Visas Approved!

Today was the day. Our interview with the U.S. Embassy was scheduled for this afternoon. I'm happy to say that all went well and our visas should be here on Wednesday afternoon!  As I said before, we had both sets of grandparents come and I'm glad we did. Both sets of grandparents were interviewed for around ten minutes a piece. Other than that, they asked us some general questions about the paperwork and the previous history of both kids. Before we knew it, she said that both had been approved and that we could pick them up on Wednesday.

I think because everything else has been so difficult, I expected there to be some small glitch in our paperwork or with our case in general. I'm so relieved to have had it go well and mostly, to be able to make our flight this Thursday! This means we'll be back in the great state of Iowa on this Friday afternoon :)

It's been a long haul and Kristen and I are super excited to be home soon. Sorry for the short post, but there are no other crazy details to include this time! We'll see you all soon!!!

Derek, Kristen, Viola, and Gideon

Embassy Appointment = Monday

The fun around here just never seems to end.

On Wednesday of this week, we headed to the Embassy to drop off our paperwork. We assumed this would be a simple step since we were pretty sure we had everything we needed.

There were 3 issues with our paperwork. Viola's passport had the wrong birth month and the documents stating that the grandparents were terminating all of their rights were not sufficient. She also said she wanted all the affidavits from court. She said that if we turned in all of these things by Thursday afternoon, we could stay on schedule for our actual appointment on Monday. This meant, we would have to go back to the dreaded passport office and make trips to both of the kid's villages on Wednesday and Thursday.

So, once again, we found our 'short' day turning in to a long one as we stopped by the passport office and headed to Mpigi to get another document signed by Gideon's grandparents. We were grateful when our contact finally came and met with us on Wednesday [of course we'd already been there for 3 hours]. We were thankful when she said it would be done on Thursday. With that, we took off for Mpigi.

Thursday was basically the same schedule as Wednesday. We stopped by the passport office to check on things. Then, we headed to Nakaseke, Viola's village. We were on a pretty tight schedule as we were planning on driving two hours to the village, then coming back and picking up Viola's passport. Then we had to scoot on over to the Embassy and get everything submitted, all before 4:30. I got even more nervous as we hit road construction on the way out of town and it took us another half an hour to get around it.

This would also be Viola's first visit back to the village since she's been with us. When we ask her about her jaja [grandma] she always shakes her head 'no' as if she doesn't want to go back. When we got there, she demanded to be held by Kristen and I the entire time. At first, she wouldn't look at her grandma and she never did say anything to her or anyone else in the village. We were worried that this would upset them, but they were happy to see that she had already attached to us so much. We were only there about 25 minutes before we took off, back to Kampala... like we were in the Indy 500.

To save time when we got back to Kampala, we split up. Kristen, Gideon, and our caseworker headed to our attorney's office to pick up all the affidavits from court. Viola and I hopped on a boda boda [motorcycle taxi] and headed to the passport office to pick up Viola's passport.

I was quite nervous walking into the passport office as it was already 3:00. We didn't have much time to make it to the Embassy to keep our appointment. After being [only slightly] pushy with the man standing in front of the passport office, I got in to see the lady who had Viola's passport. She ordered me to wait and within 5 minutes, I was signing the release for Viola's passport! All in all, I don't think I was there longer than 20 minutes, which is pretty much unheard of for us!

We went to the Embassy and everything looked good! We got out right as they were closing and headed home in high spirits :)

So, we've managed to maintain our appointment at the Embassy on Monday. The last detail we're ironing out is the transportation for the grandparents for the Visa interviews. It isn't a requirement to have them at the interview, but at this point, we're taking no chances.

Its been another whirlwind of a week, but theoretically, the tough stuff is over. Our flight leaves on Thursday night at 11:59 p.m. So, hopefully, we'll be in familiar territory on Friday!

Derek, Kristen, Viola, and Gideon

Passports? CHECK!!

We'll take the good with the bad.

The Good - WE GOT OUR PASSPORTS TODAY!

The Bad - The U.S. Embassy doesn't have an available appointment for us until next Monday. This means we have to reschedule our flight [again].

The Story - We were told we would get the passports by 10 a.m, but of course, these things never actually happen on time. Upon entering the Commissioner's office, a man scolded me sharply, saying the passports wouldn't be ready until after lunch and that we could not wait outside the Commissioner's office. After this, we got a hold of the lawyer's assistant and she was TREMENDOUSLY helpful.

She answered all our questions, phone calls, and worked very quickly. Around 11, she told us our passports would be in the next batch of those being called! Sure enough, they were. We had to leave to make copies of our passports for their records, but they squeezed us right in when we came back and we were out the door [forever!] by 1:00.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Embassy doesn't accept paperwork for immigrant visas passed noon, so we missed the cut off there. They're also only open on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Lastly, their next available appointment isn't until next Monday. Therefore, we won't be traveling until Thursday, November 1st.

So, that's that. We'll see you all in November!

10 hours... in the dirt.

My o my we've had a heck of a week. And as you may have guessed, this week ended with a bang [not a literal one of course]. For those of you that can't handle the anticipation, this story ends on a somewhat good note, so hang in there!

Today we arrived at the immigration office at 7:30, thinking that we would be issued our passports around 9:00. Our plan was to rush over to the U.S. Embassy and set an appointment for Monday. This seemed fine and dandy since that portion of the Embassy closes at 10:30 on Fridays. From there, we'd planned on taking the children to the park and watching them play while we proceeded to drink ourselves into oblivion [just kidding].

Around 9:30, we finally got a hold of the person who had been helping us. He took us to a waiting room where he said we should wait 20 minutes. With that, he left. As time went on, we became anxious since it was almost for sure that we would miss going to the Embassy. Around 11, we decided to take matters into our own hands and go to the commissioner's office and inquire about our case. To our surprise, the secretary said she'd been waiting for us and we were ushered in to see the commissioner!

The commissioner had very little to say. He asked us a few questions and then asked us to send in the man who'd been helping us. Of course, we could not find this man anywhere. He wasn't answering his phone either. In desperation, we reached out to another contact that we've made at the immigration office. This man is a lawyer and also a former classmate of our adoption case worker. He sent his assistant to retrieve the files from the commissioner, but he was unsuccessful.

Finally, a couple hours later, we found the person who'd been helping us and sent him to the commissioner. When he came back, he informed us that the commissioner wanted to review the files and that he would call him later. Once again, a couple hours passed and we had not heard from the man working on our case. Also once again, we finally got him on the phone. He said he was coming to meet us and that we should just wait for him. After 20 minutes, we went to where he said he was previously - still no sign of him [needless to say, we're quite frustrated with him]. Now, we're approaching 5:00 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, so we're pretty sure he has left and we've basically given up hope of getting anything done.

On one last walk around the premises, we ran into the lawyer that had tried to help us earlier in the day. He was upset that the commissioner held our file and told us to follow him. We went to the commissioner's office and he asked us for the case file numbers. We gave him a blank look, telling him that we were never given the case file numbers. At this, he walked into the commissioner's office and closed the door. After about ten minutes, he emerged with our files!

He told an assistant of his that he was to come in tomorrow [Saturday] and get the printing of the passports started. He also enlisted the help of the commissioner's secretary in helping us get where we need to be on Monday morning! Next, he gave us the personal contact of another assistant and told her [in front of us],

"These passports are my personal matter and they WILL be DONE no later than 10 a.m. Monday."

Lastly, he gave us all of his contact information and told us that he loves to help cases like these because it makes him happy to play a part in giving kids a second chance.

Needless to say, while we felt deflated most of the day, we were very happy by the time we left! All in all, we'd spent 10 hours at the immigration office that day and the kids were very irritable. To make matters worse, the waiting area is a courtyard outside. Its very dusty and dirty and it even rained on us at one point.

We didn't get done what we wanted, but we're feeling optimistic about next week. If we can get to the Embassy early enough, it's possible that they will give us an appointment on Monday as well. If this happens, we could maybe still make our flight on Tuesday night. AND even if it doesn't, we should be able to travel sometime next week!

Even with the current trials, we're feeling so blessed to have Viola and Gideon. It's been awesome to see the prayers be answered in big and little ways while we've been in Uganda.

Whew... hope to see you all soon. Happy weekend [and hopefully, our last one here].

Derek, Kristen, Viola, And Gideon

ONE WEEK??? [boda scolding]

Alright folks, we've had one whirlwind of a week so far. We've left the house every day before breakfast and not been home till supper-time two of the days. We've driven to several offices, waited in several lines, and skipped several child-naps. This is a recipe for disaster, but our kids have handled it relatively well. They seem to be good at finding things to entertain themselves [this includes what may possibly be the best video of the trip so far].

Today was the miracle we were hoping for :)

We went to the immigration office to see about our passports yesterday. To our dismay, some lady told us we did not have the necessary paperwork and that we needed four more documents. We had all the information they wanted in other supporting documents, just not in their format. So, we went back today - ready to do some work.

First, we needed to stop at the U.S. Embassy. About fifteen minutes down the road to the embassy, we realized we'd forgotten our cell phone. After a successful meeting at the embassy to verify that we're doing everything correctly, we went to the passport office. We got there, hoping that our case worker would be waiting for us, since we had no way of contacting him. We waited and waited and he did not show. Then, I remembered that he had me write down an immigration employee's phone number in my Ipod yesterday. We borrowed someone's phone and called him [and paid the man, of course]. We waited an hour and called him again and this time we were successful! He came out to greet us and take us back to an office.

Another man took the reins from this point. He ushered us into 3 different offices over the next hour, often budging in front of several people. I'm very thankful for him as he was doing all of this without knowing us or having received any extra payment for his efforts. After all of this, he said our passports would be ready in 1 week. We were shocked and upset. However, after some negotiation and some "tangible appreciation," he told us he would have the passports by tomorrow!!! So, we're praying that he sticks to his word and that we actually can go and pick them up tomorrow.

A big reason that this is important is because the immigrant visa office at the U.S. Embassy is open on Friday only until 10 a.m. If we had to get the passports on Friday, we might not make it to the Embassy in time. On Friday, we will make our appointment to process the visas. This means our appointment should be on Monday. Since visas take two days to process, we'll be filling out a request to have them expedited. If granted, this would ensure that the visas be done on Tuesday. This is hugely important.... BECAUSE OUR FLIGHT IS THAT SAME DAY [thankfully, it doesn't leave until 11 p.m.].

So.... the short version for you simple-minded folk:

If the guy at the passport office keeps his word and we get the passports tomorrow and we're granted expedited visas, we'll be in Iowa one week from TODAY!!!!!!

Words can't express how excited we are at the prospect of being home on our scheduled day [well, our second scheduled day]. So keep these processes in your prayers and we'll hopefully see you all soon!

Derek, Kristen, Viola, and Gideon

FYI: "Boda" means motorcycle. Enjoy!

The [not so] normal four year old

This may be more of a rant than my normal upbeat blog post. Just warning you..

OK, so it's been 9 days since my last adoption post and for good reason. It seems like nothing has happened. We've been waiting on the official court ruling document. Apparently, that takes some time and its what is currently holding us up. It's been a frustrating wait as we've been told it was done and proof read days ago. At this point, the judge just needs to sign it. Once again, 'Africa Time' seems to be playing itself out.

As I've informed you before, the ruling is needed for the passports and the passports are needed for the visas. Our case worker seems to still think that we will make our October 23 flight date, but with every passing day, that date seems daunting. We've already changed our flight date once, and that was not a cheap thing to do.

Also, over the last few days, Viola seems to have gotten used to us, especially me. Since there were not many men in her life before me, I think she had a tough time knowing how to act around me. Now, she more often than not, prefers to play with me or have me hold her. She's also accomplished such feats as wearing pants for the first time and actually leaving food on her plate.

However, now that she's more comfortable, she also acts like a normal four year old .... who was previously malnourished ..... who doesn't speak our language ..... who had no rules our boundaries in her previous environment ..... [so not really like a 'normal' four year old]

SO, sometimes [most of the time] she very much dislikes our constantly directing her in the way she should act in public, interact with the host families belongings, and so on.. To sum it up, its been an exceptionally frustrating few days.

So, please continue to pray for us and especially our October 23 flight date. Its hard not to be a little [LOT] homesick when it seems like we're so close to being done with our work here, yet things aren't currently panning out so well.

Derek, Kristen, Viola, and Gideon

[Facebook] OFFICIAL!

Last Thursday, I told you that unofficially, we were the legal guardians of Viola and Gideon. NOW, I can say that we are OFFICIALLY the legal guardians of Viola and Gideon!! Today, we went back to the judge's office to hear the official ruling. As most of you have probably seen via Facebook, it's official. We're now a family of four!! 

As usual, a trip to the judge's office was not without it's wait. After waiting around 2 hours, we got in to see the judge. We were the first to be ushered in, but soon there were several other muzungu [Lugandan word for "white person"] couples in the room with their possible future children, waiting to hear their verdicts. After a few minutes, he called our names and we stood up, holding Viola and Gideon. He looked at us and said,

"Ah yes, the ones that I gave the formula to."

This comment was regarding our last visit with him. During his interrogation conversation with Kristen, he'd asked her why we hadn't had our own children. She told him that we'd tried for awhile, but were not successful. Since he was in a great mood that evening, he said something like... 

"In Uganda, we know that there is a certain time in which it is more likely that you will become pregnant. You just 'try vigorously' during that time!! Do Americans not know this?" 

Of course, this was met by much laughter from everyone in the room. He even proceeded to draw Kristen a diagram of 'the cycle.' 

Next, he read the summary of the ruling. Basically, there are some requirements that we have to fulfill when we get home, but the part I liked best was the 'this court has nominated that Derek and Kristen be the legal guardians of Viola and Gideon!' After he got done, we and our attorney thanked him for his services. Then, he stunned us with his next words.

"You are very welcome. This has been a good case and Dorothy [our attorney], these are exemplary clients. Good luck to you both."

This is coming from the same judge who, previously, had been described to us as 'harsh.' He often dismisses cases and is not an easy judge to satisfy. He also said it in front of all the other people from other cases in the room.

I say this because I have no idea why. I didn't think our court date went especially well because of anything we [Kristen and I] did. There were even questions here or there that I didn't think were answered very well. There were also the facts that the judge is often harsh, we don't have our own kids, his meeting [prior to hearing our case] went very long, we asked him to see two cases, and this was the second time seeing one of the cases. If anything, I thought we had things stacked up against us... which is why I'm now convinced more than ever that God was moving behind the scenes and in the hearts of those surrounding us and our case. Our attorney [who has worked with this judge for years] told us that he never does this.  He never does this!

We're thanking God in amazement that we now have a family of FOUR! It's still a surreal feeling when I'm driving and look in the rear-view mirror to see TWO kids sitting with my wife. Currently, both of MY children are running around in dresses and eating ice-cream. Yes, Gideon enjoys wearing Viola's dresses.

Which brings me to the next part of this post... We have Viola!!

On Monday around 10 am, we got a call from our case worker that we needed to leave to go to Nakaseke to see the magistrate and pick up Viola... RIGHT NOW. I think I can safely say that we've gotten used to some of the unknown nature of proceedings here in Uganda, but this was unexpected. It just so happened that we were already out and about. So, we drove over to pick up our case worker and off we went. After getting one more document from the magistrate, we drove to Viola's village.

At first, she wasn't happy to see us again. But, she quickly remembered us. After about a half an hour and a bath, her grandma said something to her and she walked over to Kristen and hugged her! My ears already fail me quite often and right then, I thought my eyes were failing me as well! We started walking down the path to the car. The plan was to get into the car with Viola and some other people that live near her and drive a few hundred yards to the market to get biscuits. But, since she went without argument and even got into the car, that wasn't necessary. Within half an hour, we were tickling her and she was smiling! by the time we got home, she seemed pretty comfortable. However, upon entering the house, she was hesitant. It occurred to me that she's probably never been in a house like this. Doors that lock, lights, running water, and multiple rooms were probably all relatively new sights for her. Nevertheless, she did well. We had rice at dinner [which she'd requested earlier that day]. This was pretty cool since our hosts didn't know she wanted it.

So, needless to say, we're astonished and excited with the progress she's made already. Also, just now, Kristen came to tell me that, out of the blue, she counted to six... IN ENGLISH! We didn't know she knew any English words at all and we have no idea how she knows. She'll even copy Kristen all the way to ten. We were shocked. We're also pleased because Gideon and Viola seem to get along well [of course they've already fought too]. They get to talk to each other in their native language, which is nice for her transition.

Gideon has also had to make an adjustment. For almost 4 weeks, he's been an only child.. Now, he has to share the love! Since he came from a family with so many children, I think he loved all the individual attention he got from us. Now, when Viola sits on my lap, he cries and wants to sit with me too. He's very obviously jealous of the attention that Viola gets from us. But, he doesn't seem to dislike Viola for it, it just upsets him.

Whew, my posts always turn into novels... Almost done.

Today, we also went to the U.S. Embassy medical office to start their physical examinations. Unfortunately, they had to get tested for tuberculosis, which involves an injection just under the skin. On Friday, we take them back to see if they've reacted to the injection or not. Needless to say, the injection was not fun for either child. I had to hold Viola and lock her arm under my arm pit while the doctor did the injection. She's definitely stronger than she looks. Thankfully, it was quick and she stopped crying fairly soon after it was over. Kristen held Gideon and the same result followed.

It's also possible that we'll get our passports by Friday as well. Once we have these, we'll make an appointment with the Embassy to apply for a visa. The Embassy tells us this will take about two weeks to get, so we're trying to move as quickly as possible.

We're getting there! It's definitely a marathon, not a sprint. More updates soon to come..

Our beautiful Viola at lunch today!

Derek, Kristen, Viola, and Gideon!!!!