Haiti....again

Friday was the last time we will be leaving Hope House without our boys.

This past week we had our I600 filing, went to court and saw the Dean. The filing includes going to the US Embassy, singing a form in front of an officer, answering questions and submitting more paperwork. That same day, along with another adoptive couple, we went to "court". This included making our way through a busy street, stepping into a very dark, people filled room and being led to a small airless room in the back to answer some simple questions in front of the lower court judge. After hearing our answers he said he believed us. We then signed our names in a hand written ledger. We then proceeded to drive to see the Dean. Appointments are not made for this step, you just show up. We waited in another small office, while having our passports copied and stamped. The Dean was in a meeting and was unable to see us. Thankfully, him seeing our passports stamped, showing that we were there, was enough. Done in one day!

We thought we'd need to take the boys with us for these appointments but that has recently changed. We were very thankful because that would have been hard on them, all that sitting, all that sweating.

Connecting with the boys was awesome and natural. Guerlens is a momma's boy and Caleb is all about Daddy. They are some busy boys! We brought them up to our container where we stayed and they loved that! We'd be doing something, playing guitar, coloring or watching a movie and he'd have to go tell the kids and nannies what we were doing. He loved it! The day we left Caleb was sad but it was wonderful to tell him that the next time we come, they'll be coming with us. He brightened up at that and told the kids that he would be going to Michigan and never come back!:)

6-9 months is what we've been told. There are a lot of steps left to go for the Haiti side and then we deal with the US side. What we are waiting for now is the adoption decree....they will legally be our children in Haiti and will be Perbergs! But even after that there's a lot of steps to go.
Adopting from Haiti is complicated and hard to wrap my mind around. It does feel like we finally have some momentum now and was so encouraging to be productive on our trip.

Things are moving and we are thankful.