He is Home!

We have finally reached the end of our journey to bring Jimmy home.  It has been a long, exhausting road and we now begin our adventure as a family of five.  I am so thankful for all of those who have lead us, walked beside us, and sometimes walked behind us to push us on when we were just too worn to continue.  I was thinking about the war we fought to get him here.  Rob and I are just two soldiers in the army who fought.  If it had just been the two of us, we would have lost the first battle and been defeated; but we have never been alone.  We had all of you loving, supporting both financially and emotionally, encouraging, assisting, advising, and praying.  Together we were an army.  An army lead by God, His purpose, and His plan.  We thank you for all that you have done to get us to today.  We will never be able to thank you enough. 

Kyndal, Bethany, Rylan & Megan with their signs ready.

Man, I wish time would go faster.

He is finally here!

Our family is together.

HE'S COMING HOME!

We received the visa appointment date on Friday. It is on Tuesday. We are thrilled that it is soon but 4 days...aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh. Rob flew out Saturday morning. He is in cap Haitien with Jimmy now. They will fly to PaP on Monday. Hoping they will be home by the end of the week.

HALLELUJAH!!

Writing about last week now, I have perspective; but had I written last week, I would have written about it differently.  Last Monday, May 6, we received an email from USCIS.  They wanted us to have the death certificate verified in archives.  I was disgusted.  How could they ask us to do one more thing.  It was ridiculous.  After a brave phone call, I realized yet again I am not in control.  So, we talked to our lawyer and he set to work at getting it verified.  Unfortunately, he was extremely busy and could not get to it right away; fortunately, he had an associate who could take it to archives quickly.  We of course had to pay him for his time.  $150, well spent.  He was able to get it verified and resubmitted to USCIS on Friday.  So then once again we waited.

Rob was certain we would get an email from USCIS on Monday.  Monday came and went no email.  However, this morning at 7:33 my phone went "ding-ding" to let me know I had an email.  I checked it as I always do when we are waiting for an answer from USCIS.  There it was.  Some of the most beautiful words I have ever read.

 

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Schlup,

USCIS in Port au Prince, Haiti is pleased to inform you that the I-600 petition, which you filed at this office on July 23, 2012 on behalf of Jimmy Charles, seeking to qualify him as your immediate relative has been approved. Your case has been transferred to the Adoption Unit of the Consular Section for the visa process. This completes all action by USCIS on the referenced petition. The Consular Section will soon contact you to follow-up on your case.

 

HALLELUJAH!!!!!

 

I began to sing a song.  "We got approval.  We got approval."  Kids heard right away and I went to tell Rob.  We were all so thrilled and relieved.  I messaged Jimmy, called my mom, texted friends, and of course notified the facebook world.  It was a good day.  Now we will wait for them to contact us with his visa appointment date.  Hopefully, we will hear tomorrow.  Then, we can begin to make arrangements for Rob to fly down.

 

We rejoice for this journey is coming to an end.  We rejoice for our journey as a united family will begin.

 

My mom posted this on my facebook wall today and I think it is fitting.

Commit to The Lord whatever you do and yours plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3

 

The Meaning of Family

My Grandma Minnie passed away last week.  My family spent a few days together remembering Grandma and lots of memories.  Not only am I sad that I lost my grandmother, I am sad Jimmy was not there with us.  Not because he never met Grandma, but because he missed seeing what family is all about.  Families love and support each other in happy times and in times of mourning.  Jimmy missed a wonderful example of my family loving each other through a sad time.  He missed the hugs and the encouraging words.  He missed the laughter and the tears.  He missed being surrounded by the comfort of loved ones.  I have been blessed to have a large multi-generational family.  I know that what makes my great aunt grumpy and that my great uncle likes to drive fancy cars.  I know that my third cousin has a voice that can command a room and my cousin-in-law loves cherry pie.  These are some of my greatest blessings.  To know my family and have them be a part of my life is a treasure no matter how old I get. I have been told repeatedly that Jimmy will be grown by the time he gets here.  Well, even at 37, I need my family; and I will continue to need them no matter how old I get. I know that Jimmy needs a family too.  I am thankful I get to bring him into our family.  Not only will he be blessed by all of them, but I know he will be a blessing to all of us.

Our lawyer submitted the death certificate on Thursday.  We hope to hear something soon from USCIS.

My Grandma is the third from the left.  These are her siblings.

 The Isbell Family

Death Certificate Update

Our lawyer, Diony, was able to get a death certificate made and signed by the judge.  He received it yesterday.  He will now have it "legalized" in Port au Prince.  He expects it to take a week.  Hopefully it will be ready to submit to USCIS next week.
Please continue to pray for Jimmy as he waits.  Prayers for comfort and peace are appreciated as he continues to be stuck some place between his life in the orphanage and his life here with us. 

WAITING STINKS!

We received an email from USCIS yesterday.  To sum it up, they will accept the affidavits from Jimmy and his aunt as secondary evidence that his birthmother is deceased but want us to have a death certificate made and registered.  His mother never had a death certificate.  Because it served no purpose to her family, there was never one made.  USCIS however finds it very important.  So basically, they accept that his birthmother is dead, but they want a death certificate saying so.  UGH!  I am beyond frustrated and think it is ridiculous that they are making us do this.  It serves no purpose and adds more wait time. On Monday, our lawyer will request that one be made.  He says it is "no problem" but will take some time.  There is that word again TIME.  Time just spent waiting.  Waiting since we met Jimmy: 918 days (2 years, 6 months, 5 days).  Waiting since we applied for his adoption: 794 (2 years, 2 months, 4 days).  Time Jimmy has spent in the orphanage waiting to be part of a family: 3050 days (8 years, 4 months, 7 days).  That is a lot of waiting and I AM SICK OF WAITING!  I know it doesn't do any good to be angry, but I am today.  I am angry my son is waiting and praying to come home; and someone in an office, who gets to go home to his/her family every night, thinks it is essential that there is a death certificate in the file even after accepting secondary proof of death.  Again, UGH!

I will post again when we have something new to tell.,

Good decisions hopefully lead to good results.

This has been a week full of progress and reassurance.  On Tuesday, our agency told us that we better get a backup plan because their lawyer wasn't doing his job.  Although this was a little more than irritating to hear, we knew we made a good decision to hire the new lawyer.  Diony did travel to Cap Haitien and take care of business.  He had a long rough road there but was able to persevere through rain and car troubles to help us.  He went to St. Suzanne to look at the register book that would prove the validity of his birthmother's death certificate.  After searching, he found that the death certificate was indeed a fake.  Our agency lawyer paid someone to make it.  So, Diony traveled back to Cap to visit with Jimmy and his aunt.  We were quite nervous; however, he got lots of new information from them which he believes will be more than substantial to receive approval for our I600.  He is now back in Port au Prince and plans to submit the new evidence in the morning.  We are cautiously optimistic.