture of the Kids

Here is a picture of our kiddos that was taken about 4-5 months ago.

We Are Done With the Adoption!

We are officially done (assuming we make it through Customs in Miami)!

Nothing left (well, save for one $115 bill that our orphanage director owes us).

This is the end of the Adoption Journey paperwork process!

This is also the end of our Missionary Journey Part I (only the Lord knows if there will be a Part II).

Thank you for all that you have done in supporting us verbally in comments, financially in donations, and prayerfully in your prayers! We pray that God bless each and every one of you for what you have done for us in these journeys.

We Paid for the Visa!!

We paid for the visa ($400) and have to go pick it up tomorrow after 2:30PM!! We are DONE once we have it in our hands. The paperwork has ALL BEEN ACCEPTED and we have nothing left but to pick it up!! YA---HOOOO!!!

We'll be working on scheduling flights and determining how and when we'll be arriving in the States. We'll keep you updated - I'll post tomorrow PM after we have the visa in our hand (Lord willing!).

God is good!! It appears that His timing for us to head home is real soon!!

VISA APPOINTMENT: MONDAY!

Tina is much more excited than I am! I, personally, am calloused and perhaps a bit worn out, but:

WE
HAVE
THE
VISA
APPOINTMENT
MONDAY
!!!!!!

They have asked us to bring the passport and the US$400 to the appointment, so Tina is making the assumption that everything is OK. She's probably right, but I won't have a near-permanent grin on my face until we have the visa done. There is still a possibility that they didn't like the paperwork and we have to resolve some issue, but let's pray and hope that isn't something that we'll have to experience.

God is good!

Trip Cancelled

It's raining in Cite Soleil, so he cancelled the film showing. We may go next week.

Cite Soleil

This afternoon and evening I am going somewhere I would not have thought I would ever go when I first got to Haiti. I am going with someone, Joel Trimble, and Cullie (my mechanic missionary friend) to the shanty town of Cite Soleil (click to read about the city - some things have improved since the writing of that Wikipedia website, so please don't read that and think that I am committing suicide because the adoption is not finished). We're not just going to the outskirts, but to the guts.

We have been meeting at Mr. Trimble's house on Sunday mornings to worship Our Lord. He has been showing a film that he made in his minstry and has invited me to go along. The film is basically a current-day, prodigal son story in Kreyol. Mr. Tremble goes to Cite Soleil with his SUV toting a decent-sized screen and projector. With a generator (there is very little electricity in the city) and the projector set up on the truck, he shows the film in the middle of the "street" - he has already scoped out the location and determined where to show the film. He has been going to various locations within Cite Soleil about once a week (usually Fridays) to show the film and has had much success - large crowds gather. After the film, he speaks to the people about the forgiving grace of God in His Son, Jesus, and invites people to come up for prayer if the Lord has called them to begin following Him. He has coordinated with over 100 pastors to followup with these folks.

For those who want a relationship with Jesus, a Haitian pastor will be available to them for the days, weeks, months and years afterwards. Things are a little different in Cite Soleil. Streets signs and addresses are pretty consistent throughout the downtown and larger cities, but here there are no addresses or street names, so for a pastor to know where a person lives in order to follow up with them takes a big long description of various landmarks in an crammed-living-space environment to find where they live.

We will have to be very careful - Joel is a coordinated guy and seems to have his things well planned out. I would like to bring my camera and take a couple shots, but I wouldn't want to make anyone upset or have it cause problems. I'll see what I can do to capture some memories on (digital) film. By the time we finish, it will be dark and pictures will not be a possibility.

Please pray that we are kept safe and that the films will have a great impact on those who view it. As always, we pray that we follow the Lord's guidance as we interact.

Post to Post, BCS

This is a post just to post. There is nothing going on with the adoption, we're sitting tight until mid/end next week when we'll put some effort to finding sources to help us push the visa through. Lord willing, that will help.

Boring Car Stuff...

We are selling a few vehicles here at the mission and I have been getting them in decent mechanical shape to sell. The one I worked on today was the Mitsubishi Montero. I had to replace two shocks, bushings, and the rear u-joint on the drive shaft. We may have buyer(s) for the Turbo Diesel Ford Ranger and the Mitsubishi Montero IO (smaller, less SUV-like SUV).

Not car related - I picked up a new Access database to work on. My shoulder has been hurting me for a few weeks now (muscle or ligament issue) and it will be nice to have a "desk job" for a little while to work on instead of being under cars/trucks and messing up my shoulder more (and banging my head - like I did today). This database is related the master classes held here at the mission (student, classes, grades, billing, etc...). It should make their administration operations more efficient because right now it is being managed in numerous Excel spreadsheets. Access allows for flexible reporting, too.

Over and Over

I need to read this over and over today. I need it!

A Devotional Series by Charles H. Spurgeon

Evening Devotion
Monday, October 19, 2009

"God, my maker, who giveth songs in the night." {#Job 35:10}

Any man can sing in the day. When the cup is full, man draws inspiration from it. When wealth rolls in abundance around him, any man can praise the God who gives a plenteous harvest or sends home a loaded argosy. It is easy enough for an Aeolian harp to whisper music when the winds blow—the difficulty is for music to swell forth when no wind is stirring. It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but he is skilful who sings when there is not a ray of light to read by—who sings from his heart. No man can make a song in the night of himself; he may attempt it, but he will find that a song in the night must be divinely inspired. Let all things go well, I can weave songs, fashioning them wherever I go out of the flowers that grow upon my path; but put me in a desert, where no green thing grows, and wherewith shall I frame a hymn of praise to God? How shall a mortal man make a crown for the Lord where no jewels are? Let but this voice be clear, and this body full of health, and I can sing God’s praise: silence my tongue, lay me upon the bed of languishing, and how shall I then chant God’s high praises, unless he himself give me the song? No, it is not in man’s power to sing when all is adverse, unless an altar coal shall touch his lip. It was a divine song, which Habakkuk sang, when in the night he said, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." Then, since our Maker gives songs in the night, let us wait upon him for the music. O thou chief musician, let us not remain songless because affliction is upon us, but tune thou our lips to the melody of thanksgiving. (http://www.answersingenesis.org/devotions/devotions.asp?reqDate=10/19/2009&reqDayPer=2)

Retrospect: Graces

Shea commented on my last blog post and I wanted to publicly mention the graces that God has provided as we ourselves occasionally look back at the last 18.5 months.

We look at what we had and what we valued when it began: a hobby/race car, a 27' travel trailer, a large house, two full-time incomes with children in daycare and public school, etc... and see how God had worked on us to lead up to this adoption journey.

We think about how he changed our hearts to be more family-focused and not monetary-focused or thing-focused. Tina went from full-time work to part-time work to quiting work - when her full-time job was almost half of our income. She also started homeschooling. This allowed us to have more time overall which led to us thinking that we had much more time to offer to more children. Since I had a vasectomy (something I did when we weren't following the Lord with all of our heart) we couldn't have more of our own. That is something that I often times felt that I shouldn't have done, but in God's overall plan it makes a perfect real life story. We were forced to adopt if we wanted more children.

It then became a realization that we had more to offer than we were utilizing for God's glory. Helping out one of God's children, a disabled orphan, was something God put on our hearts to explore. As we (Tina mostly) explored the details, it became more clear that it was something that God wanted us to do as we discussed it.

Skipping some events, as we realized the poor condition of the orphanage and the poor physical conditional of the son we were in the process of adopting we began to think that if one of our biological children were in the situation that the child we were adopting was in, we would do whatever it took to be with them. And that's what we did.

"Whatever it took" meant that we needed to move to be with him. We sold 95% of our things I headed whole-heartedly in the direction that I felt the Lord was leading us.

Also at the same time and after being to Haiti once, God made me curious to check out mission work. I wanted to know what it was all about. This is a significant thing from the Lord as without the desire to check out mission work, we would have never landed where we are now. As tough as it is sometimes, being on the mission grounds has allowed us to live in Haiti with much more ease than if we had not checked out mission work. Here are some examples:

1) Being here at the mission has allowed us to live in Haiti without having to pay for housing.
2) The mission is set up with someone who goes shopping every day and can get us what we need. We do not have to do our own shopping (although sometimes it better if we did because we do not always get the right things or they may spend more than they should).
3) We have had the opportunity to borrow vehicles from the mission or the missionaries.

Those three things right there have allowed us an easier life as we live here in Haiti and they are related to time and money (a blessing to us from the Lord). Again, if it were not for the Lord giving me the thought of checking out mission work and being a missionary we would not have come here.

It has also allowed us to learn about mission work in ways that we would not have learned from a book or from listening to others talk - real life experiences are very valuable. We have seen good things from missionaries and bad things from missionaries. We see what things work and what things do not work. We have struggles in this area and have learned from those struggles.

Some of these struggles have helped us to realize the seasons that God gives us (people) for our lives. And that is our primary reason for the decision to leave the mission field when the adoption is over. There are other reasons that are significant, but our season of family is the primary one. If God calls us back to the mission field (where ever that may be), we hope that we are in His will and following Him.

As we struggle through the adoption taking longer than we expected and going through trials that we didn't anticipate, we realize that God has a plan for us in these things and that plan is not for our comfort/convenience or for our being glorified, but rather for His plan and for His glory.

These are some of the graces that the Lord has given us as it relates to the significant life/direction changing events. There are so many little graces that we have been given that go unmentioned on this blog. I hope that God is working through what I write on this blog to help others - whether it is relating to missions, the adoption process in Haiti, or however He would be pleased to use it.

God is good! All the time! He is so worthy of honor and praise and glory! How great is our God!

New Perspective

We went to church this morning where we have been going the last 3-4 Sundays and there is an American lady there (most/all are Americans) who has a well-recognized orphanage. She has been there a long time. We talked to her about our situation and she thought based on what we told her that we may have a week or two left for the visa paperwork to be all sorted out. She has seen a lot the paperwork process and has been through a lot.

That is exactly what we were looking for when we called our orphanage director. We have an estimated time frame for how long it should take. So, now, we'll look forward to the week after this week for an answer. If we hear something before that time...GREAT! But now we have something to go by.

This information will help me BIG TIME in getting through this week!!

Reminders, Boots

These reminders seem to come up at just the right time.

Boots

Once again, Gerben was here at the mission helping out. He brought a friend of his as well. They did a bunch of things (mostly computer and network related) while they were here. It was for 5 weeks that they stayed and to me it felt like 2 weeks at the most. Gerben is a great guy to have around - a great blessing and change in pace. He would always ask us how things went with the adoption processes we were going through and seemed genuinely interested in what was going on.

He generously left his boots with me again (along with a beautiful "Holland" ceramic item and some good snack-like treats from across the pond). They are steel toed working boots and are exactly what I need. My old pair were also steel toed - I was starting to be able to see the steel from the outside and was losing support in them. Thank you Gerben for the blessing!

Ya Gotta Love It...

So I called our orphanage director just now to try to understand the process further and to see what she knows. I was completely and absolutely (without it being a judgement call) calm and simply asked a couple questions about paperwork -trying to learn about the system (that's what I said: that I was trying to learn).

After my first question, she started yelling in the phone and in my ear. She didn't listen to what I was asking and rather thought I was asking a question about something else. I tried to talk over her yelling over me as I talked and it didn't help. She seemed defensive.

She ended the call after one minute by taking the Lord's name in vain and hanging up on me.

Sometimes I think this process would be easier to go through if we were blinded by the people moving the paperwork. Coming here has given us sight into the way things operate without someone else's colored glasses.

The biggest problem here is that there appears to be little standardization. I attempted to call and find out from a "professional" what the process is that our paperwork goes through. I am trying to set my own expectations based on what needs to be done. If I am looking at other peoples' cases and am not seeing the whole picture, I want to know where I am wrong in my thinking. My attempt to call the "professional" ended up in being hung up on.

From what we can read and understand (I was trying to learn more by calling the orphanage director), we may have 60 days to go through the "administrative process" that is required before we get the visa. This may be due to the fact that we filed under the "Orphans First" program which is/was a pilot program to speed up the adoption process. Ironic isn't it.

Boring Car Stuff...

I don't know about you, but I need a commerical break from the adoption. I got the Toyota transmission finished a day or two ago and it went out today. If I did everything right, it should come back on its own power. I have been messing with a lot of signal and brake lights lately too because we have to get the annual licenses renewed. These roads are rough! (Is it obvious that I am just reaching for things to say here... A boring commerical no doubt.) I need to go pound sand for a little while.

From the US Embassy - Haiti website

"After a petition to adopt a child is approved by USCIS [approved Sept. 19, 2009], the agent in Haiti working with the adopting parents [our orphanage director] should e-mail the Consular Section at PaPAdoptions@state.gov to schedule an appointment with the Adoptions Unit. After all requirements are fulfilled under Haitian and American law [they have to see that we have done all that we should have], the immigrant visa is generally issued on the following business day."

Source:
http://haiti.usembassy.gov/adoption.html

Things that we are told change all the time. We were told at one point to push for a visa appointment. I was just told over the phone minutes ago (by the same person) that now we have to wait because our child is from a town that is an hour away. They have to verify the paperwork by apparently going to his town to check the paperwork out. What the US Embassy - Haiti website says they are doing is not what they are actually doing.

This is very confusing. They have all of the original paperwork with stamps, signatures, and impressed stamps (not just ink stamps). What are those things worth if they have to go there and check things out anyway? All of that time and effort in getting that original paperwork and going through those steps was wasted because they have to go there and check it all out anyway. This is all new to us - and apparently new to everyone else who can get out in 2-3 days.

I continue to struggle (and am failing) with seeing past the circumstances that cause our delays to see that God is controlling the timing of when we leave Haiti for reasons I may never know. Perhaps I am worn out. That is no excuse, however - I need to persevere better. I am a great example of the love of Christ - why would He continue to put up with me complaining (and continue to forgive me) if He didn't love me. I am much, much less forgiving when the kids do the same thing over and over after being told over and over.

I have so many lessons to learn. The older I get the more I have to learn.

Visa Appointment?

I may have made it worse for us (we are learning as we go here). I was checking out others' time frames for adopting from Haiti (via blog searching) and I came across enough people with dates to know that we should have a visa appointment date by now (if not actually have the visa in our hands by now).

Again, God is continuing to teach us patience and that His timing prevails. We do not always trust Him (and His timing) - this is one of our sins (just one of them).

I sent an email to the orphanage director to find out when she will be back in Haiti. It turns out that there is a place in Haiti that sounds like Germany. She didn't leave the country. She was back last Sunday. She replied promptly and asked about the visa. I told her that we have heard nothing and that I would like to see if she can do something to help. I'll keep you updated.

Email and Non-Adoption-related

We may be setting ourselves up for disappointment, but we are expecting an email today with the date of the appointment to get the visa. We are basing this timing off of the other blogs that we follow. If we are in alignment with them, we'll know about the appointment today and have the appointment Friday, but this is Haiti after all. We are looking forward to planning our entrance into the States!

Kids

The kids are doing well. Lou is doing great with going potty in the toilet. The only problem is when he gets up in the morning. He likes to lay there and wait for us to guess when he is up. During that time, he pees in his diaper. If we wake him up he is dry (most of the time) and once in a while he will be dry on his own. He is fully capable of waiting or calling us - he just doesn't want to.

Kayla and Carter are doing well. They have had the opportunity to manage themselves a lot lately as we have gone down with Lou to take care of the adoption things. They have mostly successes, but will sometimes do your basic kid stuff and mess things up. They are really great kids and help out quite a bit.

Boring car stuff

For the last two weeks, I have been working on rebuilding the transmission in the old Toyota that I rebuilt last year. At that time we had replaced a few parts -mostly related to the 2-3 synchronizer and this time, the 3-4 synchronizer went bad. It caused the tranny to eat a few of it's own pieces. I am at the point now where today we'll be putting it in (I hope to get a few good Haitian guys to help).

We are fixing up a few of our 12+ cars to sell them. This old Toyota is one of them (tranny, front differential, locking hubs, tail lights, etc...). Pastor Rob also is looking to get rid of the Ford Ranger, Mitsubishi Montero, Mitsubishi Montero IO and the two US-based Nissan Pathfinders.

Papers

We dropped off the papers at the Embassy this morning. We are now going to wait for an email regarding when our visa appointment is. We hope it will be by the end of the week, but if you have been following our adoption journey long things have not usually gone as we hope. We'll keep you updated...

I'll try to have some BCS this afternoon.

TB: NEGATIVE!!

He does not have TB!!!

We got there at about 6:30. By about 7:30 we got a little scare - they couldn't find the xray. By about 9:30 they had found it and had it in our hands. We are thankful to the Lord for getting us through this part! Thank you all for your prayers of strength and for getting through this TB testing.

We are very happy! We will definitely feel like it is finished after we get this last step started: the visa.

We stopped by the US Embassy to set up an appointment (because you cannot call or email to get an appointment) and they were not open. :-( So we'll head down there again in the morning and try to set up an appointment. Tina thinks we should hang out and wait for them to do the appointment that day, but I don't think that is realistic. It would be nice, but not realistic.

Again, thank you all for your prayers!

TB: More Research

If the result of the xray is positive, we have think we have determined that we have anywhere from 2-6 months of treatment to go through before he can come home.

If the result of the xray is negative, we could be home in less than two weeks.

That is the range we believe we are working with. Only God knows.

Skin Test: Positive, Our Attitude: Mostly Positive

It was positive just as we suspected based on reading the CDC website.

They took two front chest xrays and then I had to hold him for the side chest xray (xrays are good - I am hoping to grow a third arm to help with the mechanic work). Guess what...we have to go back there again - Monday.

While doing the xray, the guy doing the xray asked me if I knew anyone else who wanted a Haitian child. He said he had children of all ages to hook me or my friends up with. This is the second time this has happened to me - I suspect I am not the only person.

This guy looked at the xray and said it looked good, but I don't trust him at all. We'll wait for the official person to read the xray. Based on the way Lou acts all day long, I would guess that he doesn't have it, but... only the Lord knows right now.

Stay tuned until Monday... I'll try to come up with some commercial breaks. I might have some BCS later (Boring Car Stuff) in the week (i.e., tomorrow).

Please pray that we mentally make it through another weekend -they are tough for us.

Arm

We are leaving now and Lou's arm does not look good. I am thinking that we'll need to do the chest xray and then.... who knows what.

Helpful

Once again being unable to sleep well, I thank God for putting this in front of me this morning. I hope that it helps you in your trials, too.

Update

OK. Here is where we are at...

Tomorrow around 5:45 we are leaving to go to get Lou's test results. If it is negative, we'll head to the US Embassy and drop off the paperwork. If it is positive, he'll need a chest xray and I don't know where we go from there...

If we get to the US Embassy tomorrow, we'll be trying to schedule an appointment and discussing why we should have an IR3 visa instead of an IR4 visa. From what I can tell, it will be the Haitian-side that determines whether or not we get an IR3 visa (this is good news).

This afternoon I got an email from the US Embassy in Haiti and that email said that they received an approved I600 (yeah! they finally got it!!) and they want the orphanage director to come in with the paperwork. We have all the paperwork and the orphanage director is now in Germany, so we'll deliver it ourselves...assuming the TB test is negative.

So that's the plan. We'll update you when we get back tomorrow. Your prayers will be greatly, GREATLY appreciated!

More Problems

Somewhere between the MN USCIS and the National Visa Center in DC, they have managed to classify the visa as an IR4 and not an IR3 (which you get if you visit your child - oh we visited him...for over 15 months). That means that if they don't fix it, we will have to go through the re-adoption process in the States which means that it will cost us more money. Now we have to mess with that and it will most likely cause delays. We are already delayed because they have not contacted us about scheduling a visa appointment. So...on we go...

God manages to work out His timing in very creative ways. We trust in His timing.

Frustration

We are so mentally spent.

Every time we think things should go smoothly, they don't. Keep in mind as you read this that in the daily activities of going to town to do these things, only about 20% gets on the blog and then even that isn't the full experience.

We thought we would show up today and do the physical and then go drop off the papers at the US Embassy and schedule an appoint (the final one). We arrived at about 7:30 AM and finally left around 11 AM. We had to struggle with Lou absolutely (ABSOLUTELY!) flipping out because a nurse/doctor wanted to touch him. He freaked. It was not fun and he has done this before. We managed to pin all of his appendages down so they could give him a little shot. The nurse seemed upset that I didn't know enough Kreyol and didn't speak French. "Only English?" she says? Even though she could speak English, she continued to tell this ignorant missionary-mechanic-wannabe everything in Kreyol/French until I could figure it out. Nice.

Why did he need a shot? They needed to test for tuberculosis. Guess what - it's a two day test and we'll get the results back Thursday. Yes, we are going out again on Thursday - we just can't get enough apparently...

What never ceases to amaze me is the amount of necessary details the orphanage director either does not know or does not tell us (I believe the latter based on my experience). After many years of doing adoptions, one would think that she would have it down by now. The tuberculosis test is not new - I asked the person who gave the shot (the one who wouldn't speak English). One more detail that wasn't mentioned...we needed US$65 for the doctor to do the physical exam and all related things. It was a good thing I was a walking "mugging waiting to happen" - I had US$500 on me and a bunch of Haitian cash. We asked the director yesterday if we had to pay for the doctor visit and she told us that she didn't think so. She didn't think so?!?! How long has she been doing this? She decided to not tell us that and to keep it a secret surprise for us - she has to know that because she takes other children to the same place for the same reason.

OK. We swallowed that part OK. Not a big deal.

Then we get home and check our email. The US Embassy in Haiti is saying that they sent the paperwork to the MN USCIS and they should approve it. The MN USCIS told us to contact the National Visa Center to see what the status is of their approval. The National Visa Center says we need to contact the US Embassy in Haiti to check the status. Round and round we go - where we stop nobody knows... The USCIS in Haiti says that we should contact the US Embassy/Consulate General (which is no doubt on the other side of the hall). In ALL of these cases (like just about 90% of all Haitian activities we have been involved with) if you don't ask your 20 questions correctly, you won't get the information. If you don't ask, they won't tell. Nobody tells us how to contact those places unless you ask and only one has responded in all of our adoption situations. This even includes walking around trying to find the door you are supposed to go in.

I am so glad that I didn't order plane tickets yet. It may be a while. We never know what the next day brings here. It is so different here than in the US where you can plan more than one thing and you can expect it to happen within 15 mins of that plan. Some day soon we hope we will have a day in the sun.

We continue to lean on our Lord...heavily - and He is enough.

Dr. Visit - Port-au-Prince

We picked up the paperwork yesterday and in normal "nothing is normal" fashion, the orphanage director's place didn't have electricity and their generator was broke. We waited a little while for the mechanic to fix it because we needed more copies of some paperwork for what we need to do yet in the process, but it didn't get fixed - no copies could be made. We ended up going with one of her workers to go make copies at a store in Petionville (closer to where we live). All of the necessary paperwork (including originals) are now in our hands.

We are going to be leaving here in a half hour to go to the doctor for Lou to have a physical. This is necessary to obtain the visa.

After the doctor visit, we are going to the US Embassy to get our visa appointment which we hope will happen on Thursday since they only make appointments for visas on Mon, Tues, and Thurs.

We'll keep you updated!

For the Grandparents

On the newly modified (fixed) teeter-totter:


Can you believe that the boy on the right is only 15 months older than Lou on the left? The boy on the right, David, is Sandi and Cullie's son - Cullie is a former mechanic of the Baptist Haiti Mission that I have mentioned before and he lives/works a mile up the mountain. They have had David since he was an infant.

Can't Sleep

I wonder why (passport perhaps?)... I keep thinking of how life will be different when we get back. I keep going through what the Lord has taken us through to get us to this point. We have done a lot of growing and maturing - our children have, too. There have been so many challenges.

As I reflect back on what we have done and what we have been through here in Haiti, it seems that only recently we have really begun (only begun) to understand what it means to trust in God and turn it over to Him. There are points when we succeed and points when we fail. The points when we fail seem to be when, as we have heard our home pastor say, we listen to ourselves instead of preach to ourselves. We have our feelings and thoughts on what should be happening and whether or not those "things" that should be happening are based on facts, averages, normal happenings, or whatever does not matter. We need to move beyond listening to ourselves complain or even reason about our circumstances and move to what the Bible tells us.

It tells us to be patient. It tells us to trust in our Lord God. If we ask, seek, and knock, he will answer. It tells us that He will give us our heart's desire if we follow and trust Him (i.e., if our heart's desire is to follow, trust, glorify Him).

The last one is one place (just one of many) where I think that we may have gotten lost many times. We feel that, just like some people at a stop sign in the States (an observation that we have made many times), if you have sat waiting there long enough it's your turn to go regardless of what is coming up. It's not about us and it's not about what we know. God knows far more than we can ever know. He sees beyond what we see and He does not always (often?) show us what is coming up and why/how it may be better for us (and sometimes [mostly?] it is not even about us).

I think that we have failed on numerous occasions to rest, trust, and know that God has purposes in circumstances and it is not our way nor in our timing that things be accomplished. Of course this is always easier to say near the end of very long journey. I hope that next time we (I) go through a significant trial that is this much of a challenge (our biggest yet) that we see and realize these critical observations sooner and that we can do much better.

We have certainly achieved growth in our walk and this is one lesson that was well taught by having to go through a significant trial. We have learned things that we did not expect to learn that have nothing to do with adoptions or Down syndrome.

As I prayed and hoped at the beginning of our journey to Haiti, I hope that others have grown in their wisdom and knowledge of Jesus through the trial and circumstances that he brought us through. To God be the glory!

We have PASSPORT!!!

This morning at 9AM the orphanage director called to tell us we have the passport. YEA!!!

Praise God BIG TIME because she also told us that she is going to Germany next week (we may have had to wait more for her to get back)! She wants us to go there at 10AM tomorrow to get all the paperwork we need for the last two things: Dr. Appt and the visa. We could be done next week.

I have the flight scheduled (on hold until tomorrow at midnight). When we get back from seeing her Monday morning, I'll purchase them if all seems to be OK. We are looking at about 2 weeks until we come back (flights will be cheaper that way).

Help us praise our Lord!! We may be done soon!!

2-3

Last night after the dog woke us up at 1AM by barfing whatever junk she decided to eat that day, I had a thought. One of the things that Haitians say in Kreole is "2-3" when the English equivalent is a few. So when the orphanage director has been saying "2-3 days" it is really in a few days. Add to that amount the way things are in Haiti and you got yourself at least a week or two. The director was simply translating the Kreole into English for us and I was taking her literally - at least until the dog barfed.

Numbers, Comparisons, Beetle

Some Numbers

Days the adoption paperwork has been in Haiti for processing:
.....897 (we were told at the time 9-12 months or 270 to 360 days)

Days the Schlorf's have been living in Haiti with Lou:
.....457 (we thought no more than one year which we thought was unrealistically long)

Days waiting for the passport in Haitian Immigration:
.....15 working days (after an expected 2-3 days as stated by the orphanage director three times)

Days waiting for the passport in Haitian Immigration for the second attempt due to lost paperwork:
.....3-4 whole days (depending on when it was actually dropped off)

We have just realized that we have been here for more than half of the whole adoption process, as far as the paperwork being in Haiti. We rest in knowing that the Lord's plans are more well-conceived than our own (perfectly conceived). God is good! All the time!

Comparison

This is a good reminder about comparing (it is related to disabled children, but can be applied to everything, including how longs other have to wait to complete an adoption in Haiti).

Beetle

This hit our window last night and we thought it was a bird. It buzzed around a little so we picked it up and played with it. It was hard as a rock (almost) and clunked around inside the container. We let him go after about an hour.

Transmission - Part II

It's been a while since I have posted any boring car stuff. The adoption stuff is beginning to get boring, too. I may call about the progress on the passport on Wednesday afternoon, but I am not sure yet so...

Boring Car Stuff...

The transmission on the old Toyota that I repaired a few thousand miles ago started going bad about a month ago. I thought for sure that I did something wrong when I put it back together but after taking it apart today, another part failed that caused 3rd and 4th gear to go bad. It also chewed up the synchronizers for 3rd and 4th as well as took a couple chunks out of a few gears. Tomorrow they'll hopefully buy the parts and Wednesday I'll hopefully put it back together.

2-3 Days Part II

The orphanage director fortunately has copies of the papers needed for the passport and told me (again) that it will take 2-3 days. I am assuming that she will deliver the paperwork tomorrow, so I am hoping for Wednesday next week based on what she stated. We will see... Again, I will keep you posted. Monday will be day 1 of the 2-3 days (I am not including the delivery day).

This isn't so bad. It is a little easier to be talking about days now instead of weeks or months. There is only one more set of paperwork to lose (the visa), but it doesn't matter - I think that I am finally getting the hang of trusting our Lord more about the final timing and not worrying about the details in between (I am GETTING there...I am not THERE yet...).

We Interrupt...

...this commercial break for some late breaking adoption news:

This just in 45 minutes ago, we regret to inform you that Haitian Immigration lost the paperwork for processing the passport. We'll keep you informed as details are known.
_____________

It's a good thing that, in spite of the incredible amount of hardships, we are accomplishing our primary goal: Saving Lou from literally YEARS (1.25 years so far) of being stuck in an orphanage.

Another Commerical Break

For your reading enjoyment (long and good).

Indication

If the lack of a post yesterday is any indication of what is happening, I can tell you that nothing has indeed happened. I am not planning to call the orphanage director for while - it is pointless. She really has no idea when the passport will be out of Haitian Immigration and until it goes a really long time, she won't go there and ask them to work on it.

So in the Lord's timing, we'll get our passport and we'll be on our way. Until then, I offer you this valuable commercial break:

Morning and Evening
A Devotional Series
by Charles H. Spurgeon

Morning Devotion
Thursday, September 24, 2009

"For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him." {#Ezr 8:22}

A convoy on many accounts would have been desirable for the pilgrim band, but a holy shame facedness would not allow Ezra to seek one. He feared lest the heathen king should think his professions of faith in God to be mere hypocrisy, or imagine that the God of Israel was not able to preserve his own worshippers. He could not bring his mind to lean on an arm of flesh in a matter so evidently of the Lord, and therefore the caravan set out with no visible protection, guarded by him who is the sword and shield of his people. It is to be feared that few believers feel this holy jealousy for God; even those who in a measure walk by faith, occasionally mar the lustre of their life by craving aid from man. It is a most blessed thing to have no props and no buttresses, but to stand upright on the Rock of Ages, upheld by the Lord alone. Would any believers seek state endowments for their Church, if they remembered that the Lord is dishonoured by their asking Caesar’s aid? as if the Lord could not supply the needs of his own cause! Should we run so hastily to friends and relations for assistance, if we remembered that the Lord is magnified by our implicit reliance upon his solitary arm? My soul, wait thou only upon God. "But", says one, "are not means to be used?" Assuredly they are; but our fault seldom lies in their neglect: far more frequently it springs out of foolishly believing in them instead of believing in God. Few run too far in neglecting the creature’s arm; but very many sin greatly in making too much of it. Learn, dear reader, to glorify the Lord by leaving means untried, if by using them thou wouldst dishonour the name of the Lord.

Nothing

So we wait... Might call orphanage director by Wednesday to stay in the front of her mind.

Our Plans: Donations

As we draw near to the end of the adoption journey, we are also nearing the end of our missionary journey. I published a post a while ago that we have determined with prayer and reading that the season of life that we are in right now is one of "family." We are going to put our mission-season on hold until the family-season is over.

If you donate to us through the Baptist Haiti Mission after we leave, the Baptist Haiti Mission will send your donation back to you. Some people have mentioned a desire to help us transition back to life in the States and want to continue to help support us for a short time - we greatly appreciate this! If you choose to do so, please email us directly and we can work out those details. I will be looking for work in the same industry that I left (Financial Services/Brokerage), but if I am unable to find that work I will be looking in another industry/area.

As soon as we can, we will be leaving for the States. When we find out that we are finished with everything, we'll look for the first cheapest flight and we'll be on it. It is possible that we could be back in the States by this coming weekend at the very earliest (Lord willing!).

I600 APPROVED!!!

I just got an email from the USCIS guy who has been working so hard for us. He said that our I600 is approved and that he was going on vacation so he gave us another person to check with if we need to. This is great news! We are just a passport and a doctor visit away from being finished!

Praise God!

Still: Nothing

I called the orphanage director yesterday afternoon and I asked her a couple questions. One being if she thought we would have the passport by now. Of course, she didn't think we would - she must have forgotten that she told me 2-3 days to get the passport. I asked her when she thought we would have it and she, once again, told me what I wanted to hear: early next week. I don't have much (if any) faith in what she tells me, but again, based on other adoption processes early next week sounds about right.

Still nothing from the USCIS. Our good guy must be on vacation or something as he hasn't responded in a couple days to an email I sent. So we are still waiting for an official approval on our I600.

Side note (or should I say back note): My back is slowly getting better. I did a bit of walking around yesterday and as I got up this morning, it's doing well. I'll try to take it easy over the weekend and get back to work Monday.

Happy Birthday Sister

I wanted to give my sis
a big birthday wish.

We will soon be home to make
your birthday special by eating cake.

And by bringing your niece and two nephews,
one of them being altogether new.

We hope today you have a good one,
We look forward to seeing you - we're almost done!

Nothing new

No news from yesterday. Today is day 7 of a 2-3 day wait for the passport. I really think that we'll have the passport out Monday, but I'd like to hold people to their word - a little accountability. I'll be giving our orphanage director a call today to stay in the front of her mind.

No news regarding the I600 and the fingerprints. I am anticipating hearing something today, but that is based on no solid information (just a want - I WANT to hear something today).

Almost..., Side Note

The translation is done and I have emailed it to the USCIS person who has been so very helpful. He is working on the fingerprint situation so we do not have to go take them again. Once he has that squared away, we should have our approved I600 which makes the visa all ready once the passport is finished. I am thinking that we will have that today or tomorrow.

We are on day 6 of a 2-3 day passport process according to our orphanage director. She told me 3 days ago that we would have it yesterday or the day before. I am thinking that any and all dates are just random guesses to keep us going. We have seen how long it takes for other people, so we are not too surprised by missing these dates that she gives us. We are thinking based on others' experience that we'll have the passport completed Monday.

After the passport is done, we need to have a doctor appointment set up for Lou which may take a day or two and then a day or two to get the visa linked to the passport. Then...it's over. So...almost...

Side Note

We got more food in at the mission for the affiliated schools and churches. I have been helping to unload/load the sacks of rice, beans, etc... Yesterday, I was lifting the sacks down off the truck to workers so they could carry them on their heads elsewhere and I pulled a muscle in my back. I have been sitting and laying down ever since (it happened in the morning). I will not be working today either because it is too bad. I can hardly walk and sleeping wasn't too good last night. I have a friend that recently fell off a ladder and he broke two vertabre (among other things) - I now have a very brief idea of how he feels. I am sure he is/was much worse than I am. Dave, I hope you are feeling better!

Still Waiting

I am very thankful to have found someone here at the mission to work on the translation of three pages for the USCIS to approve the I600 in the States instead of in Haiti. It appears that an excellent job will be done and it should be done today if things went as planned. I will then scan the originals and send them to the USCIS for approval - I anticipate a day or two for that approval.

As far as the title of this post, we are still waiting for the passport. Today is day 5 of a 2-3 day wait. Since we do not have the I600 finished yet, there is no time lost waiting for this passport, but it would be nice to have it ready and waiting when we finish the I600. The I600 could have all been done a long time ago had the Orphans First program information been followed through on by all parties in this adoption process. We trust and rely on our faithful Lord.

We are getting a little anxious around here wanting to pack and sort through things. We have said that we won't be doing anything until the passport is finished. As soon as we hear that it's done, we'll be packing like squirrels on a sunny autumn day in Minnesota. It is difficult to maintain composure sometimes - I am starting to allow myself to be excited and happy that we may actually be near the end!

Things Seem to be Moving

I called our orphanage director three times yesterday. The first was unanswered. The second, I inquired with her regarding the passport. She said that it would be today or tomorrow (meaning yesterday or today as I write). It didn't happen yesterday so we are hoping for tomorrow. Yesterday was 3 full business days.

The third call was because of information that I had gained through emails from one of the folks in the St. Paul USCIS office. This genlteman has been awesome in helping us out.

He managed to be able to locate and transfer our fingerprints from the two other times we had had it done and apply them to our current situation and paperwork. That means that we don't have to figure out a way to get there and do the fingerprints and wait for it to process for the I600 paperwork.

Additionally, he said that instead of sending the paperwork that orginally got lost to Haiti and waiting for them to process it, if I could get the final adoption decree and have it translated, he could approve the I600 there and we would not have to wait/rely on the USCIS in Haiti to approve it.

So, yesterday afternoon I drove down to the orphanage director's place and picked up a copy of the adoption decree. I have the paperwork here on my table now and will be taking it to one of three possible folks here at the mission that can translate it for us.

Once I get it translated, I will be emailing it to the USCIS gentleman and he'll approve it (perhaps within a day or two) and the I600 part will be all set for the visa. Hopefully we'll get the passport done today, too. Once we get that, we have to take Lou to a doctor for a basic medical exam that is required as part of this process (one of the USCIS's recommended doctors has to do it).

We are possibly looking at having everything finalized by the end of next week. I, personally, am starting to feel rather giddy inside. So far, we our excitement has been tempered because of our familiarity with how things can go here, but things are looking well and from what I know, we are out of the bribery stages so things should go fairly smoothly (Lord willing!). Stay tuned!

Of the Lord

Often (very often) times, as we are going through this lengthy adoption process, I have struggled with knowing how much to do myself and how much to sit back and wait for God to work on His own (because He is always working and doesn't NEED my help).

There seem to be many things that we can do so that we can "do all that we can" and leave the results up to God. I believe that one of the MANY things that God has taught me by being here and going through the adoption process is that we must put forth our efforts under Biblical scrutiny (i.e., do not do things that do not represent a true Christian) and the results of those efforts are always of the Lord.

I read these great few sentences in Spurgeon's Morning and Evening this morning and I thought I would share as it addresses what I have learned and strengthens what I have learned:

The pilgrims dig the well, but, strange enough, it fills from the top instead of the bottom. We use the means, but the blessing does not spring from the means. We dig a well, but heaven fills it with rain. The horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. The means are connected with the end, but they do not of themselves produce it. See here the rain fills the pools, so that the wells become useful as reservoirs for the water; labour is not lost, but yet it does not supersede divine help.

More Violence Today

The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince is issuing this Warden Message to alert U.S. citizens that a violent demonstration is occurring in downtown Port-au-Prince. Protestors are burning tires near the Faculty of Ethnology (corners of Ave Magloire Amboise/Ave Magny and Ave Magloire Amboise/Rue St. Honoré), have put chairs on Ave Magloire Amboise, and are throwing rocks at passing vehicles from inside the Faculty of Ethnology. Haitian National Police (PNH) is attempting to evacuate the area, but demonstrators are attacking HNP with rocks. HNP has in response deployed crowd-control gas, but is not yet able to control the demonstrators. American citizens are advised to avoid this area and should monitor media coverage to stay abreast of the situation as it develops. Americans in Haiti are advised to remain alert and to avoid all demonstrations as they can result in violence and require police intervention. They should be aware of their surroundings at all times and are encouraged to register with the U.S. Embassy.

Not a Big Deal

Towards the end of yesterday, we were working a bit on our I600 paperwork that was found (workin in terms of making sure that it is finished, OK, and ends up in the right place). It turns out that our fingerprints have expired for the paperwork and we were asked when we could make it to the St. Paul, MN office. Well, we can't. They have a procedure for renewing fingerprints from overseas so... That's the route we'll be figuring out today, we hope.

And...why do fingerprints expire? I thought they never changed... We have had them done twice now (this will be the third) and they use a big, fancy, inkless, scanning device that can't possibly allow the prints to expire. How many times do they need them on file? One of those things that make you wonder what is going on - and this is State-side.

Dominoes

Yesterday I took this picture as I hung out and watched the Haitian workers play during lunch. They play an interesting game - not quite the way I used to play with my family. They get intense too by slamming them down sometimes as they play.

Violence in Downtown Today

Per the US Embassy:

The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince is issuing this Warden Message to alert U.S. citizens that a violent demonstration is occurring near the National Palace, Champs de Mars, and the State Universities in downtown Port-au-Prince. Protestors are throwing stones at passing vehicles, and are specifically targeting vehicles with Police, Official, and Service d’Etat license plates, but have attacked other vehicles as well. Numerous vehicles have had their windows smashed. Haitian National Police (PNH) is reinforcing its presence in the area and has requested backup, but the area is not yet under control. American citizens are advised to avoid this area and should monitor media coverage to stay abreast of the situation as it develops. Americans in Haiti are advised to remain alert and to avoid all demonstrations as they can result in violence and require police intervention. They should be aware of their surroundings at all times and are encouraged to register with the U.S. Embassy.

Paperwork found!!!

I just got an email and it appears that the paperwork has been found and it has been found approved! It appears to be in the State-side office (MN?). We found this information thanks to our Lord through our state senator's office. Things are looking good, but we are still in Haiti and anything can, and often does, happen here. So we continue to wait upon the Lord.

After the passport is finished, the found paperwork will yield us a visa and then we are done here in Haiti. We were told 2-3 business days to complete the passport which puts us at Monday. We are (I am) adding a week to that and would say that we should be done by the 16th with the passport and the next day or 2 or 3 and then we'll be OK'd to go back to the States. We'll be heading back as soon as the cheap flights are available through AA - so I am thinking in about two weeks (Lord willing).

Whew...almost there...

Zero

We have had zero response from the US Embassy (USCIS) with a total 3-4 people trying to get to them via email regarding our case and missing paperwork. I am pretty tempted to try to go down there tomorrow and rattle some cages to see if anyone is home. If it doesn't happen tomorrow, it'll be Monday.

To clarify what I mean by "rattle some cages" I simple mean show up and ask questions. We have met the person who we think is (or at least she was) working on our case and I would like to have a conversation with her.

Out of MOI!! - Part 2

We are now officially out of MOI!! The signed paperwork sat in MOI for a week and a half, but we now have our paperwork in Haitian Immigration awaiting a passport. We are hopeful that this takes no longer than one week.

Now to find the paperwork that finalizes the last step...the visa that goes on the passport. We are doing our research and have a couple people looking into it for us.

Two things left...passport and visa!

Helpful

This was helpful to me this morning.

Adoption: New (Different) News

According to our orphanage director, I just found out that, Lord willing, tomorrow (we'll believe it when we see it) the paperwork will go from MOI to Haitian Immigration so they can work on the passport (it was formerly yesterday). So that's one and a half weeks with the paperwork sitting signed and nothing happening to it - no progress. I hope that the last story we were told about the passport taking 2-3 days doesn't change the next time I have a conversation. I keep trying to remind myself: All in the Lord's timing.

A Great Read...

This is worth the price of admission to my blog.

Non-Adoption Topic: Pictures

Here is a shot today of Kayla - Tina cut her hair a bit:


Here is a shot of a turantula that was near one of the doors by the director's home a couple days ago:

What Else? Don't Ask.

As a missionary, you get distracted often and sometimes forget things (yea, I know - hard to believe and it doesn't just happen to missionaries). Here is something that I forgot to take out of my pocket before it goes into the washing machine. Hopefully they'll let me back into the States. (The other paperwork is supposed to be for my Haitian driver's license that I have been working on getting for MONTHS!)

Worst Possibility for Paperwork

As we near the end, we discussed what the worst case scenario could be with what we have left to do to complete the adoption. It turns out that currently, that "worst case" is upon us that we discussed.

The US Embassy/USCIS (United States Csomething and Immigration Services) has managed to lose our I600 paperwork which we need to get the last part done (the visa that goes on the passport that we are working on now). It cannot be found. They claim to have sent it to the States over a week ago, but the States haven't seen it. It's gone. All other families adopting from Haiti get a notice saying that they have an approved I600 - we don't have that and our paperwork is now missing.

Our adoption agency person is working on tracking it down and so are we through our orphanage director. Hopefully one of them can figure out what is going on.

We are very frustrated to say the LEAST.

Additionally, we are trying to track the paperwork out of MOI. We keep getting different stories from one person in particular. At one point, people could go to MOI and pick up paperwork only on Tues and Thurs. Then that date changed to Friday. Now after talking with that same person, no one can pick up paperwork at MOI. MOI sends the paperwork to Immigration (USCIS?). Hopefully if MOI really does send paperwork to the USCIS they don't lose the whole file, too.

God is allowing us to go through the wringer. Are we being successful in this additional test? At times we feel we are not. Please pray with us that this will all be over!

Haitian Toilet Paper Visor

We have been patching Lou's good eye to make the bad eye work more instead of it being lazy. The problem is that lazy eye stays planted in the corner towards his nose and we had been telling him to straighten his head and look forward instead of in the corner towards his nose.

This is my recent invention and solution to the problem. It's called the Haitian Toilet Paper Visor. Now he has no choice but to look forward when he wants to see something. His brother wanted to make him feel better so we made one for him, too. Enjoy!

Out of MOI!!

The news that we have is that we are out of MOI after 255 days (8 months and 12 days) - I feel that I can now share that news. As with most stories regarding adoptions in Haiti, there is more to the story - that "more" I cannot provide at this point in time.

The important thing is that we are out and we are hoping/expecting to have a passport by the end of the next week. There is a possiblity that we could be done with the adoption by the end of September. We'll see how things go from here on out.

As always, we appreciate your prayers and praises to our Lord for the work He has done!

News, Weekend

We believe we have some pretty good news about the adoption. We found out some information regarding where we are at within MOI. We should know more by the end of the week. We will keep you posted when we know more.

Weekend

We had a very good relaxing weekend. When we got there Friday, in the shade the temp had been 111.5 and the next day it was 105 by 11am. We all played a lot of softball (early and late in the days because of the heat) and we went swimming a lot, too. There were a number of minor injuries, the most significant was Miss Kelly from upstairs getting hit in the mouth and nose by a softball as it bounced up off the ground. My lower left leg got a bit beat up, but nothing that shouldn't heal in about a week. Other people got hit by the softball, too, in various places (the ground we were playing on wasn't very smooth).

The only one issues caused some problems for us - we found out minutes before we left that the dog cage they have was occupied. That meant we had to figure out what to do with the dog. The first two nights I got little sleep as I tried to manage the dog and figure out what to do with her. Last night was best - we figured out where to put her and she was comfortable with it (we could not bring her in the building so we put her just outside the door where she liked it best).

I don't think that I took a single picture, unfortunately. Lou was loving the pool and so was Kayla and Carter. Tina had a good time, too. It is good to be back and I am looking forward to sleeping in a more familiar place.

Adoption News Possibility, This Weekend

We have a source of possible information that we are hoping on now. There is someone who knows someone and the connection is very strong and that someone they know is a high-up official/lawyer. This looks promising for at least finding some information out beyond "You are still in MOI" (which is the stage we are in and have been in for over 8 months - average is 4-6 months). We are hopeful and will be praying!

This Weekend

We are going to the place we went to earlier in the spring - leaving today and coming back Tuesday AM. I probably won't be posting anything until we are back on Tuesday, so...have a great weekend! This will be a little break for all of the mission staff.

Appreciation

Something that I feel that I haven't done in too long of a time is express my appreciation. I have a great sense of appreciation for those who have supported us financially to be here. We do not have a high number of supporters and are not rolling in the dough, but through those of you who support us, God is meeting our needs (nearly to the penny). We give great praise to God for His work through His people and we thank you for following His direction. If God tells you to stop donating to us, don't worry - He'll meet our needs in other ways as He always has. First and foremost, be obedient to Him.

I also appreciate the words of encouragement via email and through comments on this blog - especially through the last few weeks of my traveling to the States and exploring the job possibility. I have not replied to everyone's comments directly, but I do read them and appreciate them all!

We take the emails and comments that are sent seriously. Our eyes and views may be tainted by our frustrations and circumstances, so having people drop notes our way is very helpful. Pointing us to our one true source of knowledge and hope, the Bible, is a great thing that most have done - we may not be reading on our own what the Lord is saying through your words to us.

We have had a number of people suggest that we talk to government officials in the States to see if they can do something to help us out. We are not experts in the Haitian governmental system (is anyone?), but the experiences that we have had tells us that having someone from the States tell someone from Haiti what to do does not work well. And if they did tell them what to do, the person holding the paperwork may still do what they want regardless of what someone tells them. This is not to say that it would NEVER happen and that God could never work through a State-side government official, I am just saying that it may not work quite like we may expect it to. I don't want to shut this possibility off, however.

This adoption scenario is teaching us many things and that is where your support in prayer and comments is greatly appreciated. We are constantly struggling with knowing how much effort we ourselves put into finishing the adoption and how much to let God take it over. We often times feel that there is NOTHING else we can do. Then once in a while we think about driving to the place our paperwork is and seeing if we can't get in and personally request that they work on our papers. At what point are we doing everything that we can, and at what point are we striving to get the adoption done in our own efforts, either way continuing to trust God for results. It seems that we could always be stopping in on our orphanage director, but we don't know if this would make things worse... Basically, we often struggle with what to do next and waiting is one of those possibilities. What we ACTUALLY do often depends on what we feel is best at the moment which sometimes changes from day to day. As I type this paragraph, I don't know where or how to end it... Perhaps that is a great example of not knowing what to do.

Boring Car Stuff...

I like filling up the vehicles with fuel. I know exactly what to do and that feels good. :-)

Adoption:USCIS follow-up

I sent a follow-up email to the USCIS last night, so hopefully they'll get the email this morning. I wanted to remind them that we are waiting for an answer from them regarding where they are at with the paperwork and why they sent the paperwork before it was finished.

We are also going to send an email to the State-side person who we think might receive the paperwork if the USCIS really did send it out.

We'll see what happens...

Adoption, BCS: In the Swing

No news on the adoption front. I spoke with the guy who knows someone in MOI and he said he'll give the person a call to see if they found anything out. I hope he can find something out from that person!

Boring Car Stuff...

Today, I was back in the swing of things around here. There are so many things broken that it's almost as if nothing was touched while I was gone. I am sure some things were done, but many were not. The guy who used to be the mechanic told me that he had been driving around doing things and not doing much mechanic work. So there were lots of job security-type items calling my name.

The big dump truck cracked its rear differential housing, the spring perch is too worn through, and the frame is cracked. The old Toyota seems to have a leak of the differential fluid at the hub and I was told that the transmission isn't shifting into 1 or 2. The Patrol had a flat tire. The Montero had a flat tire. The new Toyota pickup had a couple warning lights on the dash (I solved the only light I saw, but was told another is coming on once in a while). The Canter is down to 3 of 5 studs on the front passenger side front and the fuel tank has a crack and is leaking.

Back in Haiti

I made it back. The trip and flights were great! It's nice to be back with my family - time to spend more time with them!

Going to My Family

I have scheduled the flight back to Haiti for Saturday. I will be leaving early in the morning. Thank you Greg, assuming you wake up in time to drive me to the airport! :-)

I sincerely thank all of the people that I have met with and have been kind by providing fun, food and friendship while I was here. My parents were incredible and very helpful as well as my sister, Becky, and her husband Ron! There are many other people that I wanted to meet with and I haven't yet - my time here has been a constant whirlwind. I hope that next time, my family will be with me and we'll all get to say "Hi" and get to thank you personally for your support - Lord willing!

Though the circumstances seem rough and I am not sure exactly what my purpose was from the Lord's perspective, I am happy to be headed back to be with my family and am not one bit disappointed that I didn't get the job. I was able to catch a bit of a break by being here and I will be able to bring some difficult or impossible items back to my family.

Now we'll wait out the remaining, unknown time for the adoption to complete as a family!

No Job

I just found out that I did not get the job. They ended up giving the job to an internal candidate.

I am not sure why God brought me here other than to give me a break (I would have rather given Tina a break). Not my will, but His. I will be bringing a bunch of goodies back for my family.

I am looking forward to seeing them again. I am looking into flights and will be flying out of here as soon as feasible while getting the cheapest flights possible. Thank you for your prayers and support. This does make the decision process easier because I don't have anything to choose from (do I take the job or not and leave the family there alone).

OK - I have work to do now. I am done twiddling my thumbs.

Prayers

We are at a point in this process and in our lives where we need prayer now more than we have ever needed it before. That is not to say that it could never get worse and we won't need more prayer later, but rather that we have not had to go through something like this so long and challenging in the past.

We have many things to be thankful for and are thankful for them all (those that we realize). Faith, family, friends, food, funds, clothing, shelter, etc...all of those things we are much more appreciative of because of this experience than we have ever been before.

This current trial is very wearing on me and my family. The children are doing well and appear to be more resilient (perhaps because they have the child-like faith and trust that we loose as we become adults who are more "in control" (so we think) than we were when we were younger). Tina is...OK and I am...OK. We often struggle to find the joy in our circumstances.

I am asking for your prayers - please hold us up in your prayers! Pray that the adoption gets finished. Pray that we can find the strength in our Lord to persevere to the end of this adoption process. Pray that we not fail in our faith and trust and not grow hard, weary hearts. Most of all, pray that the Lord's will be done through us in His timing, not ours, and that we are accepting of that timing.

Email from the USCIS, Job

Yesterday I received an email from the USCIS. They are processing the I600 and requested the DNA test of Lou's birthmother.

We are still in the middle of figuring the email out. It appears that they sent it to the States when they should not have - they have to complete it yet. They will be able to complete it when our orphanage director gets our paperwork through MOI and then obtains a Haitian passport for Lou. Because MOI is taking so long, the other place(s) (USCIS) that have remaining paperwork is getting confused apparently. Our adoption agency is working on figuring out how to respond to the USCIS.

When I got the email yesterday, I was thinking it was good news... But it appears that it is not. Hopefully and prayerfully, the paperwork will not get lost as it gets shuffled back and forth.

Job

I still have not heard anything about the job I applied for. I was told that I should know by Thursday (tomorrow) and I am trying to be patient with that response as well.

Apparently I have A LOT to learn, because I am being taught MANY things.

Not Much Happening

There is not much happening with the adoption. We are continuing to wait past the date (once again) that we were told by our orphanage director we would be out of MOI. Trying to be patient.

Tina and the children are doing well in Haiti - they miss me, they tell me (and I miss them!). We appreciate any and all prayers regarding the completion of our adoption!

I am doing well here. My stomach issues are no more. I am now trying to mentally prepare for what is to come after I find out about the job I applied and interviewed for last week. There will be many things to do whether I get the position or not and those are the things that I am trying to prepare for.

St. Cloud

I came to St. Cloud to stay at my sister's place for the weekend. My cousin Jackie and her husband, Scott, are also here this weekend. Scott and my brother-in-law, Ron, went fishing yesterday and did pretty good - caught some keepers and froze them.

It has been nice to be here and not have anything to do. I am taking some time to rest mentally. I plan to go back to my parents house Monday morning. Next week, I have a number of people that I would like to visit with.

Mentally, I have been pretty patient while I wait to find out what is going on with the job situation. I don't know what is going to happen, but I do know what I will do if either option becomes available. I am OK with either result.

It's not easy to be away from my family.

Interview

This blog post was supposed to go two days ago, but had some issues...

We checked out the location of the company where I had the interview on Tuesday morning. It was easy to get to and close to the hotel.

I went to building when I was scheduled at 11 and signed an agreement saying that they could do a background check on me. I was then told that the manager for the position was in the next building. I headed over there and she waited for me by the front door. We went to her office and chatted a bit. After about 15-20 minutes we headed to a restaurant to eat. We ate and talked about the company, the position and the people in the department. It was a fairly easy meeting so far.

After lunch we headed back to the office for a group-type interview. She directed me to a conference room and went to get the other five employees in the department so they could fire questions off at me and I at them. This was my first time in a scenario like that and it went pretty well. Around 1:15 we finished up. She told me that she had another person to interview tomorrow (Wednesday) and that she hopes to have an answer Thursday of NEXT week. That part surprised me. I was expecting an answer sooner, but I can wait.

This morning we took a look at a house that I will buy if I get the job. It is a very nice house and I would be please to prepare it for my family to arrive. If the Lord wills, it will happen. Otherwise, I’ll wait to see what He had in store next for the immediate future.

There are times I feel like a wondering nomad, but that’s what I am being called to do in this “moment” of my life. My biggest concern is for my wife and children at this point. I don’t want to ask them to do what they cannot. Tina is great and she has a great perspective. I have so much respect and honor for her, for her attitude , and for what she is doing. There is no better woman for me! I miss her dearly (I love you, Tina!).

My Flight Story

Here is something that I typed on the road and am posting from the hotel:

Here is my summary story of my trip here:

Leaving the mission was difficult. I didn’t want to leave my family there. I started missing them the minute the door closed on the vehicle and I watched them disappear through the window.

Things went well. When we got to the airport, two guys came up to the car to grab the bags. I was very happy to have them there – I didn’t want to fight the crowd and my bags. They grabbed the bags and did their job – I just kept an eye on them and followed. I paid them once I got through the security checkpoint and they put them on a cart for me. I got my bags checked in without any issues even though both bags were just under 10% heavier than they should have been (the scale I used at the mission wasn’t exactly accurate).

We left Port-au-Prince on time, if not a couple minutes early, on the plane. The guy that sat next to me and I started talking. It turns out that he is adopting from Haiti, too, and he was adopting from a place that I was not only familiar with, but I was in the process of helping the missionaries at that orphanage diagnose their car problems (Three Angels). We talked most of the way to Miami. He, Jason, was a great blessing to me not only in conversation, but as a distraction from leaving my family behind. Thank you Jason! We’ll continue to be in touch!

When we got to Miami, Jason helped me get through customs faster than I probably would have on my own. I got through the customs line first and waited for him. Just as he was getting done, a customs agent was trying to get my attention and said, “Sir…MOVE!” Apparently, they didn’t want me standing there waiting for him. He was done anyway so we walked together and he stayed with me helping me as far as he could.

I got to the gate to Atlanta on time, but it was full (I was standby using my dad’s pass because he used to work there – thank you Dad!). I sat around for another 1.5 hours for the next flight – it too was full. I sat around for another 1.5 hours and I barely made it on that flight.

All along through the missing flights and arriving I managed to easily find people that would let me borrow their cell phone – I quit my service over a year ago. It was so great to have so many nice people that would let me borrow their phone.

I got to Atlanta and the flight was supposed to be a piece of cake to get on according to what my dad saw on the list of passengers. It wasn’t. I was hanging on by a thread as I saw the list of standby passengers and the number of available seats. In the end, I made it by 1-3 people.

Getting to Minneapolis felt very good – very familiar. I walked to the baggage claim and I saw some feet that looked familiar as I descended the escalator. Those feet belonged to my sister and mom, with my dad and brother-in-law’s feet right behind them.

After hugs and some brief conversations, my bags were sitting there waiting for me. They got there before I did – probably on the first flight I missed.

As we walked to the car, seeing the cars all nice and clean without barriers/defense on the fronts and rears was very different than I had gotten used to. As we drove to my parent’s home, seeing the sides of the roads without debris or garbage or pigs or dogs with tumors hanging was strange. I had gotten pretty used to those things. It was good to see all of the familiar sights again.

As I started to unpack some things and talk with my parents, I was getting pretty light headed. It was overwhelming to be back in the States, I had a long day, and I hadn’t eaten much (hardly anything). I was ready for bed and went to sleep around 12:30.

I got up at 5:30 the next day and heard a cardinal outside. I went to sit on the front steps. That was my worst point thus far. I was completely overwhelmed thinking about my family and the amazing blessing that it is to be able to live in the States – we have it so nice here in the States. After a short bit, my mom came out to comfort me and eventually recovered.

On that Saturday, the first thing we did was go get tabs for my truck so I could pick it up from my good friend’s house (thank you Greg for hanging on to it in your garage for over a year! I bet it will be nice to not have that in your way any longer). It was good to see Greg and his wife and child. They are expecting in September and I forgot to take pictures for my wife to see – I’ll be back. They were on their way out and I continued my mechanic job – I replaced their thermostat before they left (it was the most difficult thermostat replacement I have ever done – not easy to get to).

We did some shopping and then headed back to my parents house. That’s about all of the somewhat interesting things that happened. I still have many things that amaze me that I hope I never take for granted again:

• High water pressure for showers
• Hot water out of the sinks and showers
• Access to many things at many stores – all readily available
• Cheap foods (some fruits and veggies are more here)
• Clean roads and rivers
• Smooth roads
• Green, lush grass
• Padded carpet
• Towels that don’t smell like mildew (not my wife’s fault)
• Mold that doesn’t grow in minutes

Many, many more things (I need to keep a list so that when I feel like complaining about something I can just turn to the list and feel more privileged than before I looked at the list).