Got Zac's US Visa!

Kevin walked downstairs and picked up Isaac's visa at work today.
Woo Hoo. Now I can concentrate on being Zac's mom instead of worrying about paperwork and deadlines.
We officially finished this process two days before we fly out to our next post.
I knew it would come close, but I had no idea HOW CLOSE.
See, we aren't like most families. We couldn't stay here indefinitely due to my husband's job. We knew that, of course, which is why we have been pushing things at every step of the way.

I've said it many times before, but I think when we leave here and aren't under all this adoption-stress, that life will be much different. And then we'll look back and think, "Gosh, look what God did. This is crazy!"

I'm trying to put together another video of Zac of all his sweet little pictures. Things are crazy right now since we fly out in two days. But hopefully I can get to it soon.

I would like to keep my blog up, for future adopting families to see the timeline. I probably won't write too much more, though. Will take a while to decompress I think...

It's been quite a journey. I got a Word from the Lord a while back that we would adopt an Asian girl, and I told him, "This Kenya Hague adoption exhausted me and depleted me completely. If you want us to adopt again, you are going to have to drop her in our lap..."  So we'll see...

Second Day of Medicals at IOM

The only thing I can say about this portion is...bring your patience. Lots of folks waiting in lines at the medical portion. But you also have to SPEAK up, don't just sit there and wait for them to call your name. Because you are probably standing in the wrong line because no one told you where to go. So ask. Ask reception exactly where you are supposed to go and exactly what you are supposed to do.
Then when you get there, make sure they know you are there and make sure you are in the right place.
At one point there were about 70 people congregated outside the Vaccination Room. So when I walked up, I sort of got everyone's attention and directed everyone how to form lines...I mean, how else do we know what's going on and who is next?? Sometimes I hate my loud, boisterous personality but then I realize this adoption wouldn't have happened without it...

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.

Got the Certificate in Hand! I. Am. Happy. Right. Now.

After trekking to the Registrar's Office for two days in a row, I am happy to announce my husband was able to get the Adoption Certificate. Once he had it in hand, he met a person from our lawyer's office who had all our COC docs together. They walked over to the NAC and filed our application for the Article 23 Certificate of Completion. What a relief. It was a very, very stressful few days. Our i800/i800a expire on July 25, so we went round and round with USCIS and State Dept trying to figure out WHAT needs to happen before the expiration. Do we need to be back in the US by July 25? Does Zac need his US visa in his passport by then? Or what? We still don't have a clear answer, so we are playing it safe. We changed our flights to July 24 and will leave the country just in case!! Provided, of course, that we get everything else in order. The COC is supposed to take 7 working days, then we can apply for his passport (which will take a few days), then the US visa takes hopefully just one day.

I was so happy and so stress-free today that I literally danced in the produce market with my daughter today when we were shopping. Some Phil Collins song came on and I picked her up and twirled her around and spun her around. It was so much fun. Folks looked at us like we were crazy but I didn't care. It was nice to be carefree and not having this STRESS on top of me for one day. Needed it. Badly.

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.

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.

Article 5/17 Letter of No Objection

Spent a large part of the day on the phone, sending emails, organizing and collecting my adoption paperwork. 

Here's what I found out today in speaking with the adoption specialist here at the embassy. 

There is something called an "Article 5/17 letter of no objection". It is a letter written by the embassy and addressed to the courts wherein it lays out the US citizenship law and that our child will indeed be granted citizenship automatically when our plane touches US soil. 

I had never heard of this letter. It is needed before the judge will grant our final adoption. I have made an appointment with the embassy, at which time I show all my docs so far (homestudy, i800 approval, i800a approval, article 16 letter, etc etc) and they determine whether everything is in order. If so, they issue me this letter to take to court. Problem is, the date for our final hearing has already been set. How do I get this letter to the judge before then? If I give it to him on May 30, then he will set a FOURTH court date for us to come back so he can grant the final adoption order. I've asked my attorney to file for some sort of modification hearing (she said it's called an affidavit here) which will allow us to add this paper to his file NOW (a month before we actually go to court) instead of waiting until then. 

But I'm not sure procedurally how things work here. 

I do know that we are literally getting really close to our fly-date, which is the third week of July. I really don't have extra weeks to spare for the judge to get educated about US citizenship law...So we will see... 

Possible Citizenship Issues

There seems to be an issue lately with the two new Nairobi judges and their views/ignorance of the immigration laws of other countries.

Two of my friends lately have gotten to their court date, and the judge refused to go any further until they can prove the child will be  guaranteed citizenship in the parents' home country.
This is only happening to Canadian and US adopting families. Why? Because unlike the Europeans adopting families (who get their kids' European passports before leaving Kenya), our kids will not legally receive US citizenship until their feet touch US soil. Hence, we cannot obtain a US passport for our child here in Kenya. We have to obtain a Kenyan passport and go to the US embassy for a US visa stamp inside his Kenyan passport. Then when we can file for his US passport once we physically get back to the States.

The problem I have witnessed recently is that when my Canadian friends arrived at their third (and supposedly final) hearing, judge did NOT grant them a final judgment. He said he wanted proof that the kids would receive citizenship, and put the burden on this family to provide 250+ notarized pages of Canadian law and letters and documents. Will every family have to provide this information? If so, why did the judge wait until the final hearing to inform them of such? Why weren't they informed of this so they could have gotten the documents together beforehand? Keep in mind these folks have dropped their jobs, their homes, their entire lives to move to Kenya for a year to adopt these children. Now at the very last minute possible the new judge decides to add in more requirements.

This infuriates me on many, many levels. We Hague-party adopting-families have already been through months and months of notarizing and documentation at the beginning of the process.

For me, I was sort of thinking: "Okay, this is the first Canadian family that has adopted in years. Maybe the judge just needed a refresher course to ensure these Kenyan kids aren't stuck without citizenship to any country."

Fast forward one week.

I just found out that another friend of mine is having a similar issue. She is a US resident and adopting via the Kenyan resident path (because she has lived here over 3 years and can bypass the international route like we had to go through since we aren't here permanently). I know several folks in this same situation: Americans living here and adopting locally. There are a few different rules and hence a few different consequences. One of which being that you cannot go straight to the US to live for at least 2 years after the adoption is final. But the paperwork is much easier and the process is way less expensive. So it's definitely preferred for some folks.

So one of my friends went into court recently and should've been appointed her GAL at that first hearing. However, the judge said he wanted additional proof regarding the child's future-US citizenship. I don't know all the legal requirements, but a child in this situation (after going through the appropriate steps) would indeed be allowed US citizenship eventually. The US embassy here has a form letter they give to adopting families that explains this to the judge. Well, this form letter (that has always been used in the past) is now not good enough for the judge. The judge wants an additional letter from the US embassy basically reiterating what is in the form letter.  This has never been an issue in the past with the prior judges. I personally know of several kids that have adopted recently via this local-resident path and there were no issues.

I have said all along and I fully believe adoption is a spiritual battle (Unless of course kids are being put into same-sex marriage family. I'd love for a study to be done at some point to see the ease of their processes.)

Our next court date is over a month away. If I need to be gathering additional documentation regarding  the laws and rules of US Citizenship then I need TO DO IT NOW. I NEED TO KNOW NOW.

I've emailed my attorney a few times, and I'll put in an email to our stateside agency. We are literally flying out of here in July. I do not have time to gather and notarize additional documents from the States. I am so stressed out about this (literally, my blood pressure is up now just typing this) that I cannot seem to focus on anything else.

I'm not sure what my point is in typing all this out. I guess if you have read this far, then I ask you to please pray that these two Nairobi judges would get educated on these issues and do their jobs correctly. So that families stuck here don't have to pay the price in the end.