Rough Waters

Many things seem to be happening at this point in time that have created a thorn in our sides.

Adoption

The scoop on the adoption is a little complicated. The US and Haiti (among a few other countries) has an Orphans First program that allows you to start and finish the last stage of the adoption before the other stages are finished to quicken the adoption process. This requires the cooperation of the orphanage's director. Our orphanage director was contacted in October of 2007 by the US Embassy that coordinates the Orphans First program, but for some reason the email went ignored.

In October of 2008, the US Embassy contacted us to see what was up. It took a lot (A LOT) of messing around to find out what they were asking, but we eventually came to the conclusion that they were asking to complete the Orphans First program - something that we thought was taken care of. They contacted us because they didn't get a response from the orphanage director after one full year and wanted to know what was going on - where we were at with the adoption.

Essentially what this means for us is that the time frame in which we expected to complete the adoption hasn't gotten longer (although it has because the stages of the adoption process seem to be going longer than normal for us), it just could have been done after the stage we are in is completed (we are in MOI and have been for 5.5 months which is more than normal). So, if the orphanage director had responded to the email in October 2007, we could potentially be done with the adoption within a month (give or take a month). But instead, we will be waiting for another 6-8 months (my estimate) before the adoption is completed.

So many aspects of this particular incident are frustrating that it's hard to convey it hereg. Many things are just not right.

The Guy

The gentleman who borrowed money from me hasn't come back to pay. The day came and went without any sign of him. I am sure that some are thinking to themselves "I knew it" and there will be no shortage of people there to say "I could have told you that would happen", but once I gave him the money I personally wrote it off and was willing and OK with not receiving it back. I was really holding out hope that he would return - I wanted him to succeed after giving him some responsibility. I still have to decide if I want to try to make him accountable. I know about where he lives, but not exactly. Do I go and ask for my money back to and hold him accountable? This is Haiti after all, lots of things can happen (and do) so I can wait longer too... We'll see what I have the mental energy to do.

Boring car stuff...

After Story and I took the van's transmission out and replaced the seal, we put the transmission back up and the transmission did not work - the wheels would not turn. Automatic transmissions are a black art to me and I know my limits, I will not admit to knowing anything about them (besides being able to replace them - I know I cannot repair/rebuild them). I had other things to take care of so I left Story to take the transmission out again on Saturday after it didn't work.

Today, Story came with another guy and they took the transmission apart as I handed them the tools they wanted. They got two clutch packs out of the transmission and started to take them apart. Some were pretty shot and it all stunk like really burnt oil. They took the parts to town and are planning to buy new ones and come back to put it together.

I am sure that's it difficult for the mission who owns the van to figure out what to do - it appears that some people want to rebuild it themselves and others want to buy a good used one.

I am limited in my ability to help with an automatic transmission and the decision process because I don't know their structure - I am just helping where I can.

Bug

To lighten the mood (and so I stop complaining), here's a picture of what appears to be an overgrown lady bug (maybe it's a man bug):