Read About My Latest Document Miracles!

Okay so there are two remaining documents we need to have authenticated for our dossier:
1. the i800a approval letter (which is this document that I've been writing about so much), and
2. the Homestudy Verification Letter from CAS.

The reason we are getting that Homestudy Verification Letter in so late (as opposed to the 28 others we had already authenticated and I have in my hands now) is because since my Homestudy was done in Kenya and notarized in Kenya, the US officials can't authenticate it because it bears no US seal. The Kenyan National Adoption Committee (NAC) will accept my Homestudy as it is. Why? Because the NAC only requires authentication of foreign documents, not their own country's.  However, there is a Homestudy Verification Letter done by my stateside agency that is attached to the back of the homestudy. Susan at Little Angels correctly suggested we have that specific letter notarized and authenticated at the state and federal levels, like all the others, since that is a foreign document.

So...I emailed the folks at CAS about 3 weeks ago and asked if they could notarize my Verification Letter and then send it on to North Carolina to be authenticated.  Then it would go to my courier in DC who would authenticate it on the US level then Kenyan level.

CAS did that; sent it to Raleigh for its state-level authentication stamp. CAS said they fedex'd my document to my courier in DC on Tuesday, May 15, which is the same day I sent my i800a approval letter from Kenya to my courier. (Again, remember that drama?).

Well by Friday my courier had not received anything from CAS. So Friday night I sat in bed (it was close to 11pm here in Kenya) and I placed phone calls to the CAS office, to Fedex, and to my specific program coordinator. The CAS office closes at noon on Fridays (it was 3pm in their time zone) so I was literally freaking out. The thing is, to get my dossier to the NAC by the June 5 deadline, I needed my last 2 documents to be at the courier THAT FRIDAY so he could authetnicate at the US State Department (which takes 1 day), then the Kenyan Embassy (which takes 5 days). Then if my courier fedex'd international priority to me on Friday afternoon, then I would get the documents by May 29ish and could turn in to Little Angels by May 30, and Little Angels would have time to prepare my dossier on May 31 and June 4 (since June 1 is a Kenyan holiday), and they could take to NAC on June 4.  CUTTING IT PRETTY CLOSE!!

I hope I didn't lose any of you on that last paragraph.

In other words, to make the NAC meeting for June (which is a huge long shot anyway!), my courier needed to have both my docs by Friday the 18th at the latest! But Friday night I was on the phone trying to find that one missing doc from CAS.  And hyperventilating a little.  Or rather a lot.

Miraculously, my Program Coordinator from CAS got in touch with me. We chatted by phone for the first time!  Listen to the story she told me. I think I had a few little heart attacks while listening to her:

So apparently when my Homestudy Verification document came back from North Carolina on May 14, it had been apostilled instead of authenticated.  Major Mistake!!  Susan Fox, the director at CAS, recognized the mistake, and sent it back out to the state capitol for the correct stamp. Somehow (INSERT: GOD), the document went back to Raleigh, was correctly authenticated, and sent back to CAS office headquarters in Greensboro by Friday the 18th. Then the folks at CAS (even though the office closes at noon!), fedex'd it Overnight to my courier in DC. Courier got the doc on Saturday.

Now my courier had both my documents!

Monday the 21st Courier took my CAS doc to US State Dept to be authenticated. He used their same-day service, which I thankfully found out about through a fellow-adopting friend. He drove my 2 docs to the Kenyan Embassy that afternoon. Somehow (INSERT GOD AGAIN) the Kenyan Embassy authenticated my 2 documents in 3 days instead of the usual 5 days. So Wednesday the 23rd, Courier Fedex'd my completely authenticated documents to me. At the time I write this, my docs are in the air and just left Paris! They should make it to me tomorrow or Sunday.

So Monday the 28th I will drive my COMPLETED DOSSIER down to Little Angels.

I just can't believe it.  For a girl who found out she messed up her documents to Immigration on May 2, and then now she'll have her completed dossier turned in to Little Angels by May 28.  Living overseas. Shipping everything internationally. FOLKS, THAT IS ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE!!  Especially considering the other issues with the documents that I've had...There is no other explanation but one: God.

Father God, I am continually humbled by your grace and your mercy and your miracles. May everybody who reads this see how Amazing You Are, Father!!

Two Miracles Happened Today

As I sat in bed last night (after writing that last post), I told God that we needed a miracle today. The Fedex office closed and no one had any word about my package.

I was very bold with God.  "You called us to this.  Your heart is adoption. We have to see a miracle tomorrow, God. We are going to the embassy at 9am to meet with the notary. We declare Fedex will be there with our package. We just hold on to faith that you will do this. We need a miracle.  And when you do this, I will tell everybody about it.  To your Glory."

My Bible reading this morning was Exodus 7.  You know the story, "Let my people go."
Specifically, Exodus 7:3 really stuck out to me: "But I will make Pharaoh's heart stubborn so I can multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt."

God doesn't make bad things happen. But we all know God works GOOD from the bad situations (Romans 8:28).  So maybe sometimes we face the impossible so that God can show himself through it. So people can see God working through it.  So people can see that God does do miracles today.  Every day.

Getting my Fedex package today was impossible.  Awesome.  Here's an opportunity for God to shine.

We drove to the embassy at 9am, like I told the courier we would.  I texted the courier and explained we had to have the document at the US embassy at 9am. I was pretty sure they didn't fix my problem since they only opened at 8:30am, but again, we were hoping for a miracle.

I called Fedex at 9am and finally ahold of them on the phone. The folks told me the courier would be there by 9:30am. They never mentioned the reason why my package was held.  I didn't care - - I just wanted it.

The kids and I walked around the embassy.  Visited folks in their offices.  Climbed the hill outside.  Played in the bathroom for a while (!).  Cashed a check.  Had a snack in the cafeteria.  Wrote on a bunch of labels in the mail room and stuck them on each other.  Sat in the hallway and colored Spiderman pages. Picked out our favorite rocks in the rock garden outside.

And then at 10:30am we got the phone call - - - Marshall was here at the embassy.  In a tiny little Fedex truck and wearing a Fedex uniform! This was way more professional than the Fedex courier who visited me a few weeks ago!

I was so excited to see Marshall. I think all the embassy guards must think I am crazy (who are we kidding?)   because I was so happy to see Marshall.

I quickly walked back into the embassy, met Kevin at the Consular's office, they stamped my Affidavit, and I put it all back in a clean Fedex envelope and dropped it off at the mail room.

Done.

So it's on its way to the States to be authenticated right now.

I just can't believe Marshall made it. And now the document is on its way to the next adventure.

I was pretty bold with God in my prayer last night. And He did it. He continues to amaze me.  Sometimes I get down on myself because I'm not a quiet and passive person and I sometimes feel like society expects this homeschooling mama to be that way. But I know God made me exactly the way He wanted me to be. He made my temperament a specific way for a reason. And he adores me, just the way I am.

I praise you Jesus for doing miracles every day.



p.s. The second miracle today? I left my coffee pot on from 7am-2:30pm and my house didn't burn down! (I  had left a substantial amount of coffee in the pot this morning...it all evaporated and scorched the bottom of the pot. Thank God I didn't drink the whole pot this morning!)

Terminology

So exactly how complicated is this process? (Yes, I'm whining again.)
Here is an email I sent our Stateside agency. We are having a few issues with the standard authentication since I am already here in Kenya and some of my documents have Kenya notaries instead of US notaries.
The paperwork is so tedious and technical!  Here's the email.


Dear ---,
Okay I'm understanding the authentication process a little better...
My courier emailed me and asked if I was sending a notarized Affidavit of True and Accurate Document to include with our homestudy so the US can authenticate it.
Our agency here suggested having CAS notarize their original Homestudy Approval Letter, and attach that with the homestudy to present to the NAC with my dossier.
But technically, I should be able to take my homestudy to Ministry of Foreign Affairs here in Nairobi and have it authenticated.  You guys' homestudy approval letter...is that supposed to be included in my dossier as well? Is that a requirement of the NAC? Have you guys ever notarized/authenticated those approval letters in the past? If not, then why would I need to have CAS notarize/authenticate them now? I realize since the approval letter originates in the States then the NAC might require it to be notarized, but if you guys have never notarized them before then why should we have to start all over again with that now?
About the i800a, am I right, below, in suggesting that I always keep the original with me? However, since the i800a approval letter is not notarized, then even though the document originates in the States, the States will not be able to do anything with my Affidavit because my affidavit will be notarized by a Kenyan notary, so the US can't do anything with it even if I sent it to the State Dept to be authenticated.
Wow these are such TEDIOUS questions!!  But valid ones as the NAC will kick out my dossier if I do something wrong!  And I just don't have the time left in my timeline to have it kicked out by the NAC. Because if they don't approve us then we'd have to call off the adoption because there would be no way we'd have time left in our timeline to redo paperwork at that point.
Okay I think I am hyperventilating at the thought of that.
Sincerely, Jessica