Prayers, please!

Tomorrow's a huge day for our adoption process. Please pray that all goes smoothly so that we can go pick our cutie pie up SOON! Thanks.

Movement

Hello friends!

After being at the Embassy just a few days our file already has its first step appointment this Wednesday. This is a crucial step, so please send prayers that it goes smoothly. It's great news that they've already looked at our paperwork there and if this step goes smoothly, we hope to move onto the medical exam and then final visa interview quickly.

My sweet co-workers threw a surprise shower for me this week, so Bedeline is now the owner of a shiny red tricycle, complete with streamers, a bell, and a basket. :)

We spent last weekend making over Sean's brother's room (he recently got married and moved out) and now have a lovely family room/play room complete with the play kitchen set from my childhood and an easel from IKEA. All we need now is the little girl to play with all this great stuff!

Have a wonderful and relaxing Memorial Day weekend, think of us on Wednesday, and keep watching for updates.

PASSPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bedeline was issued a Passport today! "What does this mean?" is the question most often asked next. What it means is that we're finished with the Haitian side of things (sigh of relief).

The steps that follow are:

1) The paperwork goes to the US Embassy in Haiti, where our approval through USCIS (immigration) has been sitting for over a year.

2) When they've looked over the paperwork, they will call the lawyer and tell her it's time to get the baby to a clinic for a medical exam.

3) I believe that shortly after the exam Bedeline will be interviewed at the Embassy (wouldn't I love to be a fly on the wall for that?!?).

4) A day or two after the interview the visa is issued.

5) When the visa is issued, she's free to come to Minnesota!!!!

So, the step here that could take a little while is the Embassy looking over the paperwork or it could happen very fast. It's my understanding that after the lawyer is contacted to get Bedeline examined, the rest will happen quickly.

I hate to give out timelines because they've failed me so often in the past, so I'll just say that we're hoping and praying that this will happen SOON!

We'll keep you posted!! :)

New pictures!

Hey friends,

Just got these new pictures of Bedeline. Sean has named them "The Cheeto Series" and I like to call them "Eating Cheetos in a White Dress". We're hoping for news that her passport has been obtained in the next few weeks, but we'll see. It was two years ago today that we first heard about Bedeline and we certainly hope to be picking her up sometime soon. Thanks for your continued prayers both for her health and safety and for our patience.

In the meantime, we're keeping more than busy. Sean was in Nicaragua for work for eight days and when he got home I left for Phoenix where I presented at the International Reading Association conference. Last weekend my parents came to town and we got to spend a few days with them on Lake Superior. We're heading on a cruise of the Western Caribbean in a few weeks, something we got at a Friends of the Orphans gala last year and are excited to enjoy. Sean's brother is getting married in April, which has also been keeping us busy.

We hope you're all well and pray that we'll be posting good news sometime soon!

Another big day!

Today we passed through another step. With this one complete we are now legally Bedeline's parents! While this is wonderful news, it's still not time to go pick her up. :( The next step is the Ministry of Interior, where they issue her a Haitian passport. This step has been known to take a few months, but we're hoping our lawyer will work the same magic she's worked in the last two steps, which she moved us through very quickly.

While we wait we're very excited to get to spend Christmas with our families, especially my nephew, Owen, who we haven't seen since June.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to each of you!

Another step hurdled!

After not writing anything for months, it's crazy to have enough to write about that I'm putting up two posts in one night! We just heard that we've already passed through another step and the lawyer is feeling confident that we'll be through yet another within the next week or two. As you can see from my last post, this is much faster than the timetable that we'd found, which is great news. We'll keep you posted! :)

Health and Timeline Updates

Hi friends and thanks for all of your well wishes in the last week! It's been much fun to hear from all of you.

We heard that Bedeline has recovered from malaria and is on medication to clear her chest of the pneumonia that still lingers. We are relieved that at least one of the illnesses is over and continue to pray for her health.

As for the timeline, we've been checking websites and asking friends that have recently brought their children home from Haiti. What we've seen and heard is that from this point to the point at which we go pick her up could be 6-8 months. I know that many of you had been imagining us packing our bags up this weekend and though we wish we were, 6-8 months is much better than the five years we were beginning to think we'd have to wait. And who knows? Maybe Haiti will surprise us and we'll get to go pick her up even sooner.

In case you're interested, I've listed the next steps below. We'll continue to post as we hear that the paperwork moves from step to step. Please keep the "paperwork people" (as we so lovingly refer to them), Bedeline, and us in your prayers. Thanks and Merry Christmas! :)

Civil Court
4-8 weeks

Legalization & creation of Affidavit
8-12 weeks

Minister of Interior (MOI)
3-5 months

Immigration/Passport printing & Medical Exam
2-8 weeks

USCIS Orphan Investigation
2-8 weeks

Visa Process
2 weeks