Goodbye MOI!

Last week we got the call from our agency that we have exited MOI! We were only in for 5 weeks, which is very fast! And we are sooooo thankful!

Now we move onto getting the boys passports and having our whole dossier go to USCIS. This is when the US will grant the boys visas so they can come into the country. Once we clear USCIS, have their visas and the "Exit Letter" we can finally travel to Haiti and bring our boys home.

If all moves the way it could/should, we could be bringing our boys home in just 2 months!!

We have been praying for months that the boys would be home before the end of the year. Then we started praying that they'd be home before Christmas. Now we are praying that they will be home before Thanksgiving.

There is so much that can happen...we could get stuck in any of the upcoming steps or face slowdowns. We're going to ask God anyway :)

This is how we feel :)

MOI!!

Because I decided not to write the same idea twice,and maybe because I'm feeling a little bit lazy tonight, I will just make this post the same story we sent to friends and family today regarding some great news we got this morning regarding our adoption.

Below is a portion of an email from our caseworker letting us know that we've entered the next step of our adoption and that our boys entered as Perbergs!

Just to give you an idea, MOI stands for Ministry of the Interior. All of our paperwork will enter MOI where we'll basically be approved to apply for the boys passports, which is the next step.

This timeline is possible but we know full well that it is NOT set in stone and completely subject to change. We have been praying for months that God would allow our boys to come home in 2013, before the end of the year. This timeline would mean that could be possible. Regardless, we are open and available to whatever God's timeline might be. But we will continue to boldly ask this of Him, because He is able!

This week I've been feeling a little discouraged regarding our adoption…washing & folding the boys clothes wishing they were here to wear them, working on painting their bunk beds and seeing other families move ahead in their adoptions. This morning while looking through the Adoption folder on my desktop I came across something labeled "REMEMBER!!!" and this is what it said…

"Although flowers in the fall appear to die they don't. Even though you don't see them they are still alive, readying themselves to show off again in the spring. Sometimes God's promises to you seem to have died. Though you do not see their fulfillment they're still alive ready to manifest. Wait in faith not in doubt."

My dad sent this to me as an encouragement a long time ago, months after Jivenson passed away. Sometimes I find myself almost waiting in doubt, almost expecting the worst, when really all along our Heavenly Father is preparing the Best for us, regardless of the pain and loss that are so easy to see.

I'm amazed at how often I forget that truth and I'm so thankful for these reminders!

“The following children went to MOI last Wednesday August 14, 2013
1) CALEB LOUIS PERBERG # 1711
(redacted)
5) GUERLENS LOUIS PERBERG # 1715”

Here is a particular timeline:
Parquet: 6 ½ weeks
Legalizing after Parquet: 4 weeks
MOI: 4 weeks
Passport: 1 week
USCIS: 4 weeks
DOS/Visa: 3 weeks
Exit letter: 1 week

So here's to waiting in Faith!

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.

DISPENSATION & moving forward!

On May 20th we got word that we received Presidential Dispensation, basically the Haitian Presidents signature saying we can move forward to adopt the boys despite having a biological child.
We are so thankful!!! We were signed out of IBESR in a couple days, much faster than expected!

We now are planning to return to Haiti in late June for court and to file some more paperwork! Things are starting to move forward!

I had the opportunity to travel to Haiti and spend 6 days with our boys! A friend, also adopting from Hope House, was going to be traveling alone to file some paperwork there. Kev surprised me by planning for me to travel with her! It was an awesome week!!! It was great connecting with the boys and hard to leave them...but I know we are heading back very soon!

Mother's Day

Another Mother's Day with my precious girls and hubby is here and it's been wonderful....but it's also another Mother's Day without all of my children together. Cherishing the ones in my arms, missing the ones that I pray will be here next Mother's Day.

Christmas

These last few months I've been saying, with some confidence, that the boys could be home in the fall. At this point, and still waiting for dispensation, that isn't realistic anymore. I realize God can do anything and he is capable of moving our paperwork through quickly. However, based on how every other family is moving through the process and based on their pace, it's looking more like very late 2013.

At this point we are praying that the boys will be home by Christmas. I didn't think we could be cutting it so close but now it is looking that way and it is discouraging.

If anyone is reading this and believes in the power of prayer, would you please pray with us that our boys will be home for Christmas?

Still waiting.....

Our paperwork entered IBESR in mid October and we have been waiting for Presidential Dispensation ever since. This signature from the President of Haiti is all we need to move forward with our process. We will then move onto Court, when we will travel again and go through the legal proceedings in Haiti. Then we will wait some more for visas for the boys from the US. Our hope and prayer is that the boys would be home this fall!

Tonight there will be an event to benefit our adoption. It will be held at a local jewelry shop called Dear Pru in the Gaslight Village. Noonday Collection jewelry will be set up there, with proceeds from their sales going toward our adoption. All of their jewelry is Fair Trade, made by women around the world to empower them and give opportunity for sustaining their families. They have some beautiful jewelry, unique and precious. Dear Pru also has wonderful jewelry as well, some of it made locally.
We had the chance to go on a radio show on Wednesday morning and also go on FOX tv this morning to tell our story and promote the event. We are so incredibly grateful for these amazing opportunities!