Day 6 Frustration

We had a late start this morning, with a promise the passport would be ready. The water was (and is still) not working, there was a great amount of busyness and observation around the fixing of the water, to no avail as of yet. Fortunately, one of the workers here on the compound brought us some jugs of water so we could get the toilet flushed. So, we head into a nice hot Kinshasa day unwashed. We arrived at the passport place, and dropped off an additional document. They indicated we should come back in about an hour and a half, so rather than sit in the parking lot (since we had already been sitting there for an hour), Francis suggested ice cream. He took us to a very surprisingly good gelato restaurant downtown. Who knew gelato in Kinshasa? Anyway, we then returned to wait for the passport. We mostly sat in the car, with the assistant we worked with yesterday going back and forth. Finally, they came to get Enoch to have his photos taken (due to corruption, they do the photos at the place now). Francis took him in, and apparently due to the expediting fees paid, he was taken into the VIP photo place, much to the dismay of the others in the room, as generally children do not go there. Unfortunately, somewhere in this process, another group of people who apparently do something with adoptions for the Congo gvmt decided they needed to be involved in our process (although they do not) and they want an additional fee to make that happen. There was apparently kind of a fight in there, which Enoch was in the middle of. It pretty clearly affected him which is not good. End result, the man who is in charge of giving out passports came out to the car to tell what happened and indicate they will do what they can to get it to us tomorrow. Francis & Michael & Enoch will go back first thing tomorrow to deal with any potential additional expediting fees so they can get the passport tomorrow, in time for the interview. Please pray that this works. We left feeling very defeated, having spent a whole day that was supposed to be a big success and seemingly achieving nothing. We know God is greater than anyone in the passport office, and we know He will procure a passport, I guess we are just praying His timing for that is tomorrow? Enoch cooked us breakfast this morning, an omlette with onions and plantains, which was really very delicious. He did it all himself, short of lighting the gas stove (which I am sure he is capable of doing). He was very proud of himself. He also wanted to iron his t-shirt this am, however I have not yet located an iron so he was out of luck. We continue to be impressed with his resourcefulness, and his intelligence. He is working on his English, and was trying to teach Alan this afternoon. We have talked through many times that I am leaving tomorrow, and he and Dad are going home on Sunday after 7 more days. He is looking forward to flying home to California. We were running the AC when we got home, after spending the day in the baking hot car, and he got cold. I went and got his sweatshirt which he liked very much. After a few minutes he left and came back with his sweatpants on as well. Guessing that was a first, but he looked quite comfortable and pleased with himself. He is pretty fashion conscious, like his sister, so he will probobly have to shop with me to get clothes he likes. He is not big now, just up to my chin, and pretty thin, but we are guessing he is going to grow quickly. He has pretty broad shoulders, and his feet and hands are the same size as mine. It will be good to get him home. You will likely all be sleeping as our excitement tomorrow begins, Michael & Enoch off to get the passport, and me off to navigate the Kinshasa airport alone. Please be praying. I will be home after a scheduled 35 hours of travel, and what is looking like a bath from a bucket, so I should be pretty ripe! I will leave the blogging to Michael from here. Thanks for your prayers and comments here, it is nice to have the contact, we really appreciate it. Love you, Joanna & Michael Nate and Davina, I look forward to seeing you Sunday night. Please be praying that we can get Enoch & Dad home very soon. Have a great game Nate, have fun for your mom, ok? We love you very much!!

Please pray

Will give a more thorough update later this evening, but please pray for the passport situation. We went to get it today as promised, and sat in the parking lot for about 4 hours. Apparently there is some other adoption court in that building that decided they needed to look at everything again (which they dont), and perhaps they need some money to make that happen quickly. I am leaving in the am, while Francis, Michael & Enoch go back to see if they can shake it loose. If no passport, no interview on Monday, which means yet an additional week in Kinshasa. Both Michael & Enoch are anxious to get out of here. Please pray that it is ready in the am so the process can continue. Thanks, Joanna

Day 5 - Progress!

Another good day in Kinshasa. We were promised the birth certificate at 9 am today at the Tribunal (court). We arrived at 9, and it was apparently done, but needed copies, certification, notary, etc. so we sat in the car for about 2 1/2 hours. But, finally, we got the documents, and rushed down to the passport place. On the way, Francis called the guy in charge of issuing passports for Congo, and he was waiting for us. When we arrived, the place was vacating, apparently there was a funeral for some official. So, basically it was just Michael & Francis, and the guy in charge of issuing passports and his assistant. God's timing in getting us there, to an otherwise empty building, so they could focus just on this situation was impeccable. We were able to pay an expediting fee, and with that, they have promised us a passport tomorrow. The assistant actually went through all the steps with us, to the bank to pay, in the car with us (6 in a Honda CR-V) to the fingerprint place, etc. He is a diplomat, so he gets to visit New York annually to go to the UN, and he speaks some english, so he was quite pleasant to talk to. With the passport, hopefully around noon tomorrow, we can go to the doctor, and finish the medical, then all should be done in time for the interview Monday afternoon. It sounds like they have begun some of the investigation into our case already, so hopefully next week will be expedited as well. Enoch continues to be very funny. He has a bit of a cold, so we gave him some Robatussin this am, and it knocked him out pretty good today. However, there was plenty of time to take so many more self portraits, and view all the (1,000+) photos on the iphone. (he and I were in the car for about 4-5 hours today). He is working very hard on his english, and doing well, He advised us today that he knows how to cook and sew - both very well. We got a working power converter today, so there was much joy when the DS was able to be recharged (Enoch to get the DS, Michael to get his iPad back). He has found his appetite. Francis said he is used to eating Kwanga which is very heavy in your stomach but has no nutritional value. Our regular food feels much ligher in your stomach, so it seems you need to eat more. We will have to work on all this. Kinshasa is an interesting place, they are working on the road by our compound, and earlier this week had the power cut for 48 hours. Today they took out a big piece of water pipe late in the day, so we have no running water! Who knows when that will be back. They are getting ready to take out the bridge near here to expand it - that will be a real carmageddon. I am leaving here on Saturday, flight out at 2pm Congo time (6am PST). Through Ethiopia, Rome, DC, Minneapolis and into John Wayne. It will be sad to leave here, although it will be good to be home. Enoch overheard us talking about it, and is asking what is going on. We have explained as best we can in our mixed up languages, will have Francis clarify tomorrow so he is not concerned. The Colonels whose home we are staying in return from South Africa next week, and they have been kind enough to let Michael & Enoch stay on in their guest room until they depart. Michael & Enoch are booked for a flight out on Sunday 10/9, same routing, that gets them into John Wayne Monday evening 10/10. All in all, things have gone well. I don't know that anything goes easily here, but it has been great to see God work in his timing as things lay out in order ahead of us. Please continue to pray for the passport to arrive as promised, and that the Consultate will not have any issues in the documents or their investigation. Our contact there continues to go way above and beyond to help us, which has been really wonderful. We look forward to seeing you soon, Love, Joanna & Michael Nate & Davina - good call on Yard House with Patrick & Allie, that sounds so good right now! Sounds like you are doing very well, I look forward to seeing you in a few days then we can get ready for the big welcome when Dad comes home with Enoch - hooray! We love you & miss you very much!!

Day 4 In Kinshasa

Perhaps it is like Groundhog Day, the movie. Much running around, all day, yet not a lot to show for it. We made some progress, we think, tomorrow morning will tell. We are so thankful for Francis and Alan running back and forth all around Kinshasa to try to get the necessary documents. We are also thankful for overcast skies (although no rain today, which would have been nice) which made spending pretty much all day in the car bearable. We are currently pending the birth certificate, which is apparently done, awaiting the judge's signature. Unfortunately, the judge was tied up in court cases all day and unable to sign. We have been promised it will be ready for us tomorrow at 9am. We told Francis we would be there at 8:45, like good Americans and he just laughed at us. Congo does not really work that way, but we will be there early nonetheless. From there, we will I believe have to drive someone from the court into town (Kinshasa) to have the docs notarized, then head to the passport place to work on gaining the necessary favor to expedite the process. Again, we would ask for your prayers that they are willing to turn it around in 24 hours (or less) so we can have it before the interview on Monday. With the passport, we can also complete Enoch's medical exam. We had some good interraction with our Embassy today which was encouraging. They apparently do a US visa lottery, which has kept the Embassy very busy as the winners were being interviewed, and visas granted this week. They have advised they will do all they can to expedite the investigation after the interview, and Michael & Enoch are booked to arrive home on Monday 10/10. Please pray for all the documents and processes to fall into place so that is possible. Another day with Enoch meant another thousand photos taken. As he is getting more comfortable, he is singing more. We are continuting to work on improving our french and his english. He seems to get a bit nervous out walking around with just us, we do tend to get a lot of attention as the moondelis (white people), and a lot of dirty looks from the women for having him with us. It is a pretty interesting sociological situation I am trying to understand. Anyway, we took a brief walk to look for fruit this am, and turned back as his stress level, and mine, started to rise. We had some great pizza for dinner, which he did not really like...go figure. He does love chicken though, and schwarmas, and yogurt. He is excited to get a bike. All in all, another good day. We could really use a productive day however, operating on US time, not Congolese time, and getting some of the necessary documents in our hands. It feels like we have been here a month already, and it is only our 4th full day in town. Please continue to pray for favor, at the judge, the passport office, and the consulate. We love this boy, and would like to get him home! Love, Joanna & Michael Nate & Davina, mbote! We are missing you both very much, it seems like we have been gone a very long time! Enoch is looking forward to getting to California, I think we are a little bit boring for him. He wants to be able to get out and run around, which is difficult here. Be sure to get your memory verses done & take care of Grandma & Grandpa. Make sure the dogs are getting enough love, let Ruthie sit on your lap, and make sure Zebee has enough food. Even give Barney a squeeze from us. We will see you soon, na lingi yo!

Day 3 in Kinshasa

Day three in Kinshasa started out a little later than day 2, which was welcome. The power came on last night, so we were able to run the AC which made for much better sleeping conditions, and Enoch slept in until about 7 before he began his morning cleaning ritual. He is very neat, a Felix to our Oscar, which should be interesting. He enjoys bathing, putting on clean clothes (particularly new clean clothes), and lotioning himself up for the day. His personality is really coming out more and more, and he is quite a joy to be around. The only snag right now is the language barrier, and he has been quite patient with us in trying to communicate. He is experiencing a whole lot of new things, including listening to an iPod, while playing Angry Birds on an iPad. The DS charger does not work here, without a converter, so he is taking a pause from that. We woke this am to the kids coming to school on the compound, then more singing. Shortly thereafter it started to pour, which made for a wonderfully cool day. The rain does a lot of damage to the dirt roads, but it keeps the level of dust down which is nice. Makes the time in the car running to and fro much more pleasant when it is not baking hot and dusty. Waited outside the passport office with Enoch & Alan in the cool, Enoch played on the car radio. I got smacked square on the cabesa with some kind of nut or something that fell off a tree, which Enoch thought was pretty funny (they were pelting the cars too). Enoch also likes taking pictures, constantly. He has taken pictures of most of the photos in the house, as well as us, and mostly himself in various poses. This afternoon, Michael let him use his iPod, and he went in his room to rest for a bit. I went in and checked on him, and he had the headphones next to him, listenting to the Hallelujah Chorus. We believe we made progress with the passport today, it appears the man Francis was working with to get it corrected may have pocketed the money, and never done anything. Francis & Michael met with the man who issues passports, and it seems he can expedite. However, we are still needing the correct birth certificate, which Francis was chasing the Judge around all afternoon to get. So, an interesting process. Please continue to pray that all these pieces come together quickly so we can get everything in order in time, and that the Consulate looks on the case favorably (and quickly). Thanks for your prayers, we love you and miss you. We look forward to you all meeting Enoch! Joanna & Michael Nate & Davina, well, Enoch likes the GummyBear song. I don't know what to think about that! He is looking forward to seeing you again Davina, and meeting his new brother. He told us today that he went swimming once before, and he is looking forward to being in school with you both. We love you both very much, and look forward to seeing you soon! Continue to be good, take lots of showers and eat your broccoli....

A long Day 2 in Kinshasa

Well, another eventful day in the Congo. Unfortunately, not the miraculous progress we had hoped. We started the day/night/day with perhaps the longest night ever. The power was out (almost 48 hours, the Chinese, who are reconstructing Congo cut the wire to move it, and they just got it fixed late this afternoon, thank you Jesus) all night, and when we went to bed, we turned off the generator (sounded like someone had been cutting the grass, in the same place, for the prior 6 hours). When we turned it off, it was very dark, and increasingly warm in the house. I also got to hear very clearly all the sounds around us, people talking, many other generators, and a dog that barked for probobly 2 hours straight. We were also concerned about Enoch waking up scared and not knowing what to do. Smart kid, however, he did wake up in the night, and used his DS as a flashlight. Anyway, Enoch was up at 6 am sharp, wanting assistance in brushing his teeth (he has obviously done before, but we are trying to keep him on the good water so using bottled water to brush is new). He also wanted to wash his face, and then decided a full bath was an order. Unbelievably great, but at 6 am really? So, we got off to an early start. We went to the embassy first, to meet with Danielle there who has turned out to be quite wonderful. However, in the year we adopted Davina, they were averaging 1 adoption per month, and now they are averaging 12-15 per month so they have a more formalized system. Great for the safety of the kids, not so great for us only trying to be in country for a week. She took the documents we had, and reviewed them, and gave us a list of what we still needed, which was longer than we had hoped. Priority #1 was the passport, which has still not been corrected from Mvulula to Mvululu after several weeks. In hindsight, we should have kept the incorrect passport and just rolled with it. So we went to the passport place, and after many trips up and down the stairs to find the right room, we entered into a small room with several Congolese. None of them spoke English, and Francis was not able to join us. So after much back and forth (and a surprising amount of finger pointing amongst them which would not fly in the US but is apparently ok there), and calls to Francis to translate, finally a man who spoke a little english came in and I was able to explain the issue (why did you not keep the incorrect spelling and have them just correct it? Je ne sais quiox.). So they sent us off on what was likely a wild goose chase until Francis called and told us to meet him at the house so he could assist. So we went back and waited for Francis. In the meantime, we found that the birth certiifcate had the wrong DOB, which was interestingly not surprising to the Embassy. So we needed to correct that, and get a couple more docs from the Judge, so we headed there. Judge was not in today. So we went back to the Embassy where Danielle was trying to convince the Consulate to interview us without the passport. No can do. Unfortunately, they only do interviews on Monday, so we are out of luck this week. In the meantime, Francis went on passport reconaissance, and got to the right person he believes, and hopes to be able to get the passport, as well as the missing / corrected docs, by Wednesday at the latest. The passport is also holding up the final medical, so that will be next. Part of the new process here however is the investigation of the documents, to ensure they are all genuine. We believe they all are, however, there may be some investigation around Enoch's status as an orphan. His parents have signed a consent of abandonment, but the Embassy may have to interview them to confirm that they are unable to care for him. Please pray for this process. Danielle said she would pull Davina's folder, and hopefully they could just use the info provided there. All that being said, she indicated we need to get her all the docs asap, and then interview Monday, and they will expedite the investigation process. We will ask that they start the investigation as soon as they get the docs, but we know protocol is to wait for the interview. Please pray for favor with the Consulate, that any investigation can start soon, and be quick based on our prior adoption here. All that being said, Enoch is beginning to really work to communcate with us, and in a mixture of Lingala, French & English, we are working it out. He is a very sweet kid, and seems very smart. He has unbelievable manners and etiquette. He has taken charge of my camera, and likes to take a lot of photos, particularly of himself it turns out! Were it not for the bad news of the day, it was a good day. All that being said, as it stands now, I will be flying home alone on Saturday, with Michael & Enoch to follow as soon as the interview and investigation are complete and the visa is issued. There are logistical details on lodging etc yet to be worked out. We were hoping to come home as a family together, but are trusting that God has something else planned here. I would ask again that you please pray for favor with the Consulate. We have nothing to hide, but would really like to get Enoch (and Michael) home safely as soon as possible, and they are in a position to affect that. The compound we are staying on also houses a Salvation Army school and the kids were out singing this morning "give us faith oh Lord we pray, faith for greater things", and that will be our prayer as well. Faith that God has something bigger/better planned here than would fit into our whirlwind tour. We are looking forward to getting home..... Love, Joanna & Michael Nate & Davina, we know you are being really good, and we are praying that you are having a great week of school and all your activities. I hope you are enjoying what Amazon delivered as well. Enoch is getting better at the Super Mario, but the Star Wars is a little confusing, since he does not know about the movies or the Force or anything. We are looking forward to the three of you being together, I think you will all have a lot of fun! We love you super much!

Day 1 in Kinshasa

Well, we have made it to Kinshasa after what seemed like an eternity in the air. We got to LAX at about 9pm for an 11pm flight, knowing that generally at LAX you need at least that much time. I believe we set a new record, moving from the curb, through check in, baggage check, and security, with a stop at Starbucks, and made it to the gate at 9:20. Plenty of time to spare. The flight to DC was full, difficult to sleep. We had several hours between flights at Dulles, fortunately had a great breakfast there, then killed more time. The flight from DC to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was mind bogglingly long. They had several movies, most of which were either boring or inappropriate, which made for a very long flight. We finally arrived in Ethiopia, where it was amazingly cool and beautiful. Flying in with the agriculture etc. reminded me of final approach into SMF. More waiting, in a holding pen, for a flight to Kinshasa, which for some reason left about an hour earlier than planned. They gave out boarding cards (ours were hand written) with seat assignments, but then opted for "free seating" which works a lot better for Southwest than in central Africa. We fortunately got great seats near the front. Pitstopped in Brazzaville Congo, then over to Kinshasa. The airport there is much better than even I remembered, there are a ton of workers. Being inthe front of the plane, we were some of the first in line for passport check. They had me move to the side which Michael talked to them about the passports, but then weren't sure why I was where I was. The only thing language-wise that came to me was "no habla" which would have been of no use, so there was a lot of gesturing. Our baggage arrived and we were on our way without even a bag check. We were warmly greeted outside, and Alain was our driver. They took us to the house where we are staying, which is wonderful, and has air conditioning and TV (although the football is not on until 1:30 am Monday, but we did watch some Nascar, knowing Jim Shamplo would be so proud). Francis came over and we got some dinner and went to the KinMart, which is ridiculously expensive! We intended to go to church at Kintombo Corps this am, but Francis had some car trouble, so we were able to relax. Alaino picked us all up, and we went to Enoch's home. We pulled in and his mother (Mama Nsombi) greeted us immediately. She was very happy to see us,and to hear about Davina. I saw Enoch peek out the front door (a curtain) and then disappear. Within minutes however, he came out and came right to me to hug me. He is a very sweet boy. Very shy and affectionate, yet for obvious reasons, nervous. We were able to sit with them for a couple hours and have a coke. His father, Papa Mvululu came shortly. I was able to meet Enoch and Davina's sister Grace (17 and about to finish school), and brother Rophy (19). They wanted to see more pictures of Davina, which unfortunately we did not bring, but Michael had a bunch on his phone to show. Enoch took the phone, and was able to take some pictures of himself with his Mama and Papa, as well as the rest of us. They pulled out the pictures Michael had given them on prior visits,and we went through them again. We found in their album, they had two baby pictures of Davina, which we had always wished we had gotten. Michael was able to take a picture of them, so now we have them as well. After a little while, we asked Enoch if he was ready to go, and was there anything he wanted to take with him. He went in the house and got his camo vest, and that was it. So on we went. Went to lunch at CFC, not sure what the C stands for, but there were pictures of the Colonel on the trays, and there was a lot of fried chicken, as well as some more local foods. Enoch got loso & soso (chicken & rice) which he says is his favorite. Francis & Alaino then brought us back to the house where we have been since. We are in the midst of a power outage, about 24 hours long at this point. Fortunately, they have a generator (or we would have missed the Nascar), but it cannot run the AC. We were able to watch the BBC version of Wipeout, which Enoch liked but not quite as much as his sister (who falls on the floor laughing hysterically). Enoch has gone to bed at this point, and we probobly should do the same. We have our interview at the Embassy tomorrow, pray that goes well. We also need to get a passport, they issued one about a month ago, with Enoch's name spelled wrong, and it has taken all this time to get it corrected. We are hoping the embassy can write a letter to expedite the process. Please pray for favor at the embassy, they indicate it normally takes 1-2 weeks to get a visa, we have 4 days. We know God could get a visa issued tomorrow, or He may choose to have it be longer. We pray for his will to be done, and for us to be patient. Patrick, Enoch has asked about you already, if you are able it would be great for you to be at the airport so he has another familiar face. Miss you all already, will post as we are able. Hopefully the power will be up tomorrow so we dont have to kill the generator. Love, Joanna & Michael Nate & Davina, we love you very much and are looking forward to seeing you. Have a great time with Grandma & Grandpa, and a fun week at school! We are excited for you to (re) meet Enoch, he will have a lot more fun with you guys around. He could use your help on the DS games! Nate, it seems Enoch is about the same height (and maybe weight) as you. When we told him how tall you are Davina, he was really surprised you are almost as big as him!

We are at it again.

We are at it again. The it is we are adding to our family once again. Joanna and I leave tonight for Kinshasa to bring our son Enoch home. There is much to do once we land with the Embassy and are trusting that God with be in the details. We will blog as much as possible so keep checking back and journey with us. Pray for us and for our kids while we are away, they are in great hands (my parents). If you are interested to can read our posts from 4 years ago when we brought our daughter home. Peace and grace, Michael.