Lost & Found

So last week as we were wondering what happened to our package with our homestudy and application that had been mailed to the US immigration office.  I remember being told by a gal with the post office not to worry, she was certain our package was not "lost", but that it would eventually show up.  Those were not exactly comforting words at the time… I've always been one to think that if nobody knows where something is, it's lost; even if eventually it will be found.

Well, the good news is that our paperwork that was mailed has been found.  On Monday I received a call from the USPS that the package had been delivered to the PO Box it had been addressed to.  They don't know why it was so "delayed", but it was delivered.  Last night we received confirmation via a text message from the USCIS that indeed they had received our paperwork and are beginning to process our application.  What once was lost now truly is found!

The Unknown!

We know that this adoption journey will be filled with lots of unknowns… we've already had a few like, "where are our fingerprint cards" and "where is Paul's Illinois background check", not to mention bigger unknowns like "will we get 1 or 2 children" and "what were the circumstances that led to their becoming orphaned".

Today we are currently facing an unexpected unknown thanks to the good ole' USPS.  Last week we put our certified homestudy report along with our I800 immigration paperwork in the mail to the USCIS (immigration department) for approval to adopt.  It was "scheduled" to be delivered last Friday.  As Friday came and went the tracking number I had continued to show nothing beyond that it had "departed Great Falls" on Wednesday night … and that is still the case; several phone calls to USPS a personal visit to the post office and a call to US immigration and still nobody knows where our paperwork is!  It could have been delivered (and just never scanned in), or it could be sitting on a truck or plane or in a post office literally somewhere between Montana and Texas (or anywhere else in this great country) … it truly is unknown at this time.

So we wait patiently and learn more about trusting God and believing He can work all things together for good.

"Never be afraid to trust and unknown future to a known God" ~ Corrie Ten Boom

the language barrier

One thing we know that will be a huge adjustment for our kids from Haiti and for us as parents is learning to communicate beyond the language barrier.  Most likely our children will not have learned English, so we are going to do our best to learn some basic Creole to help open the communication lines until they learn English.

We came across this ministry and their website with helps for learning basics of Creole and thought it would be fun to share with you all.

http://www.haitihub.com/haitian-creole-phrases/

N a we! (see you later)

This could be the week we have a complete homestudy report!

Today we got word that our social worker received the clearance report from Illinois, which was the only missing part to our homestudy!  What all this means is that if our adoption agency can review and finalize our homestudy report this week, we maybe be able to get it certified and mailed off to the USCIS by the end of the week or early next week.  We then wait for approval to adopt internationally by the US government, which could take 6-8 weeks to process.  At that point our agency can then translate all our documents into French and finally get them sent off to Haiti (of course by finally I mean 3-4 months from now).

Thanks for those who have been praying that piece of the puzzle would come in quickly.  Please continue to be praying for Haiti and the political turmoil they are facing.

Oh so close

Well, February is here and still no completed homestudy; but we are oh so close!  Our social worker informed us she has completed the homestudy report, but that they are waiting on my background check from Illinois to come through so they can include in the report a date that my background check was cleared.

While we wait for this last piece of the puzzle, we'd like for you to specifically be praying for the nation of Haiti.  The current president has stepped down effective immediately even though a new president has not yet been elected.  The two previously scheduled elections were postponed due to concerns with election fraud.  Here is a brief news story on it :  http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/07/americas/haiti-president-no-successor/index.html

This is just another reminder of how volatile things are in Haiti and the effect of "third world" problems.  Please continue to pray for our children, and all the children and people of Haiti.