While we don't yet have a green light for travel, we have started to get things together for the trip (and we must give a huge thank you, again, to the ladies of Orangeville Baptist Church, as much of what we've gathered to pack for Jude was given to us by them).
One of the things we are planning to take along is a suitcase (or two) full of donations for the orphans. This is partly to replenish some of what Jude has used while he has lived there, and partly just to support the work of GLA. Well, guess what? You can help!
There are several things the orphanage needs: clothing (esp. 18 mos. and over), 1-pc pajamas (esp. larger sizes), crib sheets, infant and children's vitamins, no-spill infant sippy cups, baby bottles (plastic w/regular nipples), nipples for regular bottles, disposable diapers, powdered formulas, baby thermometers, and school and craft supplies.
This is easy. First, this is a great time to get kid's summer clothing (remember that it's warm in Haiti all the time) on clearance and at garage sales. Also, this is back-to-school time in the coming weeks, so when you're at the store picking up school supplies for your kids, think about purchasing an extra package of pencils or crayons or other supplies. Last, next time you're out and about at the grocery super-store, check the baby section for discontinued/clearance crib sheets, bottles, etc. No one person needs to donate a lot, if we have several people willing to pick up a few dollars' worth of things.
To make this even more easy, you don't even have to bring us the stuff! We'll figure out a way to get to you to pick it up, or have it shipped to us.
We'd love to jam-pack the most humongous suitcase we can get our hands on. Won't you help us love on the kids at GLA, and support this fantastic ministry? Please consider it, and thanks, as always, for walking this journey along with us. It's a blessing and a joy to share it with you.
Yesterday was Jude's second birthday. We had hoped to have him home by then, but it was not to be. Our caseworker is traveling to Haiti next week with her church and will be stopping at the orphanage, so we sent a birthday gift with her. We are blessed to have her in our lives.
The ladies of Orangeville Baptist Church gave us our first baby shower, and we feel so blessed! They gave kindly and generously, and now we have our high chair, some wonderful toys, precious clothes, and many other helpful and necessary items. We are so blessed to have these things before traveling to Haiti, as we'll need to take several things along with us. Thank you, ladies! We pray that God will bless you as much as you blessed us!
We received word last week that the US Consulate did indeed receive our paperwork via DHL for Jude's visa. It had been cabled to them as well, but they do not begin the visa process with cabled documents, so we had to wait for the physical copies to arrive. Our orphanage director was planning to go to the Consulate and officially enter the application for Jude's visa either Friday of last week or this past Monday. The Consulate will schedule an orphan investigation in which they request to see Jude's birth mother briefly. This should happen next week, and then they have one or two weeks' worth of work to do and then the orphanage can give us travel dates. We're thinking that at this point, we could hear from them around August 11. We shall see...
Well, we got the results from our grant application with Shaohannah's Hope. We were denied. They get so many applications every month, and because all of our income verification is based on last year's tax information, we don't look like we have much of a need. As I like to say, it is what it is...
Phew! The days are flying by and I've neglected to update on our status with Immigration. My sister and I went there last Monday...it was the strangest experience of my life. It's a bit of a different world there. At any rate, they finally processed our papers, (we got the verification sent by mail), sent them on to the National Visa Center, and the National Visa Center cabled (and sent via DHL) our paperwork to the US Consulate in Haiti. They have two or three weeks worth of work to do and then we'll get travel dates. At this point, we will probably not be traveling in July. Most likely it will be early August. The Detroit immigration office's inaction cost us about three weeks. It is what it is, however, and there's no point in dwelling on it. Onward and upward!
We've ordered a crib (which was a gift - what a blessing!), will be painting Jude's room in the next week or so, and this Saturday Mom G and I will be sewing away, getting Jude's crib bedding ready. That, and my master's class, and helping with Vacation Bible School this week, and trying to run a business at the same time (oh - and filing more paperwork required at this point in the adoption) is keeping us very busy...there's certainly no lack of things to do!
Until next time, happy trails...
