Three months ago,
Todd and I were standing with two other American’s outside the US Embassy in
Port au Prince, Haiti on this very day requesting our adoption status be changed
and requesting permission to adopt Oberson.
After standing outside for hours, inside for what seemed like forever,
answering questions and turning in our paperwork we were then given a document
allowing us to continue to the next step.
It gave us three months to complete it.
We left with those precious documents in our folder and as we traveled
back to hold our little guy our hearts soared!
The hope of new laws and approved paperwork had us dreaming of bringing
him home within months. Maybe he read
our moods, maybe he actually missed us from not being there that morning or it
was just a coincidence but he was one happy boy that afternoon which just made
the day that much sweeter! It was a
wonderful day
Fast forward to
today: June 10th. It is now three months later and we now have
our extension until September 15th.
(We are being told to expect at least one more extension prior to
bringing him home.) My first reaction is
to be like David and to cry, scream and plead with God. (Notice I did not say AT God I said with God. God knows my heart
already. I am not screaming with God in the sense that I am mad at him but I am
mad at the system that allows such a slow process. It is with God because I believe God joins me
in crying. His heart does not like to
see families separated.)
If I hadn’t stood
outside that Embassy three months ago, we wouldn’t be here today. And if I wasn’t in this particular spot
today, then we won’t get to the point to ever bring him home. Each step leads to the next.
My motto:
Every day is a day closer to bringing him home!
Today I have the
memories of where we were three months ago…in Haiti. Today we are three months
closer! I must praise Him in that!
Funny story from
our Embassy trip: We had NO idea what to
expect at the Embassy but we (being the rule followers that we are) did everything
they said. You cannot take anything with
you except the paperwork needed. No
purse, Kleenex, water, phone etc. You are allowed one manila envelope with
paperwork inside and no additional paperwork (so pray you have the right
stuff). The driver stayed with all of
our personal belongings in the van and our Haitian representative from our
orphanage went with us. At first I wasn’t
too concerned….I mean really this is the US Embassy after all right? If there’s anywhere in the country I should
be able to read signs and get around it would be there right? Um, no!
As the driver
pulls over we see people lining the streets and realize we are there! We climb out only to be pushed to the front
of the line. Ok, I get it...we are the
only American’s so since this is the American Embassy we have our own line and
we get in first. Ok. Um…No. The four of us stood there for probably 2.5
hours while every other Haitian (seemingly) walked past us and we continued to
wait our turn. Our representative went
inside to speak for us and came back only when we were allowed to enter. It appears that Haitians can come and go but
Americans cannot. Odd isn’t it! It was an odd feeling to be there without any
possessions as well as any form of communication and only trust that someone
would come back for us at some point. Ha!
Well, our
orphanage takes great care of us and our representative came back to usher us
in for our appointment. Past security we
all go (it’s pretty easy when you have nothing but a manila envelope). Oh, did I mention that we were the only rule
followers in the group. Everyone else
had purses, snacks, waters, etc? Oh yay! Anyway, we enter the US Embassy to
find that all announcements are made in Creole!
Yep! As we sat there I giggled
(probably too loudly) but all I could do was giggle. The accent was so strong that I didn’t even
think I would recognize my own name!
Even if I did recognize it then they tell you what counter to go to
(1-30) and I only know Creole # 1-10. Oh
good grief! Our poor representative
couldn’t leave us at all for fear we couldn’t recognize our own names! Bless her heart!
Well, we made it
through the wait, the giggles (to which Todd didn’t find funny at all), being
told it was our turn (nope didn’t hear our names at all) and answered all of
the questions! Yay! With help from our representative we were
able to get the paperwork, understand it all and then leave with our precious
envelope just a little fuller than when we entered. Whew!
That was a tidbit
of our Embassy experience.
