We have been told that the reason Jude’s birth mother did not attend the orphan investigation meeting is because the US Consulate only gave the orphanage about 1 1/2 days’ notice for the appointment, which is generally not even enough time to find someone in Haiti.
We are very frustrated by this. While we are sure that no one would do this on purpose, it would also seem that (working in Haiti) the Consulate would know that a day and a half isn’t enough notice for such an appointment. Since many people in Haiti don’t have telephones, the orphanage often has to call a family member to get a message to the birth parent that they are needed at the orphanage, and two or three days later they show up. We have no idea why the Consulate chose to make this appointment with such little notice. We have generally heard of a week’s notice for others.
We’ve also been informed that the Consulate is currently short-staffed. Please pray for them as they seek to process paperwork. To our knowledge, the orphan investigation meeting has not yet been rescheduled.
As you pray for us, first praise God that He seems to be giving us extra grace to endure right now. We had a rough day a few Sundays ago, and have been doing well ever since. Life does not stop. There is no lack of things to do. So we go on, every now and then peeking into Jude’s bedroom and thanking God. People have told us that we’re doing such a great thing by adopting this child. The reality is that we are acting with pleasure in obedience to a call of God on our lives, and this child is His blessing to us.
We want to be very clear as we ask you to pray further. The delays of the last several months have not been at the hands of the Haitian government. Although very slowly, they have done everything they were supposed to do in our case, and because of this Jude’s adoption has been finalized for months. His last name is our last name.
Our delays have been at the hands of our own US Immigration and US Consulate. With all our money and resources, we have a very convoluted and gummed-up system. Please pray for God’s hand specifically in this Visa process. Pray for wisdom as our government officials staff the Consular office. Pray for the Consular General (Donald Moore) as he brings on new staff. Please pray for the Consular Adoption Unit Officer (Garry Pierrot) as he conducts orphan investigations and processes adoption paperwork.
At the end of the day, we need system reform. (Ah, what a lofty goal…politicians haven’t made it happen, and yet here I state it.) But for today, we’ll settle for getting Jude home, and we’ll tackle system reform with our letter-writing pen “tomorrow”. “After all, tomorrow is another day.”
Blessings to you all, and thank you for your prayers. We appreciate you!
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