Almost a year later but we're getting closer....

We have heard from the US Embassy that Abraham is now ready to move into the visa application process. That means they are ready for us to come over for an appointment with them. But before we do that we are double and triple checking that everything else is in order. The Liberian exit clearance letter lady needs to know that we're coming and taking Abraham home so we don't get stuck at the airport or in Liberia for an extended stay. As soon as we know that she knows about us we'll book tickets. We'll keep you posted.

Hopeful News!

This is our one year anniversary of leaving to get the kids from Liberia. It also is the day that we heard from the USCIS office in Accra, Ghana, about Abraham's case. The last we'd heard was in June that the file had been sent from Washington, D.C., USCIS office to either Rome or Accra.

Ruth Lincoln from the Office of Children's Issues has been a great help tracking down the case and reported that it was in Accra about a week ago. We then sent the file with the doctor's evaluations of Abraham's Mercy Ship xrays to the Accra USCIS office since they were reviewing the Consular's denial of his visa. Today we heard back that we needed to update the paperwork to more accurately reflect his age i.e. a sibling group under the age of 16. Then we need to update the I-600A with the Jacksonville USCIS office and get the updated paperwork to Accra to "reflect approval to adopt a child of Abraham's age".

SO...I THINK this means that they intend to approve his visa!!! Now we need to continue to lobby Liberia to open their borders so we can bring Abraham home with the other 30 or so kids that already have their adoptions completed.

Thanks to everyone for their prayers. We're getting closer....closer than we were all year!

In the meantime, Abraham has been with a foster family attending school in Liberia. He is having a struggle since he is so far behind his class in his schoolwork. We know he is still hopeful that he will join us in America, though, so keep praying for him and for the officials to get him home.

We're starting over with paperwork

After nine months of waiting for word from our government about why Abraham was denied his visa so that we could start the appeal process we have started the process to refile the I-600 document.

A summary of what happened is that the US Embassy denied Abraham's visa claiming him to be too old. We came home with his sisters and without him on November 1. Mid-December we had a tracking number that Abraham's visa case was returned to the National processing center in New Hampshire. We waited many months until the Office of Children's Issues in the State Department stepped in and recreated his file and sent it to the USCIS office in Washington, D.C. After that we heard rumors that the file was sent to Rome's USCIS office and Accra's USCIS office in Africa. We never received the document saying what the status of his case was and how to appeal the process.

We're hoping that our paperwork gets processed by the time Liberia decides to open up adoptions again because even though we've finished the Liberian adoption, no visas are being issued for any children except very special needs kids. Diamond, Kindness and the rest of us are anxious to bring him home.

Abraham's I-600 appears to be lost....

Long time, no post. We have had a difficult time with personalities meshing for a few weeks but seem to have worked everything out now. That plus getting schoolwork done and having Erik in another play always ties up things around here.

Regarding my title, we still have had no word from the US government regarding Abraham's I-600. We've been searching for it since December when we know it arrived in the states. However, no one seems to know anything about it or where it was sent. We've contacted our US Representative again to see if they can help us but we're pretty skeptical because it seems that two of our government agencies managed to lose our paperwork.

What then? you ask. We will refile the I-600 for AB here in the states before our fingerprints and I-600A approval expires. We haven't given up yet. We're still praying that we can bring Abraham home. We should be able to do this since Liberia is a non-Hague convention country and the law allows siblings to come. However, from what I've seen in the government is that what SHOULD happen doesn't always happen.

Abraham news.... not much

I haven't been very faithful in providing updates these last few weeks. We've been working hard at getting back into our schoolwork and regular routine. We've also been pestering the Liberian doctor to give us his conclusions after he reviewed Abraham's x-rays from the Mercy ship. I finally spoke with him this week and I think he accidentally told me more than he wanted to. He said that since the x-rays he reviewed were obviously from a much younger person they (the x-rays) COULDN"T be from Abraham. When I asked if he would evaluate Abraham again the doctor said no. When I asked if there might have been a clerical error, he said no. When I asked for a copy of the original x-rays from the doctor, he said they weren't for personal consumption and he hung up on me. So I think we've followed that path to its end. The silver lining as we see it is that even the Liberian doctor recognized that Abraham's x-rays validated what we believed, that he was much younger than 17 even though the doc wouldn't admit he made a mistake.

We are proceeding with interviewing an immigration attorney to help us with our government's paperwork and procedure. Hopefully this person can help us make some progress.

I have more to add about the rest of the family in a later post.

SSN, ATIN, and Barbies

Well, I spent the morning trying to get the girls' SSN but found out I didn't have all the paperwork in order. Actually, I didn't have the processes done in order to get the SSN. To get the SSN, they have to have their American birth certificates with our names as their parents. Since we don't have that yet, we have to get ATIN, or Adoptive Tax Identification Numbers. Yeah.... lots of fun because I get to interact with our government some more. Can you tell I'm excited? Not.

On a postive note, a nice lady from town gifted us with about half a dozen Barbies through Freecycle. If you haven't checked it out, Freecycle is a great way to pass along clothes, toys, books, and all sorts of STUFF that we accumulate but don't need. Diamond told me she doesn't 'loove' them anymore, though, because Erik took out the batteries for the voice boxes for the talking ones. I guess Erik takes after us. :-) We'll see how long she avoids them. Our little Liberians really don't know how to play with toys. Outdoor, playground toys they are fine with but dolls and blocks and coloring books aren't as fun for them. Karl and Craig have played many rounds of Candyland to help get the girls going on their own. They are having to learn how to play quietly and not be entertained.

We're back....

Well, the girls survived Wisconsin's cold and snow, although the weather was not as cold as it is now! We went to WI to spend Christmas with the whole family. Our first stop was at my dad's house for a couple of days. Diamond made her first snow angel with Karl there and shoveled Grandpa Jerry's sidewalk.



Then we went to visit Jessica, Brianna and Emma for the day. Diamond and Kindness went sledding with Jessica's girls, Craig and Karl. Brianna and Emma introduced the girls to Barbies, playing dress-up, and icy pops.


Emma and Kindness enjoying a snack and play-doh stacking.

Brianna showing Diamond how to eat a candy cane.



After Jessica's we went to Rachel, Steve and Mattea's house to spend the night and have Christmas lunch. Diamond got to build her first snowman there but I didn't get a picture before the rains came and melted it. We had a house full but enjoyed playing R & S's Wii and visiting.


Saturday morning we headed to Grandma Leah and Grandpa Howie's house for another round of gift opening and great food. Grandpa played tea party with Kindness, too.


Then we went to Aunt Corie and Uncle Steve's house for New Year's Eve/Day. We were supposed to have a last rendezvous with the whole family but in our travels from one to another we shared our love and our sickness. Yep, we infected my dad, Nancy, Jessica, Rachel and Steve with the respiratory cold/flu that we had. So we missed them at New Year's Day. Diamond did get to go back outside to play in the snow. Here she is making a snow angel and NOT enjoying snow on her face.



On our way home, the last place visited was our old house. Here it is in it's winter glory. By the time we were back in Florida, the temps were in the 70's and we were ready for our own beds. Thanks for all the great hospitality and memories for Christmas 2008.

Abraham Update

For all those who've been waiting for an update on our efforts to bring Abraham home, this is what we know so far.... not much.

We have had no success with having our congressmen contact the Consulate in Liberia or trying to get the Consular to review her decision.

We know that Abraham's paperwork is back in the US now because the Office of Children's Issues in the State Dept. notified us. A woman in the Children's Issues office said that the USCIS office will review the information returned to them by the consulate's office in Liberia. Then they should send us a letter telling us what is happening and giving us time to submit new evidence to refute the findings of the consulate. The review board then makes a final decision.

Please continue to pray for our efforts to bring Abraham home.

Beauty Shop Sunday

Our friends, the Felders, came over on Sunday afternoon to teach us how to take care of African hair. We learned about vaseline mixed with Blue Magic, how often to shampoo and condition, which products would work for the girls' type of hair, and how to plat and braid. Here are some pictures of the afternoon, including the dads working on hair.

Plenty Chicken!

Here is a picture of my dad with the girls the first week back.

Plenty chicken is what Diamond called the turkey we had for Thanksgiving. She was all excited that it was so big. I showed her a picture with a turkey and a chicken together so she could see the size comparison. After that she would call the turkey a churkey. Thanksgiving went well but they weren't that fond of the traditional American fare. I've decided that Diamond is a pickier eater than Kindness. Diamond won't eat pizza, lasagna, or spaghetti yet but she does like macaroni and sheeze. I thought it was the tomato sauce but she did eat a calzone that she dipped in maranara sauce so I'm still confused. Kindness on the other hand likes pizza, spaghetti and lasagne but doesn't like potatoes. So we always have the rice in the refrigerator for a yummy snack of rice and sardines.

Grandpa Howie and Grandma Leah are visiting this week and the girls are busy charming them. Diamond likes having Grandma push her on the bike and Grandpa push her on the swing. Kindness wants them to help her with her baby doll. While the grandparents are here we've had some great Wisconsin cheese and Wisconsin summer sausage that the girls disliked. However, we found that Kindness likes cottage cheese and Diamond likes Grandma's baked beans.

The weather has been pleasant but cool for Florida standards. However, since Wisconsin had about 6 inches of snow on Sunday, Florida's cool weather was a nice treat for the grandparents. The kids are hoping there will be snow when we visit at Christmas time.

Looking FINE!



Let's do the TWIST



Current style that only took me four hours to braid.

More hair care

Well we successfully washed hair again yesterday. This time there we managed to avoid the tears and hollers. I've found the trick is one of those hand held shower hoses that you attach to the tub spout. Today we're putting the girls' hair in some kind of hairdo. Diamond has soft hair that is easy to handle but Kindness' hair is very coarse. I found some YouTube videos showing how to cornrow and other styles. I like this video. Do you have any favorites for really coarse hair?

I think they are finally getting full

I've read on other families blogs that the kids eat tons of food when they get home. It is very true! The girls could eat more than me at mealtime and throughout the day. We bought a rice cooker and 20 pounds of rice to keep up with the demand. I know they were being fed at the orphanage but I guess not as much as they wanted! I've heard this from most adoptive parents, too. Anyway, I think we're finally filling up their stomachs. Diamond actually left part of her second helping the other day. Of course, they are like hobbits in that they would like to eat at all hours of the day also!

Diamond is 34 pounds and tall. She wears a 3T mostly for the waist but slacks are definitely high water pants on her. If we use a belt, she can wear 4T on the bottom. Her arms are long, too so she needs the 4 for the sleeve length in tops.

Kindness is only 25 pounds so a 24 month fits her better. I tried 2T tights last week and she had puddles around her ankles. This week I put 18-24 month tights on and they worked much better.

We're been fortunate to receive bags of clothes from people from church and freecycle since I didn't have the right size in the right season for them. I'm looking for winter jackets for them since we're planning to head to WI over Christmas. We also were gifted a ride on toy and a little bike for them to ride outside. Diamond has almost mastered pedaling a bike with training wheels. I'll post pictures next time.

We made it to church and hair care

We made it to church yesterday for the first time. The girls did really well. Erin has the little kids Sunday School class so Diamond went with her and Kindness sat on our laps during Bible study. After church there was a dinner which we stayed for. Thankfully there was chicken and rice there so our girls had something to eat. Diamond played with another little girl that was adopted from China a few years ago and made a new friend.

After church it took three of us two hours to unbraid their hair. Then we shampooed their hair. It was a very noisy experience!!! Diamond thought we were drowning her or something. After I used a hand held shower head to direct the water she relaxed a little. For now I'm leaving it natural until I study a few websites about African hair care. Here are some pictures of Kindness after her comb out and before a shampoo.

We're back but missing Abraham

Many of you have heard that we were unable to bring Abraham home with us. We had gotten clearance from the US Consulate's office prior to making travel arrangements that everything was ready to go with the kids. However, when we got to our appointment on Tuesday morning, Consular Gurski told us that Abraham would not be granted a visa because the age determination test which she had ordered came back with him being 17 to 19 years old. After attempts to change her mind with a second set of x-rays and medical opinions from three doctors associated with the African Mercy Ship, she said she would not reconsider. In fact, she refused to look at the doctor's conclusions from the new x-rays. We tried to appeal to the American Ambassador only to be told that they didn't interfere with the Consulate's decisions. Abraham was found to be 4 foot 8 inches and 82 pounds at the Mercy Ship. His actual age is about 12.

So we came home with Diamond (5 years) and Kindness (2 years). It was a very sad day for all of us when we had to tell Abraham that he couldn't come now but that we would fight to bring him home as soon as we could. We've started the fight by contacting our senators and representatives and whomever we can think of that might be able to help our case.

The girls are adjusting well and are busy playing with the whole family. We've had some tears at bedtime and other quiet times when Diamond (5 years) asks about when Abraham will be coming home. Kindness (2 years) points to Abraham's picture and looks around so we know she realizes something isn't right. Other than that, we are doing okay. Thanks for all the prayers and please continue to pray that we can resolve this issue and bring Abraham home as soon as possible. I am working at getting pictures ready for you to see.

If anyone has had to contest the American Consulate's decision, please leave a comment so I can contact you. Thank you.

Last Day to Pack

Tomorrow is travel day. I can't believe it is here already. We've waited so long that it became permanent - kids in Liberia, our family here. Now we're on the brink of another big change. We leave tomorrow at noon from Tampa, go to JFK in New York, arrive in Brussels on Saturday morning. We're staying in Brussels overnight to get a good night's sleep (I hope) and to celebrate my birthday (my reason). We leave Brussels on Sunday at noon and arrive in Liberia about 6 p.m. local time.

Today is going to the bank day, picking up our malaria medication day, finish packing day, checking our list three times day. Oh, and Erin has a checkup this afternoon, too. And I remembered we needed two more copies of Del's employment letter and..... the list goes on.

So rather than use up my limited time thinking about what I have to do, I'm going to wrap this up and get to work! We're bringing the laptop along so we can post pictures and updates while we're gone, hopefully. Thank you for all the prayers during this long wait. We really appreciate the support of all our family and friends.

Travel medications

Today the task is to get the travel medications ordered, the airline tickets paid for, and the household affairs written up. The travel medications we need are anti-malaria medicine and Cipro. As much as I don't like to take meds, I've heard getting malaria is worse and Cipro can help you if you get one of those tropical nasties. The airline tickets are a special rate so they need to be paid with a certified check rather than a credit card to avoid a 4% fee, so off to the bank I go. Our savings is dwindling at an alarming rate now!

The household affairs thing is for our peace of mind and my dad's. We homeschool so I need to make sure Dad knows what the kids are supposed to be doing while we're gone. They are great kids and will do their work but.... they are still sinners and temptations can sneak up on the best of us. Plus we need to make sure we have our emergency numbers, neighbors that can be called on, power of attorney for medical needs and our will ready. Not that I think anything will happen but I guess that's why the word accident is used.

I'll let you know how much I get done. Del is busy finishing up all the projects he's working on so he can hand off work while he's gone. He told me that he's working at 120% capacity according to his timesheets. That's okay, I know he can't get into much trouble that way. ;-)

Nursing school

Erin has talked about being a nurse for a year or so now. She and I went to an orientation given by a community college in the neighboring county a few weeks ago to get the scoop on prerequistes, classes, degrees earned, and the like. Since then Erin has been very determined to finish her senior year strong. She had been talking about being a nurse with Erik who has since decided he is interested in that field also. I was very surprised when he announced he was considering nursing because he had never shown much interest in anything like that. But actually I think he would make a good nurse. He loves to make people laugh and he is very caring. Anyway, we're going to the local community college this afternoon to hear their orientation on nursing school. In Florida good high school students can dual enroll in college during their jr and sr year in high school to get both college credit and high school credit. If you're in this program, college is free. So we'll see what we can do! Or rather, what the kids can do.

One step at a time

I have submitted our request for Liberian visas (to be able to enter the country), almost completed getting our tickets and booked tickets for my dad. Dad is going to supervise our kids here while we go pick up our three Liberians. He hasn't visited before so he is looking forward to it. Thankfully the last week of the month usually isn't too booked with activities so he won't have to be chauffering too much.

This week will be finishing up all the ticketing, compiling all the paperwork to present at the Embassy, and start packing. I've traveled quite a bit, as has Del, but the last time we traveled on a plane with little kids was over 16 years ago. I've been blessed with all the good advice from the yahoo adoption support group. If anyone has any great advice, leave me a comment.

Yesterday the boys got to play with their friends. The older two went to an airsoft event with a bunch of boys from our homeschool group and Karl went to a birthday party. I spent the whole afternoon on the road but it was worth it for the boys to make more friends. Saturday Erin and I went to Orlando for a church women's event. We had a good day and even stopped for frappacinos. I don't really like spending weekends running around but sometimes it is necessary. How was your weekend?

Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork

I'm filling out all the paperwork for the final stages of the adoption process. We need three years worth of tax data, three different immigration forms, birth, death, marriage, divorce certificates for the documentation PER CHILD! Whew! That doesn't count the documents to get the Visa for us to travel to Liberia. I've put all my to-do's and my travel checklist in an Excel spreadsheet. That way if I lose the dumb thing (which has happened a lot lately???), I can just print it out again. If you need more specific information about traveling and what to remember to bring check this blog from another family that adopted from Liberia. It is very thorough.

We're Clear to GO

Rachel from AOH called last night to tell us the Embassy had given us the go-ahead to set an appointment with them in Liberia. This means we can travel to pick up the kids. I don't think reality will set in until we're in the air. In fact, Rachel probably wondered why I didn't sound excited when she called but I'll be excited when we meet with Alma at the Embassy to get the paper saying the kids can come to the US. Rachel if Abraham had his age changed after having the age test or not. The age test just determined that he was young enough to be adoptable. The airline tickets use 12 as the start of adult ticket pricing so we need to know what age all the documents have him as.

I've requested an appointment for the last week in October since Del is swamped with projects now. However, this adoption has been God's timeline forever so we'll see what really happens. :-)

Now I'm making lists and trying to get organized to go! Thanks for everyone's prayers and support over this long process.