Traveling

Here is a response from the adoption agency person that we are working with when we sent an email just now to have her help us negotiate the rough terrain of our adoption:

"I am traveling out of the country and will be back at work on the 20th."

We'll find another way... (I am working on another source that should prove to be more beneficial because of his contacts that he has. I'll keep you updated.)

The Team Left

Here is a picture of the team that just left today (not including pastor Rob, Patti, and Johnny). They were here for two weeks and did many various things from painting to construction to helping me with the mechanical things. I just ate another lunch of the ham and cheese that they left us - what a blessing! They also left a few other things for us like peanuts and clothes. We are very thankful for their time and kind words while they were here!

USCIS: Email Received

Here is the response from the USCIS:

"Thank you for the attachment. It will be added to your file and we will let you know of your case’s final status."

Now we wait... Again...

Team: Fellowship, Meat and Cheese

We have a team here from California and two guys from the team came to our place and we shared stories for about three hours and had great fellowship!

They blessed us with a great treat. They brought us their remaining sandwich meat (ham), cheese, and mustard. We had a wonderful dinner last night with it - we savored every bit and were THRILLED to eat it!

THANK YOU GREG AND DOUG!

DNA Test: Fax Emailed

Thank you Becky!

My sister sent the fax to us (which showed a 99% match between Lou and his biological mom - THANK YOU LORD!). I then emailed it to the USCIS. The US lab said that they would also FedEx another copy to the USCIS in addition to faxing it to my sister. I didn't tell the USCIS that little detail because I thought that if they would accept a faxed/emailed copy, but heard about another original copy coming its way they would not accept/process the faxed/mailed copy and wait for the second original from the lab. Either way, I hope to hear something today and if I don't be the near-end of the day, I'll be following up to make sure that they at least received my email copy.

Baby steps...

Adoption: Faxing Results

I online-chatted with the US lab regarding the results and they cannot email them. They offered to resend them to the US Embassy and fax them. I have no way of getting a fax here, so I called my WONDERFUL sister in St. Cloud and she is going to have the results faxed there (at a store) and she'll pick them up, scan them, and email them to me. I'll be emailing the results to the US Embassy this afternoon/evening, Lord willing. We'll see what happens next...

Cat Nap

When you are an outdoor cat, where do you sleep? Right side our front steps in the plants...

Nothing

No updates on the adoption - no word back from the US lab on whether or not they can get the results to me so I can forward them to the USCIS. (deep breath)

The next two weeks will be very busy - Mr. Kryk is out and I am managing the office. Most updates will be only adoption related.

USCIS, Package, Flower

The USCIS thankfully replied to my email. They asked us to forward them a copy of the results if we have them (WOW!!). They cannot locate the package that they accepted with the results of the DNA testing. I fired off an email to the lab in the US to see if they can get the results to me so I can forward it to the USCIS. I don't know what to say. My mouth is hanging open in amazement. I wonder how long they would have waited to ask for the DNA test results. I can't believe (yes I can) that they lost the package.

Package

My parents mailed a pacakage on Saturday (THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!) and we got it today - that has got to be record timing. We are still waiting for homeschooling boxes (there are only books inside) to come out of customs here in Haiti - they have been there since May... One great thing that my parents sent is a new nail scrub brush for my hands. Do you think that my old one is done?


Flower

It turns out that the second picture from this blog post was not of a fruit, but rather a flower. Here it is next to Kayla as a flower:

USCIS & DNA

I just got a message (after I sent two emails to inquire) saying that the USCIS did not receive the DNA testing results from the lab in the US. The lab in the US sent me a screen shot of the FedEx page showing that the USCIS accepted the delivery on July 13th at 12:15 pm. I replied to the USCIS and we'll see what they have to say now.

God is controlling the timing of this adoption - sometimes I just wish he would use His big voice to say "Not yet" instead of sending humans to deliver the message...

Sab Moulen

Carter and I went with Willie to go get Sab Moulen (ground up rock for making cement) yesterday afternoon. It took MUCH longer than we expected (which should be expected). Here are a couple pictures:

This picture is of the dump truck filling the grinder (and a picture of the whole works, really):


Here is the muscle behind the machine. It's a big engine and transmission from a truck like our steakbed and dumptruck. It's attached to the grinder using the same/a similar driveshaft. They have to shift it into 3rd or 4th gear using the regular truck shifter and a hand-operated throttle. There is also a guy that operates a hand operated clutch. I have video of them getting it going - it got stuck a few times and they had to rock (pun intended) it back and forth (1st and Reverse) to try to get it unstuck - which only worked 50% of the time:

Trip to the Beach...Again, Camera

Took another trip today. I helped to load Chris up this morning after fixing a wire for their transmission so it will shift to second gear and then headed out with them. The kids wanted to go with, too, so I let them. This was Kayla's first painful baptism.


The trip went well, slow at first, but well. We had to pick up various people on the way and continue to load the back of the steakbed truck where we rode. It was pretty well packed. We unloaded quickly and headed back (I didn't want to be gone ALL day - ended up being gone MOST of the day). The ride back was better because we could roam around in the back of the truck, but it was cooler and cold as we headed up the mountain because rain had fell and cooled it off quite a bit. I don't think that Kayla will go on a trip like this again. Carter loved it and thanked me many times for letting him come with.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

This says "Road Closed", but it really wasn't:


This is the market area, but it was not a market day:


In another area, it was market day:


This guy may have been coming from the market (just to stick with the market-theme):


Here is an SUV that was involved in a rollover, but apparently it still works. The police didn't seem to care too much that he didn't have a windshield. It even started to sprinkle a little on the while he was following us. Sorry it is blurry - I didn't manipulate it well enough - it is broken, remember? More on that below...


Just a nice scenery shot to end the photos:


Camera

Lynn and Ruth, uncle and aunt to the family-related kids here at the mission, gave me their camera because they heard mine was on the fritz. THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!! It is a great blessing to have a camera that focuses where you point it (a wonderful feature in a camera)!

Trip to the Beach

Yesterday, Carter, Kayla and I left for the beach house. My main goal was to replace all the wires in the "control box" of the generator-end that go around to various pieces. Some or most of them were cut or disintegrated. I got that done and Lenny, who left the night before, was there making sure all the electrical components were working correctly.

IT WAS HOT!!! I also brought the chainsaw to cut some trees that had fallen a couple days ago. They had some strong winds and the weak trees fell. I did a little cutting and then did the wiring. Sweat was pouring down my face so I took a 5 min cool-down in the ocean and then came back to finish the wiring.

I spent another 5-10 mins in the ocean and finished up the sawing.

The trip to the beach house was rough because we took the old pickup. Carter was crammed next to me and Kayla was on my lap for over two hours of rough riding (Haitian-style). We had filled the back of the truck up to bring food for the camp that Chris and Kelli are putting on the next two weeks for the youth of Haiti. On the way back, I rode in the bed of the truck which was now empty.

I am tired still and this post jumps around a bit - sorry. I have no pictures - too busy working I guess. I have get some car work done before the rest of the folks here leave for camp. The cars are in constant need of repair - all of them!

Happy Birthday...AGAIN!

Well, Terry, you are the first to receive public birthday wishes TWO TIMES on our blog. We want to wish you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY today and would like to spend your NEXT birthday with you, Lord willing! Have a great day, pa'tner!

Some Pictures: Plants, Bug, Dogs Swimming

Kayla brought these two things in this morning. The first is a flower that appears to catch bugs. They have taken another one apart and found bugs inside - sorta like a venus fly trap (I tried to save space by putting the big pictures on the detail picture):


This is a fruit of some sort - I am sure that it has a name. It's about the size of a large cucumber:


Here is a baby preying mantis (about the size of a quarter):


Here are the dogs swimming together (and trying to drown each other) in the holding pond:



(bad news...I have been struggling with my camera because I recently dropped it and it knocked off the auto-focus feature quite a bit. I have missed a couple of great shots because of it. I may have to figure out a way to get a new one here. We probably have a few years [I am being frustratingly sarcastic] before the adoption is done and I can personally buy another in the States).

Consistant Inconsistancy

Welcome to Haiti! Have I said that before?

This week has come and gone (all but a few hours of the work-week) and we have no information about getting out of MOI. Go figure... So many things have been said by people involved that lead you to believe they know what they are talking about and they tell you a date by which something should be finished - and that date comes and goes without any notice.

I sent another email to our orphanage director. As I told my parents, I just sent it so the orphanage director could ignore it again. I guess there is no Customer Service Department in adoptions. This adoption seems so nearly impossible. If it happens, it will be a miracle. I am real curious to see what the reason is that God has for this long adoption process.

We wait (once again) without ANY date to look forward to.

Anniversary, Money, Manners

We are quickly approaching the 7th month anniversary in MOI (on Sunday). Tomorrow marks the 27th month anniversary since our paperwork for the adoption hit Haiti. I often wonder what "things" would feel like if we knew our end date for the adoption. Would we feel less weary? Would we be more content? If so, shame on us.

We are learning many things and some of those things relate to being and feeling calm and content regardless of circumstances. Some days (most?) we fail and some days we succeed. We know that our contentment should not be tied to our circumstances, yet some days that is more difficult to overcome than others.

Money

I continue to have people come to me and ask me for money. I had a really flattering note written to me by one person asking for HD$1000 (just over US$100). They wanted to borrow the money (i.e., pay me back), but I have been down that road before and politely declined.

I had another ask me for money so that he could by clothes for himself (he seems to have plenty). I declined that as well.

Yet another wanted money for phone card after complementing me earlier in the day (when I had rarely spoken with him in the past).

I gave 50 gourdes (US$1.25) to a young Haitian boy who lives on the mission to buy 30 glass marbles for 10 gourdes (I didn't have anything smaller than a 50). I asked him to buy 30 for Carter and 30 for himself. He returned with two bags of marbles and 10 gourdes, leaving a missing 20 gourdes which he acted like it fell out of his pocket. I didn't believe him, so I didn't give him his marbles. Perhaps a coincidence, Kayla found a 20 gourde bill stuck in a tree right by their house a few days later...

Manners

We continue to be challenged in teaching our children proper manners. There are influences that are very prevalent and strong that are pushing our children in the opposite direction - we are trying to combat those influences. We often take breaks from playtime for a few days to hit the reset button and bring them back closer to Christ-like and Christ-honoring behavior. A couple examples (we're talking the basics here...):

- A simple please and thank you is rarely heard which then starts to affect our own children.
- The seemingly incessant argumentative banter needs to subside as well.

These circumstances bring up great dinner-table-teaching-moments within our family. Talking about proper behavior, why it's proper, what that behavior leads to and how our behavioral example within the family and within the mission can honor Jesus and leads to the same behavior outside of the mission. Encouraging our girl, Kayla, to model womanly behaviors and our boys to model manly behavior is a large challenge. They need no assistance in acting like children - they do that on their own and we allow plenty of constructive play. We desire to prepare them for their future as it is what God has made us responsible for.

This Week?, Family

We are hoping that this week is a big week.

1) We are expecting (and were expecting last week) the results of the DNA test.
2) We were told that this week will be the week that we get out of MOI (from someone who has little power over when things happen, but "knows" the system - our orphanage director). We are 6 days away from being in MOI for 7 months.

This is Haiti so we realize that any expectation that we have of something happening has about a 5% chance of really happening (based on previous experiences). We'll be doing everything within our power to get these things done this week and God will make happen what He wants (whether He does it through us or not through us).

Family

We're alive and still kicking.

Lou is gaining some weight - mostly, we think, due to Tina grinding up every meal in a blender. He just doesn't chew or doesn't chew well. He'll take every opportunity to not chew if you are not staring at him. He has also regressed quite a bit in the potty department. He doesn't let the river flow when it's time to go. He'll stop it when he thinks he has gone enough and then stare us down in what seems to be an attempt to show that he has control on something that we can't do anything about. His physical health seems pretty good right now, but his mental health is very challenging to us (which may show that his mental health is actually pretty good). From what we have read about Down syndrome, he seems to be fitting the bill.

Carter is doing well. Saturday, Christopher (upstairs), Carter and I started swapping engines (and other parts) in the four-wheeler (we have a newer spare because of the four-wheeler than went down the mountain a while ago). I hope to finish it up this week - the old engine was not running well and it was blowing compression out places it should not be. The boys love to ride that four-wheeler (I do too).

Kayla is also doing pretty well. We had some visitors this last week and their teenage girls brought some string and were making bracelets with the girls. Kayla is not enjoying making them.

Tina and I are struggling. Struggling with the length of the adoption (and all of those involved in the process). Struggling with Lou's stubbornness. Struggling with the differences in managing family and life. I recently stated to Tina that until we hit the 1-year mark (the longest I used to think that the adoption would take), I didn't consider it true perseverance. Now that we are after that 1-year mark, I am really feeling that every day is a struggle to persevere.

We are tired and want a break - it would be great to know when the adoption will be complete so we can look forward to a date that we get that break, but the Lord doesn't want us to know. This whole process requires things that we do not have - we are trusting that the Lord will provide what we need (mostly mentally) from one day to the next. Prayers are welcomed.

Big Cricket, BCS

Big cricket shedding it's...skin? Exoskeleton?


Boring car stuff...

Had to remove the front differential on the old Toyota - it was making noise. It was a LOT of work to get it out. Look at all of the damaged teeth and completely missing teeth.

Job, Computer

I think that I have mostly made it over the depressive hump of not getting the position I applied for. It seemed so good and seemed that it would be a good smooth transition and beneficial for the company (because of my experience). If God didn't want me to have that one, I will be looking forward to the one He wants me to have.

Computer

The computer acted strange tonight - didn't want to boot up. So, if I don't post for a week or two, it's because our one and only computer died. There is little chance of getting another one here.

Job

It's always hard to beat out an internal candidate for a position...and I did not. I will continue to look for another position. God knows what He is doing.

Job, Adoption

I had my second phone interview on Monday and I think it went well. I am looking forward to hearing back today, hopefully.

Adoption

We are hoping that we really do get out of MOI (Ministry of Interior) next week like our orphanage director thinks we will. We'll be calling her early next week to see if she still believes that.

The DNA testing made it to the States and the results should be completed by the end of this week and sent to the US Embassy here in Haiti. This is for the visa, but we have to get out of MOI and get a passport, so...that has to happen yet, too.

One Year Ago, Job, Butterfly, Wasp, BCS

Yesterday afternoon Tina started looking back on this blog from one year ago. The first thing that she said to me was to take a look at how much I had focused on God and writing Bible verses compared to now.

This is one example of how getting involved on the mission field where there are many, MANY things to be done (at all hours of the day) can take your focus off of your priorities. It can take away your time. As I reflect on why this change of focus has occurred, I think I know why. One reason is that we are getting up later in the morning than we used to. But, the primary reason is because we are getting more involved here and have less time. The blog became more of a family and milestone update than it stayed a medium of putting my thoughts down on a blog. I don't think that I have lost my focus on God (in fact, my focus is probably more on Him). We have had MANY reasons to trust and rely on him more.

There are others who may be able to accomplish the delicate balance (implying that it needs constant attention and evaluation) of missions and family, but for me family is far too important to try to stay on the mission field and maintain that family - especially when one of those family members has "special needs."

I think that as churches and individuals encourage missionary work as a vocation, the biblical priorities MUST be stressed and the seasons & realities of life on the mission field MUST be stressed as well. In my experience of going through this process, it is not mentioned as much as I think it should be (if it was at all).

My experience has shown me that mission work is BEST aligned with singles and empty-nesters - this allows for missions to have a higher prioritized effort. We all have seasons in our lives and we need to recognize that and prioritize our efforts given the season we are in. Intentional (not happenstance) quality time with family needs to be done "in season." This is a large topic and there are things that I may not be clear on here, but I am trying to communicate my thoughts and intentions to you.

Job

Today, I have a second phone interview for a job back in Minnesota at a broker/dealer. I had my first interview a week ago and it went well. If all continues to go well and it seems like a good fit, I'll be working with someone that I have worked with in the past. I am excited about this opportunity! If a job offer is made and I accept it, I'll be starting as late as they would allow and will travel back to the States alone if necessary. Tina & the kids will stay back until the adoption is complete. That is the current thinking I have. God knows what will happen and we'll stay connected to Him to know what direction we'll head.

Butterfly

Once again, Kayla and Carter have raised a butterfly from a caterpillar and once again it was a monarch. We watched this one come out and dry it's wings off for a while. It eventually flew away. It seemed to enjoy walking around on us between drying it's wings off and flying away.




Wasp

The swelling in my arm is just now finally starting to subside from the sting on Thursday. It was hot and the skin was itchy and tight. It's nice to have relief and that it didn't sting me in the face or anywhere else more painful - it stung me in a pretty safe spot (all things considering).

Boring Car Stuff...

Mitsubishi Montero IO

This car doesn't get used much. It has a few issues that I am in the middle of fixing. I believe all dampeners are bad (shocks/struts). The swaybar end-links are bad and the swaybar bushing is bad. There is a little free play in the steering too. I had tried to tighten the mounts of the power steering rack once before, but that didn't seem to last long enough - we'll have to look to buy the factory original parts.

Its tire is bad, too - as you can see...

We're Back

Short Post:

We made it and it's done!

Long Post:

It started at 5AM. We drove down the mountain and around 6:30AM we got a call from Jacque who was with Lou's birth mother (same guy as last time). They were there and waiting (we found out later that they were there since 5AM).


We got to about Pitit Goave and Jeff (our great driver) got another phone call and he thought were we supposed to meet them at Grand Goave (which is a little further - apparently there are two Grand Goaves). We got to an impasse in the road due to flooding and had to turn around. We called him back and found out that there was a miscommunication - they were in Petit Goave. Not too big of a deal. We were early and thanks to the water covering the main road, we called him and found out more details about having to turn back. Praise God for that flooded road which saved us time!


(Sub-Story: As we approached Petit Goave for the first time, I took this picture below but paid the price. I felt a pain in my arm but held to take the picture of the city's sign. It turns out that I put my arm on a wasp and he got me. I made it through my whole life not getting a sting and I come to Haiti and get three.)


We head back and in Petit Goave (after many phone calls) Jacques says he is at the Shell station. We got to the last gas station in town - National - and look closely for them. Sure enough, there they were. They weren't at a Shell station, but a National station (Jeff made sure that he was clear on that - that he was telling us the wrong place). We have many stories with Jeff of people telling us one address/place and that not ultimately being the right place (the orphanage a year ago when we pick up Lou, the orphanage director's office a few weeks ago, this one...and I am sure there are others).

We pick them up and head to the office. We get there are are about 45 mins early. After it hits about 10AM which is when our appointment was. We start doing the paperwork game and come to find out that the birth mother needs a passport-sized photo, too. I don't know why they can't tell us everything they need from the very beginning. I got a great email from the US Embassy, Immigration office that states that they don't get involved in telling the lab (Dr. Elie's office) what to tell their clients/patients. Nice! Who sets the rules in the first place? (Their take is: "Pa faut mwen!" - which is often said and means "Not my fault!")


So we leave to go find a photo-taking place. We took the photo's without issue (well...beyond what you would normally expect here anyway). We came back and took the test. Lou freaks out with anyone who has blue rubber gloves on so we had to tiptoe around the fingerprint taking and we had him watch other people get swabbed for the DNA test which made it fine for him (we had him watch the birth mom, too).

We drove them to the place where they can take the tap tap home and off we went.

This whole thing was such a struggle that we are not yet quite feeling the joy of jumping over this hurdle in the 2+ year-long hurdle race of a Haitian adoption.

This will be a good way to tell you how we felt... We went to the grocery store and bought one gallon of ice cream. It's been more than 6 months (if I am remembering correctly) since we bought our other gallon of ice cream.

There are more stories to this adventure (as there always seem to BEE), but that's all I got for right now.

We Think We Are Ready

We are leaving at 5 AM tomorrow and are hoping that all goes well. I'll report how it goes when we come back from the DNA testing. Please pray for us! Thank you!

Adoption Preparation

As we prepare for tomorrow's meeting with the birth mom, we are trying to think of all the things that we need try to make sure happen. The Lord calls us to do whatever is in our power - do all that we can - and He'll take care of the rest. Somethings are within our range of control (or perceived control) and somethings are way beyond us. What we can "control" is our responsibility (although God always has veto power). What we cannot "control" (which is everything, really) God takes care of.

We are praying that the birth mother brings everything that she needs to bring to the appointment. We are praying that every ones vehicle makes it to the testing place OK (us, birth mom, Dr., and the US Embassy rep) and brings all of their things.

We are also supposed to be one week away from being out of MOI...I hope we do get out in one week. We are trying to do our part and do as much as we can to help it move along. God has it all under control.