just when we thought the paperwork was done...

We got a call yesterday from our agency, saying that there was a form we hadn't filled out for US Immigration. We thought we didn't have to do this one, since it appeared to be the one you do when you have NOT found a specific child yet and we skipped to the one you do when you HAVE found a specific child. Anyway, the good news is that someone at the Immigration office in MN was looking at our file to approve it and saw that this form was missing. It's wonderful to think that someone's looking at our paperwork and that it's not just sitting somewhere untouched. So we filled out the paperwork and are planning to mail it in tomorrow.

In the meantime I stumbled across some Haiti adoption blogs saying that files are often in the IBESR (the agency we're currently in) for 4-10 months! Not what I wanted to read. And that in the past the steps after that agency had been quick and simple, but now those are taking 4-10 months as well. But today I saw a post from last week saying things are running "more smoothly" again. I think I'll stop reading those blogs. We don't know if ours will go more quickly since we're working with a lawyer and not an agency.

I talked with Marialyn this evening who hasn't seen the baby since last week because she's been preparing for her VBS and dealing with problems like delayed flights, car troubles, getting the car stuck in a muddy trench, computer issues, etc. She has 3 family members with her in Haiti until next week when they fly back to Indiana. At that point she hopes to have a bit more time to see Bedeline. She was unsuccessful at emailing the pics because the internet cafe wouldn't let her download them. We'll just have to be patient (seems to be our theme) and wait until she returns early Sept.

Sean was offered and accepted a new position last week at an organization called Friends of the Orphans. They have orphanages in a number of countries in Latin America and the Carribbean (including Haiti!) and his job will be to encourage people to sponsor children in these orphanages, coordinate translation of letters between sponsors and children, and organize trips for sponsors to visit children, among other things. This is obviously a topic he's very passionate about and he is THRILLED about the position. They were quite thrilled with him, as well, since they canceled interviews that were scheduled for later in the week and offered him the job on the spot! The office is one mile from our house, just to make things even better. He starts August 15. Check out the website at www.friendsoftheorphans.org.

Well, Sean and I need to do some work for this gigantic fundraiser that we're throwing in just 9 days. Please pray that our little pile of paperwork moves through IBESR at an unusually fast pace! Love to you all.