LAN is Being Awesome!

Yesterday my husband called LAN to request certified copies of Isaac's (original) birth certificates, and today a courier brought them to our door.
Talk about efficient! I am very impressed with LAN right now!

I spent this morning at the IOM's office here in Gigiri. Sat in a room with a hundred other folks awaiting our medical exams. This portion is needed for the US Visa.
Part 2 of the medicals will be on Monday. We go back to have his TB test read, get a flu shot (against my arguments because I don't do those for my kids), and have a complete physical.

Order Is In....Waiting on Certificate.

It's been two weeks since our final hearing. I emailed our lawyer to check on the status of our case. Apparently we received our Adoption Order within three days (wow!) and are still waiting on the Adoption Certificate. When we get those two things, I fill out a form called Article 23 Form and take all these things down to the NAC Secretariat:

Certified copies of:

1.      Adoption Order.

2.      Adoption Certificate.
and

3.      Approval letter from the receiving state authorising that the adoption may proceed.

4.      Individual approval certificate from the Adoption Committee.

5.      Freeing certificate of the child.

6.      Duly filled Request form (Form 23) by adoptive parents.

7.      Copies of passports of the adoptive parents.

Then the NAC will issue me our Article 23 Conformity Certificate aka COC.

Little Angels will release Zac's original birth certificate to me once they see all that above.
Then with those documents I can get Zac's Kenyan passport. That will take a couple of weeks (I think).
When I get his passport, then we can go to the US Embassy (with all the above documents) and get a Visa put into his passport. And then that's THE END.

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...

Another Round of Visits This Week

Wednesday we had our 2nd GAL appointment here at the house. This lady is amazing.
We found ourselves just chatting in general as well. I even let her borrow my Super Baby Food book as her youngest is 9 months old and she is looking for some feeding ideas.
She is how I always imagined what Kenyans would be like: warm, friendly, enjoyable to talk with. And although of course our school day gets off schedule because we have to spend the day cleaning before her arrival (!), her visits are always very pleasant.

Thursday the Little Angels' social worker came for her third and final visit. These appointments tend to be a little more awkward, as she sort of just watches us interact with one another. Normally that's fine, but I feel like I have to defend myself by fielding questions such as, "What does Isaac do during your school time each day?", etc.

Our lawyer took our paperwork to court on Wednesday and filed all our documents. HOWEVER we cannot get a court date yet until this social worker files her report.  She said she took it down that same day, but my lawyer never found it. I texted and called and emailed on Friday but no one seemed to know. If we filed on Wednesday then we should've gotten a Feb 15 courtdate, but now it looks like Feb 22. I am irate about this of course. With each mistake people make, it pushes our exit date further and further. So we'll see...

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!!

Spoke with our Attorney Today!!

What a great birthday present to me today:

I spoke with our attorney for the first time (which ironically we were appointed the same attorney that I wanted!!) . Our first meeting is this Wednesday. She says she will have everything together in time to file on the 91st day...the first day after our foster period is over.
I spoke with Little Angels. They have appointed us a Guardian Ad Litem and she will meet with us this week as well. Our second social worker visit is this Thursday.

HOOORAAAAY for things moving forward. Ah this is turning into a GREAT YEAR SO FAR!!!

First Visit with the Social Worker

Thursday, December 6, we had our first visit by the Little Angels social worker.
She was really nice. We chatted about our adjustment period, and she watched us with Zac for a while. She looked to see where he sleeps and saw the types of things we do during the day.

She saw a can of spray snow and wondered what it was. (We have about half our Christmas decorations up; the rest is in a box in the corner.) I'm not sure if she has ever dealt with Americans before, or even seen American housing. I hope we didn't completely overwhelm her. I am curious what her report says though! Overall I think it was a good visit.

No News (obviously)

I called the orphanage yesterday (October 17) to ask what size diaper Zac is wearing, what he eats, and whether he takes a bottle or sippie cup so I can go ahead and purchase those things since obviously he will be coming home in a couple of days! The adoption coordinator at the orphanage said, "A couple of days?! I don't even have an application for you."  (whatever that is!) Apparently she has never heard of me before. She has nothing. I was under the impression the orphanage has had our case file for a long time now, that all she was waiting for was our photo album that was supposed to have already been sent to them by LAN. Nope. She assured me she would call me immediately when they received our application (there's that word again!) from LAN, but as of now they have zero information about our family or who Zac is matched with.  I have to say I am shocked and mortified about that. Trying to stay peaceful, trying to stay calm, trying not to think about it 24/7.

Ughghghg I hear the enemy whispering in my ear again, "This will never happen. This is not going to happen." Get thee behind me Satan in the name of Jesus. I am trying to stay positive...

There's a whole lot more I want to say about this. A lot. But I don't want to write too much on this public blog. So I am going to do some homeschool/teacher paperwork so I don't have to think about it anymore. What else is there to do but completely forget about the fact that we could have a baby tomorrow, or three weeks from now, or NEVER?!

The Steps From Here

We received an email from our stateside agency (from LAN) that outlines the exact next steps of the process from here. We were REALLY HOPING to have custody of Baby Isaac by October, but I'm not sure that will happen now. In fact, looking at our timeline is really making me nervous.
The foster period is 3 months, then court dates are 6-8 months. We have to be out of here in June. Well, God is going to have to step in and do another miracle! I'm so glad to keep giving Him these opportunities to shine and I have to keep giving him my worries in the meantime!


Ø  USCIS grants the I-800 approval
Ø  CAS formally communicates the approval to LAN and sends a copy of the approval
Ø  LAN does an official letter to New Life Home to officially introduce the Powers family, in addition to the letters, a family album and a small toy is sent to the home to start preparing the child for placement (on average a two week period is required for child preparation but this varies depending on age of child)
Ø  LAN and New Life Home agree on a date for the first meeting between the child and his prospective family.
Ø  The family goes to the home and meets their son and start the bonding visits
Ø  The family takes the child to a doctor for a second medical opinion
Ø  The child is placed with the family officially and agreements signed to begin the three month foster process

Waiting for a Match!

I heard from our Stateside agency and our agency here.
Stateside says it might take several months to match us to a child. The agency here says it generally takes them 4-8 weeks to match families to a child.  Friends, please pray that it is shorter. We have to file our next round of paperwork to Immigration before we go on vacation in August! If so, then maybe our approval from Immigration will be ready when we get back.

I know God has a specific child that he wants to become part of our family. I also know there is an enemy who is trying very hard to keep that child away from our family. So, prayer warriors, continue to declare blessings over our adoption process (which will keep the enemy away!) and let's keep focusing on how big and how great our God is!  Father we commit this portion (as with every part!) to you and we wait with praise and thanksgiving!

Father I pray that as the folks from Little Angels open our folder and open the folder that contains the names of all the babies, that your Glory would descend into that room, that your Glory would literally manifest on that page of names. That your Glory would shine on our child's name on that page, and it would appear as if a highlighter had marked his/her name. Then LAN would know this indeed is the child that is meant to be ours.

In Jesus Name,

NAC Approval!!

I am ECSTATIC to announce I just received an email from my Stateside agency.
We have been approved by the Kenyan Government to adopt a child aged 12-36 months.

Thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus!!!

Dossier to Kenya: May 29, 2012

We drove our dossier down to Little Angels today.
Oh I was nervous to hand it over.
14 months of work, $17,000 so far, 191 pages.
No wonder I was nervous to hand it over.

The kids and I laid hands on the binder and declared that with each page the NAC flips through, that the Holy Spirit would prick their hearts, they would fall in love with us (!).
That each document would be accurate and correct and complete.
That our binder would be glowing with the Glory, and each member of the NAC would see the Glory.
That we would be approved to adopt at their meeting.

The NAC meets on June 13. And then we will be notified in July at some point whether we were approved.

I celebrated by brewing a pot of something special I just got in the mail today, New England Coffee Chocolate Cappuccino!!



Kevin asked me how I feel. Yesterday I was very very emotional.  Today I am just tired (mentally). This has been a part-time job for me for months. So I don't think it's quite hit me that I have nothing else to work on. I'm done. There is no other paperwork to do. (Well except the i800 application, but my stateside agency will help fill all that info out for me.)  Now I can plan our new school year!  Woo-Hoo!!

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!!

Great Meeting at Little Angels Today ~ Dossier In Order!

Today the kids and I drove down to Little Angels.  Or rather, we hired our favorite driver to drive our car there!  (Thank goodness he was driving because there is so much construction going on, he had to take alternate routes. I have no idea how we actually got there!)

Susan agreed to meet with us to look over our Dossier and make sure everything is in order.

It was great to see her again - this is the lady that conducted the home visits for our Home Study. She is a really nice lady (like most Kenyans we have met!). The kids sat at the table and ate their lunch (peanut butter sandwich) while we chatted. They were so well behaved during the whole meeting!

She gave me a few pointers such as which photos were the best to use, the correct order in which to put my documents, the fact that we can still make the June NAC meeting (if I get those other 2 documents back from the US by May 29 or so), etc., etc.  I asked about my timeline and whether it was reasonable.

Most importantly, I was able to explain my new paradigm shift (read my last post). I think that was very important. I know I have probably seemed like a maniacal, non-understanding American to her during this whole process, so I wanted to let her know how much I have learned (and grown) through this whole thing.

It was a lovely meeting and I am glad to have everything in order!

Received my Homestudy...Waiting to file i800a!

Well this is a busy week regarding the adoption process.
The funny thing with this process is, I can sit here for months with nothing to do. Then all of a sudden when the agency calls to tell me my Homestudy is ready (for example), then I have to drop everything else and the next step takes top priority in our family.  Luckily for us this is spring break!  No school!

So Monday morning I chatted with the folks at LAN about picking up the notarized copies of my Homestudy that afternoon.  I first took the agency homestudy payment to the bank (around US$1850). It took me a while to find the bank, as it wasn't where the bank's website indicated.  I had to drive a bit, and the bank was off the side of the road in a very crowded, dusty, trash-filled part of town. Yikes.  While in the bank the electricity kept turning off and on, everyone was staring at me, and I literally felt like I was about to have a nervous breakdown.  I was very much outside my comfort zone with that much money in hand!  Thankfully we made it out safely!  (Sometimes here in Nairobi I feel like I am in the middle of a movie. I keep looking around for video cameras.  Is this real?)

So then I hired a driver, secured the kids with our household helper, and took off down the road toward the agency to collect my papers.  I was supposed to be there between 3:30-4:00.  At 3:15, while driving toward their office, LAN called to tell me my homestudy wasn't ready for pickup after all.  Folks, I lost it.  I just completely lost all mental faculties. I was crying so hard.  (Apparently it was my mistake.  Apparently she had told me she would call me first to make sure it would be ready at 3:30pm.  Sorry, English is my first language.  Sometimes I miss things over the phone.  What I recall from the conversation was that they would call me at 2:30 if something came up.  Which they didn't.  Whatever.  Time means something completely different here.)

The lady on the line asked if I could just come the next day to pick it up. I realize she has no idea the effort it takes me to do anything in this foreign country.  Cause that's what I am here: a foreigner.  Nothing is familiar to me.  Nothing is easy for me. Not even driving two miles down the road.  Not even sending an email.

So I went back home completely broken and devastated and tired of obstacles.  Exhausted and sick of obstacles.  And exhausted from crying so much.  I asked my husband if we should just get pregnant and give up on the adoption.  Yes, that's how upset I felt. So I drove the kids to Planet Yogurt and stuffed my face with chocolate yogurt with M&Ms on top (even though I'm fasting sugar for Lent. Yikes!).  Then I got a phone call from a dear friend.  She reminded me of who is the author of obstacles.  She told me that I am a strong woman, and that maybe we were chosen for this particular child because someone else might have given up much sooner.  And that's exactly the word I needed.

So the homestudy folks canceled my appointment and rescheduled for the next day.  Big deal, right?  But this has now been a 13 month process for us.  This is the hardest thing I have ever done.  I'm still so scared that toward the end we won't be able to finish the process in time, and we'll have to leave the country without our baby.  So we will just keep pursuing and trying to get it done the fastest that we can.

I keep saying that this requires a Miracle in every step of the process from here on out.  So, Jesus, we are depending on You!

Homestudy is Ready for Pickup!

Caroline at Little Angels called today and said our Finalized, Notarized Homestudy would be ready for pickup on Monday afternoon. Woo-Hoo!!!

CAS is brilliant!

I am so impressed with my State-side agency, Carolina Adoption Services.

Dang, they are efficient!  Little Angels emailed them a copy of our final homestudy last week, and the Program Director at CAS only spent one day reviewing and making revisions/corrections.  That makes me happy.

So CAS sent the revision back to LAN, and now we wait for LAN to print it and notarize it.

Then LAN will need to return these documents to CAS (I wonder if it's by email or mail??):

-           the notarized homestudy with LAN's agency license attached,

-           verification of completion of 10 hours of Hague-compliant education,

-           a copy of the completed Homestudy Certification form, 

-           and the completed Community Resource Study.

After CAS recieves these documents from LAN, they will issue me a homestudy approval letter.  This approval letter must be included with my i800a application along with the notarized homestudy, our fingerprints, and a check for the fee.  So I can't mail the i800a yet!  But we are getting closer!

Homestudy Draft Appointment

Yesterday we visited our agency for our homestudy draft appointment.
Thankfully the sweet staff had already emailed me the draft so I could make my corrections on the soft copy.

They said they accepted all the changes I made.  There were just a few weird wordings for things that I changed.

For instance, Kevin and I are both lawyers and we enjoy debating topics (politics, religion, etc.) but they wrote that we enjoy fighting.  

Major difference!!!  So things like that I had to change.  Otherwise, it was fine.

Now we just await the Director's signature & notarization, then we can attach it to our i800a application and mail it!

Home Visit Tomorrow!

We are very excited because our case worker is coming to conduct our Home Visit tomorrow.
Our household shipment arrived 7 days ago, and since then we have been unpacking boxes and organizing our stuff.  I hope we have everything ready for when she comes!  All our pictures await to be hung on the walls, but I can't control that...GSO has to come out and drill holes in our (concrete) walls for all those items.

All of our visits so far with Little Angels have been very good.  Tomorrow will be our 4th visit.
I am so impressed with Susan, our case worker.  I hope this is a good sign of the rest of our time with them.
This process is so long.  So I am glad we have a good working relationship with all the folks we are dealing with.

I am trying not to freak out about whether the house is clean enough or whether the kids will completely misbehave while Susan is here!  Because that all is a part of LIFE.  And the point of her being here, too, is to see us doing LIFE together.  Not to put on a good show for her.  So I have done my very best in the short time that I had to organize all my stuff.  So we'll see how it goes!

Visiting Little Angels

I visited our Kenya-based adoption agency two days after we arrived in Nairobi.
I needed to turn in the homestudy documents from my stateside agency as well as my documents such as birth certificates, marriage license, etc.
I hopped in a cab and drove for a long, long time.  Or so it seemed!
The roads here are almost hilarious in some spots.  There are pot holes big enough to lay down in and take a nap (no kidding).
And in one place our car went over a "bridge" which was some creaky boards draped across a huge ditch wide enough for only one car to fit across.  I held my breath as we passed over...
It was surreal to see the Little Angels logo on the outside gate of their little compound.
I have been corresponding with these folks online for so long, so it felt amazing to finally be there in person.
My usual contact there was on summer leave, so I waited around for an hour or so to chat with someone else that was filling in her place.
I turned in my documents and we talked for about an hour about the process in general.

At some point in the conversation I began to feel really uneasy.  There were a couple of topics covered that were completely different than anything I had read online or heard about.
First, the home study through LAN is a 12-visit process.  Or at least that is what was explained to me at the time.  If you are familiar at all with home studies, you know they are 4-6 visits maximum.  So I was shocked to learn this initial process would take months and months.
Second, she told me the youngest a child they ever adopt out is 6 months, but that young age is rare, too.

At this point in the conversation I had been there over two hours, my taxi cab fare was still running outside, and I was very upset about this new and different information I was presented.  So I stood up and left.  I was told I would be assigned a case worker and could set up my first appointment soon.

Fast forward four weeks.  Yes, 4 weeks.

No word from Little Angels.  I am irate at this point.  So through other friends, I found out there are 4 other agencies in Nairobi that process international adoptions.  I called one of them and set up a time to chat about doing the adoption or the homestudy through their office.
Unfortunately, my stateside agency works through Little Angels exclusively...
But at this point I was researching other stateside agencies to use, too.  This is how seriously upset I was about the whole thing.

I then contacted my case worker in my stateside agency and she was so sweet and explained that LAN's system had been down for a while.  And, true, when I finally got ahold of LAN via telephone, I found out: 1) my usual contact was still on summer leave until the week before, 2) the contact I met that day at LAN was actually on leave and out of town also, and 3) their internet had been down for 2 weeks.  PLUS, I was new to Nairobi and did not have a phone number yet...

It was the perfect storm of 4 things at one time that culminated into my getting lost somewhere in the middle.

When I finally spoke with my contact at LAN I told her I was switching to another agency for the homestudy, and she quickly explained to me that there are not 12 separate visits.  Just 12 separate topics that must be covered in the visits.  But the explanation I received and even the documents I have from LAN explain it differently.  Either way, she is emailing me a homestudy schedule (hopefully today) and I pray it will be what I expected.  She said we could start our first appointment next week.  So that is good news.

Why the rush?  Why do I get so upset so easily when I have to wait a measly 4 weeks?

Because my baby is sitting in an orphanage somewhere in this city.  My baby is WAITING for ME. He needs me to hold him and hug him and kiss him and feed him and give him a warm bed to sleep in at night.
He wants me to rush.  He needs his family NOW.

So that is why I am persistent.  That is why I am trying to hurry this process along.  Excuse me if I seem rude, but my baby is desperately waiting for me.