The big deal with staples….

             We haven’t had a bunch of good news to update on the adoption front, but since everyone is asking we’ll just give an update. I’m reminded that life isn’t always perfect and it is ok to share the struggles and challenges as well as the successes. 

                I’ll be honest and share what I did to set us back a few steps on this journey. Yes, I did a huge blunder on the whole adoption journey.  Not intentional of course and I’m still baffled that it was so major but major it was.  If you are a reader of our blog or you know us personally, then you know of our trip to the capital to get the long awaited gold seals for our dossier.  (We have waited for the go-ahead for awhile now. )  For those who like us knew nothing about a gold seal……they attach the gold seal paper to the authentication form and notary signed letter with a blue paper and 2 staples.  As soon as we get in the car with our precious gold seals we called our agency and they tell us to go home and scan all the papers and send them to their office asap (all 100 pages).  Whew.  So, I spend an hour ripping all the staples out so Todd can scan all the documents at work and email them to the agency that afternoon.  After countless conversations with them we copy the package (now over 250 pages) 7 times and mail it to them and consider our part of the process DONE!   It is an amazing feeling knowing that we have completed our part and we are now waiting to be matched with our child.  Our social worker calls to congratulate us and the feeling is amazing. 

                THEN……I get an email that says our entire dossier has been rejected.  I guess they consider those little staples a pretty big deal and no one can ‘tamper’ with them.  Because I removed the staples to scan and copy the package I nullified our package and it will not be accepted.  They are returning it to us.  (*gasp and tears here*).  I have since been told I should have scanned and copied them individually.  It would have been nice to know that before but oh well.  It is done now. 

                What does this mean?  Well, we must begin that part of the process again.  They will return our dossier and we must get the state seals again.  It means we’ll make another trip to the capital, scan the new documents, have them translated again, copy the package again and then send it back to MI and see if it will be accepted by the Haitian Consulate this time. 

                Many of you ask if we know the information about our child yet and when they are coming home and I feel I must be honest while we are putting it all out there on this blog today.  As much as we love Haiti, it is known for having very slow adoptions.  It very well may be 2+ years before we can bring our child home.  We are praying that this is not the case!  We are praying that these new laws and procedures will shorten the adoption timelines but the current times are 2+ years. 

                Just in January of 2013 Haiti has made a new law that says that each agency can only submit ONE family for an adoption a month.  Yes, one family per month.  There are 6 families already waiting with our agency and we are praying to get our paperwork there to be family #7.  If they begin accepting families in Feb, (when they open) then the very earliest that we would be put into the system would be August.  We would be matched with a child sometime after that point.  Yes it is difficult for us too.  We thought we would have our package in Haiti long before now and now even if we get it there it won’t be accepted for many months.  Very hard to accept. 

                Basically, Haiti still does not have a system worked out.  They are making new laws and working out a system as they go which is hard for us (and a control freak like me).  We are learning as we go and making mistakes along the way.  We are praying God uses us and this to bring us together with our child and protects our hearts and all of our children’s hearts through this process. 

                In our Sunday school class we have been studying the Israelites as they wandered in the desert and I feel like one of them.  One day I am close with God and high on a mountain and the next I am complaining and looking for water.  I forget what I saw Him do and I begin to doubt.  Sometimes I feel like we have wandered around these many months collecting paperwork from everywhere and now we are right there standing next to the Promise Land but it’s just not time to enter in or to cross the Jordan river.  I feel like I can almost see it but there is something I must learn or experience before it is our time.  Pastor preached this week about Jericho and the walls coming down.  I’m praying the walls around adoptions in Haiti will come crashing down.  Not just for us but for all those wanting to adopt.  The orphanages are overrun with children who need to come home to their forever families but can’t because of the stand-stills.  There are children who need care but can’t go anywhere because the orphanages are full.  There are families all over who have empty bedrooms waiting on children while there are children in Haiti sleeping 3 to a bed or on the floors because lawmakers can’t come together.  We need walls to come down!  We need people to come together for the sake of children and get these kids home where they can be loved and cared for by their families!  Yes, we are blessed with a Christian orphanage that does a wonderful job caring for our kids but they will be the first to tell you that these kids need to come home! 

                Thank you for supporting us through the mountains and the valleys.   Join us in praying the walls will come down and that we will see real movement in this process.  Blessings~