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!