Bringing Home Jimmy: December 2011

Besides "When do you get to bring him home?", the most often asked question is "How is the fundraising going?" Well, then answer is not an easy one. The more trips we have to make, the longer the process takes, the more money we will need. We overwhelmed by the generosity expressed to us so far.

We recently had a Thanksgiving Pie fundraiser along with another adopting family, the Hinson's. We sold over 80 pies. Thank you to everyone who ordered a pie from us.

For those of you who do not live close enough to buy a pie, we are still having our t-shirt sale through Wild Olive tees. They are super cute tees and would make awesome Christmas presents. Please go check it out. We have extended our fundraising window, but it will only be until January 16. This is how you can be a part. Go to the Wild Olive Tees website and shop in the fundraiser tees section. There are 15 Women's tees and 6 children's tees to choose from. When you are making a purchase, click on the coupon code button and enter our family code SCHLUP0910. You must put this code in for us to get credit for your purchase. In addition to using the code, you may choose to also put our name in the comment section of checkout.

We are also still selling quilt blocks. We have sold 77 blocks. Just 31 blocks to go. If you would like to buy a block in honor of someone, I will be happy to send you a card for you to present to the person of honor. If you would like to know how to make your donation tax-deductible, just let me know and I will give you the information.

Please consider helping us by buying a tee shirt or quilt square. I don't know what else to say, but thank you.

For the past month or so, we have not had an internet connection at our house. So, I haven't been able to blog. Those issues are resolved and I am ready to get on with the updating.

Well, Cindy (who is adopting Richard) and I were supposed to heading to Port au Prince in the morning to submit our I-600 to the US Embassy in Haiti. We had our plane tickets, a place to stay, everything was set. However as we have to come to expect, plans change. Due to some misinformation, security issues, and a host of other things, we decided God was telling us it wasn't time to do that. After many prayers and discussions, we cancelled our appointment. Our plan was to go to PaP, do our business, then head to Cap Haitian to spend some time with our boys. So since we already had plane tickets etc., we are sticking to that part of the plan. We will just be leaving here a couple of days later. We will leave Tuesday and fly to Miami, spend the night and catch a flight to Cap early Wednesday morning. We will stay until the next Monday.

As far as news of the adoption process, there is no news. We haven't heard anything since our dossier entered IBESR. We are hoping it will be out soon. Here is a general timeline we received at the beginning of the process. So far, everything as been running on the longest time allotment given. Remember this is just an estimation. There are NO guarantees. Our dossier has been in IBESR for three months.

Dossier is deposited in IBESR.	4-6 months (if no disp)
*Note: 500-1000 dossiers from various countries are in the queue at this office at any given time. Each dossier is a file of about 200 pages, which has to be carefully read and approved.	(if Presidential Dispensation is required, at least another 3-6 mos should be expected)

Family travels to Haiti to complete their I600 paperwork in person - saves time at pickup and provides auto citizenship visa for child in US. (Trip usually b/w 4-6 days in Haiti)

Dossier is approved by IBESR

Paperwork sent to C4C from legal team: Child Birth Certif, Relinquishment Paper, Adopt Decree

Dossier is sent to Parquet - courts	6-12 weeks
Birth parents must appear at court (*unless birth family is in PaP and easy to locate, this can add much time to process if bps must travel from far away to arrive for interview.)

Dossier is approved by Parquet

Courts - (sometimes referred to as Second Legalization)	5-8 weeks
a. Once the dossier is released from the Parquet, the dossier comes back to us. The court papers are typed and turned in to court for the finalization of the adoption process.
b. Attestation of the signature on the act of adoption. This is when Archives in Haiti says that the signature on the adoption decree matches the judge who signed it. Just legalizing the signature.
c. Legalization at the Minister of justice department. Papers must be legalized here for all countries, saying that the signature is the legal signature of the Judges involved on ALL papers.	4-6 weeks
d. Legalization at the Minister of Foreign affairs.

Dossier enters Minister of Interior	3-4 mos
There are 3 departments which the dossier must pass	for entire MOI process
through

Dossier is signed out of MOI

Files sent to Passport office for printing of the children's passport	1-2 weeks
	unless passport office is out of passport booklets, then it takes a few weeks longer
Passports issued - reviewed for accuracy sent to USCIS

At the same time that the passport application is in the works, the U.S. Immigration process must be complete:	1-3 weeks

a. an INS appointment is made
b. birthparents must be present for USCIS interview	2 weeks
	(sometimes more if bp cannot be located or have trouble arriving)
Visa application is filed, and appointment in Haiti
to receive the visa is scheduled.	1-2 weeks

Family travels to Haiti for transition time and visa appointment	stay in Haiti usually less than 1 week, unless we have reason to believe child(ren) will need longer transition period.

We began the adoption at the beginning of February. That was (give or take) 300 days ago. With no end in sight, I can find myself feeling a little weary of the process. When those times come and seem to take over my every thought, I remember that God's timing is perfect. Perfect! Not just okay or good, but perfect. I put my faith in his timing and will wait because it WILL be worth the wait.