We're in Passports! 03/28/08

All - we just got word that GLA applied for Jude's passport today! Praise God for His goodness! We are very excited. The two-week process for the legalization signature took two and a half weeks for us. It is what it is, and we are not into the next step. In the meantime, baby keeps growing...funny - that's how things work. We are praying to have him home by his second birthday which is on July 24th. We have passports and Visa to get through, and including the "sub-steps", here's what needs to happen:

1. Passports
1. Minister of Interior (this is the bulk of the passport time, where the paperwork is studied and approved)
2. Passport printing
3. While we're waiting for the above, we have to submit an I-600 (another piece of immigration documentation - this one requests to have Jude considered our immediate relative in the US now that he is legally ours in Haiti)
2. Paperwork review (spelling errors are common in Haiti, so after the passport is complete, GLA has to go through all documentation to have any needed corrections made.)
3. US Visa
1. Upon approval of the afore-mentioned I-600 (which will have already been done), the US Consulate in Haiti will complete an orphan investigation for Jude which will include the following:
2. an interview with Jude's birth mother
3. a medical exam of Jude by a US approved doctor in Haiti
4. GLA will complete another piece of paperwork (called a DS-230) and attach it to Jude's Visa application, and submit it to the US Consulate. They generally hear back within 1 - 2 weeks.
4. Travel!
1. After GLA hears from the US Consulate, they can schedule a Visa appointment and give us travel dates!

To have Jude home for his birthday, we must be out of passports in under three months. God can do that! Join us in prayer. For now, we are thanking God that in Haiti, at least, Jude is legally ours. How great is that?!