Hi friends,
It's been a less than stellar week as we ran around like crazy getting things translated, notartized, apostilled (a fancy stamp from the sec of state), copied, and overnighted off to Chicago. BUT the good news is that the papers have been sent off to the Haitian consulate in Chicago, where they'll be stamped once again. They should have arrived there this morning and we're hoping to get them back from the consulate in the next few days. As soon as they're back we send them off to Haiti! Then we're done w/ the Haitian paperwork (we hope). The US paperwork is just waiting for our fingerprint day. So, we're on track so far.
A number of you have asked if we ever ate the chicken that the pastor had killed for us. Yes, yes we did. You don't let a gesture like that go by!
Haiti story of the day: We went out to a local bar one night in Jeremie. We sat outside with Marialyn and three of her Haitian friends in the pitch black darkness. (Each night when it got dark around 6 pm you didn't know if the electricity would come on throughout the city or not. If it did turn on you wouldn't know how long it would stay on). That night there was electricity, so there was music playing by the pitch black dance floor, but no lights. Soon our Haitian friends decided to teach us to dance to "kompas", Haitian music. They thought Sean's famous moves were hilarious, since their dance moves are very very subtle (and his are far from subtle). They worked hard to teach us the art of subtle dancing, saying over the music, "Listen to me, listen to me, left, right, left, right" The music was a mix of Haitian music and 80s Michael Bolton (which they all knew the words to!). Soon Sean and I were being passed around the dance floor. We had all decided that it was time to leave when...Elton John's "Can you feel the love tonight?" came on. Sean, Marialyn, our new Haitian friends, and I got into a circle and swayed back and forth singing Elton John. One of many moments during the trip that we stopped and said, "Is this really happening???"
That's all for now. Keep the love for this baby girl and the prayers for our sanity and patience coming.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Life Updates
Well, I get to cross one thing off my list! On Saturday, May 19, I graduated from Hamline University with a Master of Arts in Education. My mom flew here for the occasion and she and Sean made it a wonderful day, full of calling me "Master" and taking me to a fantastic dinner. Mom stayed until Tuesday morning and we had much fun sitting in the backyard with her and letting her take us to our favorite restaurants.
We're beginning to adjust to being back from Haiti, though I hate that I can't say anymore, "I was just in Haiti last week." We've had numerous picture showings for anyone who's willing to sit still through them. It's a strange juxtaposition of adorable happy pictures of this beautiful baby and pictures of the streets of Port-au-Prince and then back to picturesque shots of the ocean, not to mention Sean's many pictures of crabs, lizards, and giant beetles!
Last Tuesday we mailed in our application to US Immigration and already today we got the letter telling us to go get fingerprinted, which is the first step. Unfortunately our fingerprinting date isn't until 6/13 and no, we can't get in earlier, I checked. In the meantime we had a paperwork crisis surrounding the notarization of our documents, but are trying to stay calm and retrace our steps to get the paperwork in order. Clearly the one month estimate is out of the question, but we're still hoping for 2 or 3. Heck, we'll be happy with 6 as long as we get that amazing baby in our lives!
My graduation chair (a comfy glider rocker for the nursey that I'd had been dreaming about for months that Sean bought me when I returned home from my final thesis meeting) arrived last night, which is good because, as one of my co-workers said today, "You're going to have to sit down to rock that baby!"
We'll continue to keep you posted. Keep us in your prayers!
We're beginning to adjust to being back from Haiti, though I hate that I can't say anymore, "I was just in Haiti last week." We've had numerous picture showings for anyone who's willing to sit still through them. It's a strange juxtaposition of adorable happy pictures of this beautiful baby and pictures of the streets of Port-au-Prince and then back to picturesque shots of the ocean, not to mention Sean's many pictures of crabs, lizards, and giant beetles!
Last Tuesday we mailed in our application to US Immigration and already today we got the letter telling us to go get fingerprinted, which is the first step. Unfortunately our fingerprinting date isn't until 6/13 and no, we can't get in earlier, I checked. In the meantime we had a paperwork crisis surrounding the notarization of our documents, but are trying to stay calm and retrace our steps to get the paperwork in order. Clearly the one month estimate is out of the question, but we're still hoping for 2 or 3. Heck, we'll be happy with 6 as long as we get that amazing baby in our lives!
My graduation chair (a comfy glider rocker for the nursey that I'd had been dreaming about for months that Sean bought me when I returned home from my final thesis meeting) arrived last night, which is good because, as one of my co-workers said today, "You're going to have to sit down to rock that baby!"
We'll continue to keep you posted. Keep us in your prayers!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Haiti story of the day
I've decided to tell stories about the trip bit by bit, since it was too much to write in one post. So, as my energy level allows I'll try to post a few stories and more pictures on the blog.
The Sunday that we were in Haiti we went to church. Marialyn had warned us that church could be a lengthy process, so we tried to plan it so that we'd arrive part way through, to avoid sitting in a hot church for 3 hours. We arrived one hour into it and the first notes we heard coming from the church were the hymn "Holy God We Praise Your Name" in Creole, of course. We entered and the Pastor sat us in the front pew. So much for being inconspicuous. There was much singing, by the congregation as a whole and by small groups and soloists. By the end 2/3 of the congregation had gotten up to sing something or another. We had talked about preparing something for the three of us to sing, but hadn't had time, with meeting the baby and all, and were disappointed that we weren't able to join in. At one point the Pastor asked us to come up front. Marialyn introduced us and explained that we basically only understood "Bonjour" and "Merci". The Pastor asked us to say something and assured us he'd translate. We said we were happy to be there and that we were loving Haiti and its people. The congregation seemed delighted to have us there and speaking this strange language.
As we sat through the sermon I noticed a giant spider in the rafters, a lizard crawling across the wall, in and out of the window, and a bird that flew in one window and out the other. I also noticed a man in front sitting by a little keyboard who just kind of made things up as people sang, hoping that every once in a while the note he was playing would be the same that they were singing.
We left before it was over and were back into town when the Pastor called Marialyn and asked why we'd left. He said that when we'd arrived that morning he'd had someone go out and kill a chicken for us. We had promised the baby's family that we'd visit them, but told the Pastor we'd be back later for the chicken. When someone kills a chicken for you, you don't turn it down! In the meantime we stopped at a roadside stand for a snack. There, on the ground, was the head and carcas of a pig and sure enough, they were selling grilled pork at the stand. Check out the picture on the left of Marialyn and me buying food there as well as a picture from church.
Thanks for all of the wonderful response to the pictures and stories! There's nothing we like hearing more than how cute people think Bedeline is! So many of you have already fallen in love with her. If only she knew how many aunts and uncles she's going to have when she arrives!
We're sending in the first official papers to US Immigration tomorrow. We're also getting tested for HIV, which we didn't realize was a requirement. Every paper needs to be translated into French, so once we get the results, we'll send them off to our trusty translators. The goal is to have all the paperwork in the mail to the US and Haiti by Friday. Then we wait. So this roller coaster is far from over, and did I mention that I hate roller coasters? In the meantime, we ask you to continue telling us how much you love the pictures and to pray for us, for her, for her family, and for the paperwork people here and in Haiti.
The Sunday that we were in Haiti we went to church. Marialyn had warned us that church could be a lengthy process, so we tried to plan it so that we'd arrive part way through, to avoid sitting in a hot church for 3 hours. We arrived one hour into it and the first notes we heard coming from the church were the hymn "Holy God We Praise Your Name" in Creole, of course. We entered and the Pastor sat us in the front pew. So much for being inconspicuous. There was much singing, by the congregation as a whole and by small groups and soloists. By the end 2/3 of the congregation had gotten up to sing something or another. We had talked about preparing something for the three of us to sing, but hadn't had time, with meeting the baby and all, and were disappointed that we weren't able to join in. At one point the Pastor asked us to come up front. Marialyn introduced us and explained that we basically only understood "Bonjour" and "Merci". The Pastor asked us to say something and assured us he'd translate. We said we were happy to be there and that we were loving Haiti and its people. The congregation seemed delighted to have us there and speaking this strange language.
As we sat through the sermon I noticed a giant spider in the rafters, a lizard crawling across the wall, in and out of the window, and a bird that flew in one window and out the other. I also noticed a man in front sitting by a little keyboard who just kind of made things up as people sang, hoping that every once in a while the note he was playing would be the same that they were singing.
We left before it was over and were back into town when the Pastor called Marialyn and asked why we'd left. He said that when we'd arrived that morning he'd had someone go out and kill a chicken for us. We had promised the baby's family that we'd visit them, but told the Pastor we'd be back later for the chicken. When someone kills a chicken for you, you don't turn it down! In the meantime we stopped at a roadside stand for a snack. There, on the ground, was the head and carcas of a pig and sure enough, they were selling grilled pork at the stand. Check out the picture on the left of Marialyn and me buying food there as well as a picture from church.
Thanks for all of the wonderful response to the pictures and stories! There's nothing we like hearing more than how cute people think Bedeline is! So many of you have already fallen in love with her. If only she knew how many aunts and uncles she's going to have when she arrives!
We're sending in the first official papers to US Immigration tomorrow. We're also getting tested for HIV, which we didn't realize was a requirement. Every paper needs to be translated into French, so once we get the results, we'll send them off to our trusty translators. The goal is to have all the paperwork in the mail to the US and Haiti by Friday. Then we wait. So this roller coaster is far from over, and did I mention that I hate roller coasters? In the meantime, we ask you to continue telling us how much you love the pictures and to pray for us, for her, for her family, and for the paperwork people here and in Haiti.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Pictures added
Alright, here she is! These are just a few of the many. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the homepage to see a bigger view. :)
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