Uh oh!

I wonder if the people working hard on Congolese adoptions say this a lot. So far our court papers, Congolese passports and pre-embassy papers have all had mistakes, have all had to be reissued and retranslated so they can all match each other exactly.

I have heard most Congolese paperwork is done on typewriters or by hand. I can't imagine any American office still working this way, so I do understand problems arising from it. But, each mistake puts us back weeks from meeting our girls. Each mistake we hear about gets "Again! No!"- and probably a big sigh from our agency catching all these mistakes.

So, as you can guess, we still do not have an embassy date because of some overworked Congolese secretary forgetting to add last names to the last papers sent in. Now, we are holding our breath and praying we can still get a date this month and meet the girls next, but who knows?

The next thing I am worried about after getting a date is finding Nalya's mom for her interview. She could easily have disappeared on the streets of her city, so pray she is found and is happy her baby can come to America to very excited parents.

"The keys to patience are acceptance and faith. Accept things as they are, and look realistically at the world around you. Have faith in yourself and in the direction you have chosen"
Ralph Marston

Eight?

Well, it looks like it will be closer to eight- Eight long weeks from when I last posted, not five. The girls got their passports, but in true Congolese fashion there were mistakes in their names so we have to wait a bit longer.


I will not be with them for their Birthday week. Next year we will have to celebrate five years of birthdays for Sara and three for Nalya. Don't worry, I don't plan on really having five different parties or five years worth of gifts (it might be tempting though, hmm).

Hopefully the new passports will come out this week and we can get an embassy appointment early next week. And hopfully the embassy has an opening next week... I know, I know, a girl can dream right? It will probably be closer to four more weeks until the embassy and then two more weeks until we go.

Some good news is we got updated photos of the girls and OMG- I am in love! Sara is eating a lot of something yummy and has gotten it all over herself - she will fit right into the family! Nalya has hair and she smiles, she actually smiles! It is the first time we have seen it, and it is amazing. Her hair is great too, but I have to wonder how she was almost bald last month and now her hair is in a ponytail. Hair extensions on a two year old?

One thing for sure, you have to admire the hairstyles Congolese women have, they are to die for!

So, here we are waiting and dreaming the US embassy has a magical appointment ready for us in the next few weeks so I can meet my girls this month...I will keep you posted.

The Final Countdown...

Remember that 80s song, "It's the final countdown, dah dah dah dah, dah dadada dah..." -well it has been in my head all day. I think songs like that are called ear worms, it's a little  strange actually.

Anyway, here is the reason the countdown has been in my head:


This is the number of steps left to complete before the two beautiful girls are in my arms...so exciting! They steps are:

1.    The girls are escorted from region to Kinshasa to stay at a Transition Home until we arrive (happening in the next week!)

2.    Girls go for for medical evaluations, visa photos, and apply/receive Congolese passports

3.    Agency requests embassy appointment

4.    I600 filed at the US Embassy in Kinshasa (can only be done once Congolese passport is received)

5.    Embassy interview

6.    Girls get their US Visas

7.    The girls exit permission from DGM is received

8.    We are notified to travel and get to go meet our daughters to bring them home

          

These are how many weeks until all the steps are complete- I really hope it is closer to 5, it is my lucky number afterall!

The number of days left at work this week, I always want the weekend!

    

This is how many bags I need to think about packing. I have some orphanage donations ready for one bag, but I need to fill it up with more. The other two are for me and the girls.

I hope I can get my personal stuff into a carry-on sized bag and not worry too much about the weight and extra fees.

 

One long flight to book for hopefully a decent price. Of all the flights I have been on in my life this will be the most exciting, scary and overwhelming one.

I am still trying to figure out if booking a flight now with multiple $100 charges when I have to change it is better, or should I wait until "the call" and get a flight a few days out? Not sure yet, but once I figure it out I will let you know!

Another milestone passed

Yeah! Finally we are in the "passed court" phase. This is so great! This means we have been penciled in as parents, and if no one comes forward to claim our girls we will legally be a family! Yippee!
The next question is, when do we get to meet them? Not for a while yet.

Here is the basic run-down:
* wait for the 30 days to be up and get the Certificate of non-appeal- this will probably be about four more weeks.
* get new birth certificates and passports with correct names- 30 more days
* file the I600- here is where it gets tricky. Our agency is really pushing to file it in the US adding somewhere between one and three more months until meeting the girls. I plan on filing in Congo, which means I will be in a hotel for 3-5 weeks, but bonding with the kids and experiencing their country-something extremely important to me. So, time will tell if the agency or the parents win out on this one.

So, depending on many factors, we will be a legal family in about two weeks, but not be physically a family for two to five more months. It is so exciting to be one step closer!

Enough Already

Ok, this blog was not a place I created so I could moan, groan and complain. It is really easy to do that though when you know nothing of the status of your case, when you don't know when you will travel (one date had us going this week, now who knows!), and when for all you know the adoption process has all been a very expensive dream with no end in sight....enough already!

But, I digress. Happy thoughts, inner peace, joy radiating out..one day I will look back on this with fond thoughts of free time, movies that are not cartoons and nights out without a babysitter. It is absolutely beautiful outside with birds chirping and neighbor kids playing, life is not too bad after all.

On days like this as you journey to your adopted children, remember how lucky we are, how many little things we should be grateful for and slow down the thoughts running through your head by taking a long walk in the sun - or spin circles in a sunny field, even better! Enjoy life even when you obsess over what you don't have have or fully know, after all we only live once (unless your Buddhist).

Just Keep Swimming

I love Nemo. Basically any Pixar cartoon is great in my mind. With nothing new to report and being in the complete dark over if my file is even in Congo anymore, I am going to repeat, "just keep swimming"- words of wisdom really.


I'm sure there are Bible verses, Buddhist mantras and Pagan rituals I could try too. If some good news doesn't come our way soon I just may resort to all of these and more.


So to all the adoptive families out there sitting in limbo, playing the waiting game and checking your email every 10 minutes, think of Dory the fish and smile.

A Shower & Hope

I have been so busy I haven't been able to write about the wonderful adoption shower my family and dear friends put on for me. It was so amazingly overwhelming to have so much support and love surrounding us, I almost feel like the cute thank you cards I'll be sending out are not enough.

 Here is a quick recap. We had food- but not pink punch and finger sandwiches. We had fufu, goat, and champagne mixers (I know our girls eat fufu and goat, the champagne was just for us:) )

We had games, but thank goodness no guessig my stomach size with string or guessing the candybar in a diaper. Instead we got to name as many African countries as we could and figure out trivia questions on the DRC.

We did have cake and some of the best sugar cookies on earth (thank you Papa Dave!):
  

In case you can't read it, the cake says, "you did not grow under my heart, you grew in my heart" with a heart in Africa and a heart in Colorado-  it still makes me tear up!

Finally, we received so many gifts for the girls it took 2 hours just to find a place for them at home. Thank goodness we now have two car seats, a double stroller and a wagon among all the other packages we opened- we are so blessed!

It was a blast! Here are Matt and I after opening gifts- the scarf is from a great friend who just adopted from Ethiopia-

I hope this shower sent out enough good energy into the universe that it will have no choice but to bring our girls home to us soon. We have not heard from the judge and are starting week 8 after going through court....come on good mojo, let our girls come home and enjoy all the new things they received!