Visa Appointment at the US Embassy and Growing versus Rotting

Thursday we had our visa appointment at the embassy. Actually, I thought it was just the appointment for the issuance of the Article 5/17 letter. But apparently it was for everything. Which is great, except I wasn't prepared for it. So Kevin drove home really quick to pick up Zac (who was napping) and I ran upstairs to the bank to get the US$230 visa fee.  We took Zac next door for his passport photos. And thankfully I had everything else I needed already in my folder.
A few clicks on their keyboard and a few minutes later, and the adoption coordinator handed me the sealed envelope containing our Article 5/17 letter.

And the good news? Everything regarding our visa is now ready. Once we receive the official adoption certificate from the courts (two weeks after our final judgment on May 30), then we can apply for Zac's Kenyan  passport. We found a service that will expedite the passport for us (still checking to see if that's legit). Hopefully that will take a couple of days, then we go to the Embassy again. Turn in our adoption certificate and his Kenyan passport, and they'll issue us our US visa in his passport that same day (possibly).

Regarding the Article 5/17 letter, I am couriering it over to my attorney on Monday along with my signed affidavit. My attorney is planning to make an appointment with the judge and ask/beg him to take the letter so he can put it in our file. That way he can review it in the meantime and render the final judgment on May 30 as opposed to turning the letter in on May 30 and having to go to a fourth court date after he reviews it. But my attorney is not sure whether the judge will even hear her, let alone take the letter. So we'll see...

I said to someone recently that it's "all downhill from here" regarding the court process. I had no idea this portion would still be stressful - - but with the new judges and not knowing what additional documents they might require at the last minute (which they did to my Canadian friends...) makes this 5-week-wait-to-the-final-judgment a bit hard. I have a friend who is in the Ukraine right now picking up her 3 newly adopted children. She wrote on her blog once that during this whole process, we can grow in Christ and turn into beautiful fruit. Or we can rot on the tree. Man, sometimes I feel like I'm just rotting. Lord, please help me grow into beautiful fruit. Overflow me with your Grace, Mercy, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and most of all, Self-Control. Overflow me so I can extend your fruits to my Children on a daily basis. So I can be a light to others around me. So we can all grow closer to You.

First Court Date (Revised Post)

(Note: This post is revised since Little Angels is reading it...Wouldn't want anything to impact our process, now would we?)

We had our first court date on Feb 15. Thank GOD we were able to get the 15th instead of a later date. I'm not sure how my lawyer pulled it off, but I am so thankful.
I honestly hate writing about it because it's something that you just kind of want to forget ever happened. (Not that it was terrible completely, just annoying and inconvenient.)

Anyway, so we left our house at 7am and drove through 2 hours of traffic to downtown Nairobi (or rather to Community/Upper Hill as they call it).
I just hate being in Nairobi traffic. Terrible roads. Congestion. Lots of people. Lots of people walking randomly in the road. Lots of dirt. Lots of smoke from other cars. I got car sick of course and felt like I was about to puke the whole way.

Finally make it and have no idea where to go. The driver dumped us out at the front. We had to hire a driver to take us because there is no parking at the courthouse. We found out a few nights before from mutual friends that our agency is supposed to provide transportation to all our court dates, though no one at the agency ever told us that. Unfortunately the agency happened to have 10+ cases going to court the same day, so they ran out of cars and we just needed to call our own driver. It's expensive (about $45 for the trip) but whatever. Considering the tens of thousands of dollars we've spent on the adoption, I guess $45 each trip to the courthouse isn't that big of a deal. Just annoying that we weren't told.

We stupidly wander around the courthouse not having a clue where to go. Getting close to 9am so we just follow all the other white families carrying black children. Obviously we are all going to the same place.  I see two sets of families that I know. FUN!

There are probably 50 families there, and guess what. The second adoption judge didn't show up for court (they only have court once a week), so the ONE judge has to preside all the cases. There are 4 initial motions, 20 GAL hearings (that's mine), and several final hearings. Our case should've been pretty quick since the GAL ones are heard first, but we didn't get heard until 11:30am. By that time, Isaac had gotten full on crackers, gotten tired from running up and down the halls for 2 and a half hours, and he completely fell asleep in arms. Our name is called and he sleeps during our entire 6 minute hearing.

Completely unprepared. That's what I felt like. As a lawyer myself, I was always prepared for court and knew what would happen. I made sure my families did too. But that's par for the course in this whole process: never knowing what is happening next.

I couldn't hear anything happening in the hearing because the noise in the hallway was too loud. I know our attorney spent 4 minutes talking the judge through our case: "The child was freed for adoption on...." etc. Then the judge asked the GAL to stand up, asked her a few questions I couldn't hear, then we were free to go.

Easy peasy. LOL.

We literally drove home in 20 minutes, quickly packed our bags, stuffed the kids in the car, and were on the road to vacation in the next hour. We drove to a swanky resort on Mount Kenya and forgot all about noise and congestion and traffic and smoke-filled air and courtrooms and smelly cars.
It was a well-deserved and well-appreciated four day vacation!!
We will have to book another vaca after the NEXT court date...which will last much longer and we will have to take all the kids. (Majorly much more difficult....)
So on to the next step...

Attorney Fees

This is the money we paid our attorney. In cash. I don't believe I've ever held this much money before. Everything nowadays is in electronic form. I can't remember how much it is - over $3200.

Lawyer's Office to Sign Documents

How to keep the Littles busy during attorney appointments...snacks and activities!

Recap of Our Meetings Last Week

Last week was a wonderfully busy week of meetings.

Wednesday - Met our attorney for the first time. She is great. (Received her LLM at Georgetown in DC!). She said we can file for our first court date on Day 91,which is Jan 30, not Jan 28 like I thought. They actually calculate from 3 months, not 90 actual days. Either way, if our Little Angels' social worker gets her official report in to the court in time, then we will most likely get a mid-Feb court date. At this first court date, the court will acknowledge our GAL appointment. They will also hand our case back over to the Children's Department so they can assign their own social worker to do yet another round of homestudies. When the Children's Department files their report (they have 45 days after their 3+ visits), then we can file for our second court date. At THAT court hearing, the judge can grant the adoption right out but most likely will schedule a third date to make the adoption official.

Thursday - Our Little Angels social worker conducted her second visit here at our home. Clean, clean, clean! She is very nice. I hope the appointment went okay. She seemed again to be a little overwhelmed  by our family of 7 and homeschooling. She asked, "When do you have any time for yourself?" Hee hee. I love that question. Anyway, one more visit and those are done.

Friday - We had our first Guardian ad Litem visit here at our home. This lady is so professional and so beautiful! She has four kids too. I find that makes a huge difference in talking with folks about our family. She was so cute. "Do you know what a Guardian ad Litem does?" Then Kevin explained that we are both lawyers. She will come here for two appointments before our first court date. There will be a total of four visits by the time this is all over.

WooHoo!!