DRC Day 32

I feel like I should not have have been keeping a day count. 32 days?! Seriously?

Today was a long day here in Kinshasa. It was cool and overcast today. A beautiful day, really, but too cold to swim. Nowhere to go. Wishing we were home. We moved back to Sunny Day 2 days ago, to be with our friends, when they had a room open up. And they did have a room for us tonight after all, which we are thankful for. We would have been thankful for the opportunity to bunk up with Darren and Valerie too if that was our option, but I feel like we will all sleep better this way. And we have a marathon of traveling ahead of us, so resting up will be important I think.

Aunt Amber = Jungle Gym

David  got our exit letters this evening from DGM, so we are officially all set to go!

Apparently plane tickets out of here are hard to come by lately, and we nearly ended up paying for business class tickets or worse, getting bumped to Saturday night.  Yikes!  Thankfully, John and the travel agent (who is apparently on vacation and doing all this out of the goodness of his heart!) worked persistently to get us seats on tomorrow night's flights.  We are taking a different route home.  And it has an outrageous number of layovers, but I'm not complaining!  At least we're finally leaving!

We're coming home!!!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (DRC Day 31)

First off, The Good News: The USE has taken a renewed interest in Darren and Valerie's case, and seems to have made good progress today. This is great news! Hoping for another good update tomorrow. Praying for a smooth investigation process so their visas can be issued soon, and they can all go home!

Also, Good News: my visa extension is complete and David has picked up my passport.

Now, the Bad News: The kids' exit permits were not completed today. David's contact at DGM says they'll be done tomorrow, but he can't say what time of day they will be ready, so he recommends we push back our flights again until Friday night, because it could be late in the day when they are ready.
(Previously we thought we'd be able to leave Thursday night.)
Still praying that our exit permits will be ready early in the day tomorrow so we could still possibly leave tomorrow night.

To make it complicated: There are no open rooms here after tonight. If we're still here tomorrow night, we are going to be sharing (read: cramming into) Darren and Valerie's room for our final night in the Congo.
(I told you we were like family!) :)

And Now The Ugly: That will be 5 full weeks in the Congo, for what was supposed to be a 3 week trip.

And I'll leave you with a bonus: The Cute

These pranksters are showing off their muscles.

(Eli, Josee, Natalie)

Bittersweet (DRC Day 30)

We have visas!  And they have pictures of the cutest little kids on them. How did I get so lucky!?  And our stuff has been delivered to DGM for our exit permits, which should be ready by Thursday.  Maaaayybe by tomorrow, but it's unlikely that it would be done in time for us to catch a plane tomorrow night.  And my visa extension has been filed as well and should be ready tomorrow.

I never thought, after more than 4 weeks here, that I'd be one bit sad to leave.  But while I am SO excited to be headed home, and for my family to be all together on one continent (under one roof!), it's more complicated than you might think.

First of all, this is my kids' first home.  And while our trip to their new home is the start of a new and exciting chapter of their lives, living as a son and daughter instead of orphans, it comes at great cost.  Their homeland.  Their culture. Their language.  And they've already experienced so much loss in their short little lives, it's hard to see this one more piece go, even tho the rewards are great.

Secondly, we've made a bit of a family here.  Meeting Darren and Valerie and their precious girls has been the one of the highlights of this trip.  We would have gone crazy (crazier!) from despair and/or boredom long ago if not for the support we've had, and the time we've hung out, and the hours the kids have played and entertained each other.  And while we got good news this week, and will be headed home, they will be staying on for the time being.

The news they got at the embassy was less than stellar, to say the least.  The Embassy folks lost their I171 (immigration pre-clearance) paper, and just got the new one yesterday, only to find it was the old one before they updated it from Rwanda to DRC.  This means that they haven't even STARTED processing their case yet, and their interview was 2 weeks ago!  Valerie also talked to Andrew about how Josee's malaria is back, and he didn't seem all that concerned about it.  He basically said they'd get to it when they could, but depending how the investigation goes, it could still be a while.

This is so disheartening at this stage (or any stage) of the game.  So please keep praying!   For speedy processing for their girls' papers, and that the USE staff would show some mercy in their case, particularly since the girls have recurrent malaria and need treatment they are not going to get here.  And for safe travels for all of us, and smooth transitions as we go home.

Thanks, my friends.  We appreciate you all so much, and are so thankful for your support!

Our friends Darren and Valerie and their girls Josee and Natalie

(I foresee some trips to Colorado in our future!)

DRC Day 29

This has been my day:

1000: I haven't heard anything, so I text David "Should I call the USE or what's going on?"

1130:  David calls and asks if I've called the Embassy.  No, I say.  I don't have the number.  He says he'll send it to me.  But I get it from Valerie faster.  I try the number a few times, but keep getting error messages.   Not a voice mail, but an error message about the number not being available.
I try a different number I find on the USE-Kinshasa website, and navigate through many menus, only to end at a message that for questions about Immigrant Visas, I need to try back on Mondays between 3 and 6pm or Thursdays from 1am to noon.  Or I can email.  (Thanks for that.)

1200:  I hear from Valerie, who finally got through at the original number.  So I try that number again.  I finally get through to a human, and I ask for Andrew.  She says to call back in an hour.  He's doing DNA testing.

1300: Try the USE again several times.  No answer.
I call David, thinking he should arrange a car to bring me to the Embassy, and I'll just sit there until Andrew (or someone) is able to talk to me.  However, David does not answer either.

1330:  Still trying alternately to reach David or the USE.  I'm not sure my phone is even working.  I call Valerie.  I can't get her either.  I send a text to David asking if I should just go to the USE.  I send a text to Valerie letting her know I can't get anyone and I'm not sure my phone is working.

1345: Valerie calls. She's reached David and told him my phone is not working and to take me to the Embassy now, please. I get a text from David that he'll be here in 30 minutes to take me to the USE.

1415ish: David arrives to take me to the Embassy.

1430ish: He has to kind of argue with them to even let us in, since we don't have an appointment, but he eventually convinces them to let us in. The waiting room is packed to standing room only with Congolese people (apparently waiting on DNA tests) but we waited only about 5 seconds before they called us in. I could recount the whole conversation for you, but basically, this is what I learned:

1) Our Visas have been issued, printed, and placed in the passports! Yahoo!!!

2) The packets of stuff that you have to take with you to immigration when you land in the US are not ready.

3) We can come back tomorrow at 10am to get all of it.

We couldn't convince them to hand it over, even when we explained that my visa was just about to expire, and I really need to get out of here.  So that was annoying, but I've come to expect this from the Embassy.  But I am so excited to have an answer that contained actual information and not just speculation or being blown off, that I am pumped!

We should be headed home on Thursday, assuming the usual 48 hours(ish) for DGM turn-around.
Tomorrow morning (after David picks up our visas and packets, and deposits the appropriate pieces at the DGM so they can begin their processing) he will come here to get me and I will go get passport pictures taken and extend my visa, since (barring a miraculous 24 hours turn around by the DGM) I'll miss my visa cutoff by one stinkin' day.  :P

We're going HOME!  Wahoo!

DRC Day 28

Thankfulness.
Today I'm taking a break from the whining, worrying, and lamentation to focus on thankfulness.

These are some of the things I'm thankful for today:

1.  That my kids are safe and healthy.

2.  That my kids are WITH ME!

3.  That we have had this time to bond, relatively undistracted.

4.  That we have been safe and healthy in Kinshasa for this whole time.

5.  That Isaac is mostly hanging in there, and John has been able to spend this time with him.

6.  That Amber has been able to rearrange her work schedule time and time again to stay here over extended periods of time.
7.  That Eli is learning a few English words. ex. Hello, ByeBye, Banana (tho usually used in reference to an apple), baby, Eli, Raya, Isaac, Mommy, Ababa.  We're really working on Please, but haven't quite gotten there yet.
8.  That Raya is such a happy, calm baby.  (She reminds me of Isaac!  Although I didn't actually know him as a baby.)
9.  That we are one more day closer to leaving for HOME!
10.  That my family and friends have been so supportive during this hard few weeks- praying, laughing, and crying with us.
11.  That we have made good friends with our (former) neighbors here in Kinshasa, and Eli has had good friends to play with often to pass the hours.  (Nakupenda, Twigas!)
12.  That my kids have learned to sleep past 5:30 AM.
13.  That I can skype home as often as I like.
14.  That David has been working hard to get us home.
15.  That the weather here has been beautiful every day.
16.  The opportunity to snuggle my precious babies to sleep every night.
17.  Ice cream, cookies, and chocolate.  (We exploded our bacardi in the freezer.  Oops!)

New plans again.  Tomorrow David is going to stop by the USE around 9AM and if it's not busy he'll send a car to get Valerie and I so we can show up there and talk to them in person.  If they seem busy, he'll let us know that and just have us call instead.  (The problem being that we don't actually have appointments, and if we just show up unannounced, we may wait a very long time there without ever being seen.)

I asked him about extending my visa, and he said to wait and see what they say tomorrow.  Based on that, we'll decide whether to go ahead and extend it, or just try and flee the country asap.

And one more story of the great Murphy's Law- USE Kinshasa Edition.  David had called Friday morning and asked what day our medical appts were.  (Which of course made me freak out that they hadn't gotten my papers yet--3+ wks later- but he asked, and then hung up as soon as I answered so I didn't get a chance to ask what was going on.)  Apparently they USE couldn't find my kids' medicals.  So David had to go back to the clinic, and they looked it up and said well, we sent them on this day at this time.  So then he went back to the USE, by which time they had located my papers... in someone else's file.  I think maybe someday this will all be funny.  :)  I hope.  (I don't think this will hold us up.  I'm just glad they found them!)

Please keep praying!  For our kids' visas to be issued (hopefully tomorrow!), for Darren and Valerie's kids' visas to be issued very soon as well, and for their girls, who were back to the hospital today for follow up blood work which showed that Josee again has malaria.  It's only a matter of time before they both have it again, since they need longer term treatment that they probably won't get here, and they need to get home!

Mmmmm...

Playing in the Covers

Raya's recommended napping position

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

Romans 8:18-27

DRC Day 27

So today I talked to Kelly on the phone about a plan of action.  I have been told I could schedule an interview with Andrew at the embassy, to see what is going down in the hood, and ask when to expect our visas to be done (and apparently Andrew wants to talk to me anyway).  I wanted to know how to make this happen.  I also wanted to know at what point can I start contacting my representatives, since Tuesday will be 4 weeks since my visa interview.

Kelly said, matter of factly, that David is going to pick me up sometime late Monday morning so that I can go talk to him.  (This is great that it's already worked out, and I'm going to get my visa extended at the same time. I just had no idea.)
She also said, just as matter of factly, that it is far too early to contact anyone in the political realm, because they just got my last paper on Monday.
Monday?  I say.  What was turned in on Monday?  The last paper I know about was turned in almost 2 weeks ago.  So then I get handed to Stephanie (because she "knows more about my case") who tells me that there was some paper that they had requested (yes, a second additional document, requested separately from the first additional document) that came from Mbuji Mayi and was turned in on Monday.

But I was assured that families who had additional documentation requested had their visas in about a week's time after their papers were all turned in.  This Monday will be a week.  I suppose this is good news at this point.  They expect my visas very soon. (For real this time.) But I've been hearing "hopefully tomorrow" for a couple of weeks now, so please forgive my skepticism.

And more than that, I feel like this would have been really good information to have, say, a week ago.  I don't like giving bad news either but its better to know than be left in the dark only to find out later.  Not to mention I've been  going crazy hoping every. single. day. this week for a visa that they apparently knew was not going to be coming, but neglected to explain to me what was going on.  I feel like this is completely unacceptable.

In other news, we went to the grocery store today.  I stocked up on just a few essentials such as chocolate, ice cream, cookies, and bacardi breeze.  Yes folks, we've reached that segment of the journey.

And I suppose I sound really bitter right about now.  To be clear: I do not blame the agency for the delays.  That's all the Embassy.  There is nothing they could have done about that, and I'm sure they got those papers as quickly as possible.  What makes me crazy is the communication, or lack thereof.  That part could be so much better.

And just because it's cuter than the dickens, here is Eli and his girlfriends dancing to some awesome Swahili music:

DRC Day 26

Still no visas.

I don't have pictures today, because the only things we did today were:
-sit by the phone and wait for it to ring
-stop Eli from sucking on electrical cords, slamming glass cabinet doors, playing with hotpots full of boiling water, and tormenting Raya.
-be generally tense and grumpy
-extended our hotel reservation for a few more nights

We did venture out to Sunny Day for Pizza Fridays.  This is our third Pizza Friday with Eli's girlfriends (Darren and Valerie's twins).  He was very excited to see them, and starting squealing with excitement outside their door.  It was pretty cute.  And sort of loud and obnoxious.
We may have to consider a move to Colorado if we ever actually make it out of Kinshasa.

The updates I got today, for whatever they're worth:
-They called Mbuji Mayi today as part of their investigation (apparently this is one of the last steps, according to Stephanie) and that this "went well,"
-Andrew is working on my case now (as opposed to Brooke, who seems to have left??)
-"Hopefully Monday" for a visa timeline, which is not really a timeline at all as much as it is a wish.
-They asked for my cell number, but never called me.  Apparently they have some non-urgent question for me that they will ask next week.

Not gonna lie.  Today was rough and stressful.  I really really hoped we'd get our visas today.
Tomorrow we are going grocery shopping.  So that's at least something to do.  Kelly and Stephanie are leaving in the morning for Lubumbashi, and will be back on Wednesday.  I don't know what they're doing there, because they don't run their schedule by me.  Too bad.  It's bound to be more interesting than my schedule.

That's it for news today.

DRC Day 25

Another day. Still no visas.

We did go to the Bono Sanctuary today, which was fun. Bonobos are primates, related to chimpanzees, that only live in the DRC.  Turns out the kids were terrified of the bonobos, so that made it very... loud. But it was great to get out of town and see a little more of "typical Congo" outside of downtown Kinshasa.

We stopped by the Embassy on the way back from the bonobos, (ok, to clarify, David stopped, and we all were still sitting in the car) and the only update we he got was "I'm too busy to talk to you right now. Come back tomorrow morning." He then texted her if there were any updates, and the reply he got was "I said I would let you know right?" Ah, sweet American egocentric attitude. After this whole process, and working with third world government, you know that the hold up is? The Americans. Nice.  I'm feeling pretty warm and fuzzy toward American Bureaucracy right about now.

Apparently Brooke's last day in the office was today, according to David. Hoping for good news tomorrow!

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to change my plane tickets... Again. And David read the French part of my visa (ok, it's all French) and he said it's good til the 27th of June, since I entered on the 27th of May. So that buys me a little more time than I thought before I have to extend my visa. Hopefully I'll be gone by then.

Here are some pictures of our adventures:

Our First Bonobo Friend

Mama and Baby

Lots of Friends Came to Play

The Hike Continues

(and nearly killed us after all this sedentary lifestyle)

Our Group

(The guy in the back was our guide.  David is holding Raya.)

And these are from the drive:

Outdoor Furniture Store

Pardon the angle.  These were all taken from a moving vehicle, swerving on bumpy roads.

Agriculture

I feel that this picture does not adequately portray how bumpy the roads were.

On the way back, we had to wait because this guy ran out of fuel right there, blocking the road.  So we sat there until someone came with more fuel, and they could move it.  We attracted quite the throng of curious children as we waited.

These ladies are kind of my new Heroes.

Blurry Hillside Homes

A Picture Update

Many Thanks to Stephanie who brought us a computer cord, and now I can use my computer again!  Wahoo!

We are headed out here in a bit go to see the Bonobos.  That should be a fun trip out of town a little ways, and nice diversion.  Please keep praying that our visas (and Darren and Valerie's) are issued ASAP.  Maybe today's the day!

These first ones are from our drive around Kinshasa a few days ago:

Speed bump.

Busy Street

We bought bananas from this lady.

And these are from our last day at Sunny Day

Mmmmmm...

Chillin' with his Girlfriend

Apparently 3 in the boat is too many.

Hoping I'll have good news to post tonight!  Thankful my computer is back in business.  Thanks Stephanie!  :)

DRC Day 24

We did not get our visas today. They can't really tell us anything.

Basically, it goes like this. The Consular at the USE is a lady named Brooke. Brooke is the one who issues the visas. Brooke is not particularly pro-adoption, so she doesn't really go out of her way to do this in a timely fashion. They have talked to Sarah, and Andrew (both also work at the USE) and as far as they know everything is in order, there are not missing documents or any corrections needed, they are just waiting on Brooke to do whatever it is she needs to do and sign the visas so we can leave.

They have not contacted Brooke directly, because they have been warned not to. She is the sort that would just get mad and make things worse, so they are playing nice when it comes to Brooke. But since no one else really knows what is going on, there are no updates to be had really. All I can say with any certainty is that we do not have visas today.

However, there have been rumors that Brooke is leaving, and that today was her last day. So maybe if she's gone, our visas will come out tomorrow? ??

At this point, David said that DGM is also waiting on the Embassy. I'm not sure what that means for a timeline, or how long that will take to process once we have our visas, but maybe just maybe if our visas are issued tomorrow we could get our DGM on Friday and still leave on Saturday. Maybe?

I'm really praying that Brooke is either gone, or has a change of heart, or just however God chooses to do it is fine, but we could really use some visas.

We did go to Sunny Day to visit with our pals for a while this afternoon, and then out to supper with them, and Stephanie and Kelly. It was nice to get out of our room here for a while, and for Eli to be able to play with his girlfriends again for a bit. :)

DRC Day 23

So we spent the whole day here in our new digs.

First off, let me say this place is noisier than Sunny Day. Probably since it's on a "mainer" street, where Sunny Day is sort of off the main road about a block. I heard more honking and car noise. There was also a dog barking a lot last night, but this evening I haven't heard him, so maybe he meandered on by now. Plus our air conditioner is sort of loud. Now I sound like I'm just complaining, I guess. All things considered, I slept as well as I ever do on my first night in a new place. I'm just making observations. I did appreciate all the extra space in the bed. :)

We ate breakfast at the restaurant, and thoroughly enonjoyed our complimentary ham and cheese omlettes, bananas, bread and jam, tea, and some kind of weird twangy juice. (Ok, honestly I didn't enjoy the juice that much, but Eli seemed to like it just fine.)

The rest of the day we watched movies on the English movie channel. And played around on the internet. Played cards while Eli napped. Skyped home. Listened to music and watched Eli dance. (This kid loves a good booty-shakin' song!) But it makes for long days when there are no neighbors to hang out with, and no grounds to explore and play on. We are thankful for our loveseat and chair, tho, and the coffee table. At least we're comfortable in here while we pass the hours. I'm also thankful that the kids are healthy and happy and Amber and I have been healthy too.

Ok, (sort of) Funny story of the day: Our French skills are severely lacking around here. So if we need to communicate with the staff, it's pretty much charades. So this morning I went to take a shower. Apparently the shower here is set up for anorexic midgets. Imagine a bathtub, with a shower head. But the shower is not at the end, it's in the middle. As in, pointing out toward the bathroom instead of into the tub. And you have approximately 18 inches between the shower head and the shower curtain behind you. (Good plan, right?) And the cord from the faucet to the shower head wasn't long enough to get up to my head. But I wasn't payng attention to the bottom of the cord, I was watching the top, thinking the slider/bar thing was stuck, and pretty soon I'd popped the hose, and water was spraying everywhere except out of my shower head, which was still only neck height anyway. I did manage to get clean, although I had large puddles on the floor when I was done. And then I had to charade my way through "the water sprays everywhere cuz the hose is broken" to the non-English-speaking staff. But I will say they had it fixed in about 10 minutes. And tomorrow I will try and be shorter. Although if Amber's evening experience is any indicator, it's impossible to shower in there without making a huge mess anyway.

We didn't get to go out for lunch today. Originally Kelly had mentioned meeting for lunch today and coming to see the place here, but then she was busy getting things set up for the transitional home they are starting for the kids, so she didn't make it out here today.

Stephanie arrived tonight and apparently we are all going out to supper tomorrow night, so there's something to look forward to at least. Then I think we moved the Bonobo Sanctuary trip to Thursday. Then we are supposed to be leaving on Saturday, but we are counting on getting our visas tomorrow for that to occur.

Please, please pray that the kids' visas are issued tomorrow!!

David sounded hopeful when we talked to him. (He stopped by today to have me sign some papers for the DGM) Kelly didn't sound like she was convinced tonight when I talked to her. Oh, how I hope we can get our visas tomorrow. Things get infinitely more complicated if we get delayed again.
For starters, Amber is going to need to head back to work soon, which would put me here by myself (which would be completely insane, particularly on the plane ride home), or I'd have to recruit someone else to fly here, or John would have to come back again, which would really be not good because Isaac is already having a really hard time, and I think that would be worse for him.
Plus my visa is going to expire next week.
Plus I'm just going to go insane, mostly from worrying about Isaac.

It wouldn't be so bad sitting here for weeks on end if we were all together. But having my Isaac (and John) halfway around the world has not been an easy thing for any of us. And like I said, Isaac seems to really be struggling lately. So if you could, say an extra prayer for Isaac and John too. My boy needs his mama home!

Ok. That's all the news for today. Come on, Visas!

DRC Day 22

This is the embassy update I got today (via text, from David): "The Embassy is still investigating on your case. They should issue the visa this week, I've asked them if I can get it by Wednesday so that I can have the DGM [exit permits] ready by Saturday. They will try to do that, so let's hope."

Ugh... Let's hope.

Residence 165

So we are all moved and pretty much re-settled. Eli is napping. Raya's awake. She's a pro cat-napper, and is lying there jabbering away and kicking her feet.

We left Sunny Day and went and looked at a place called Residence 165. They first showed me a room that was $220/night. That was way more money than I was hoping, but at least it's less than Hotel Royal by a little bit. (Seriously. Kinshasa is ridiculously expensive!) It had a sitting area, and 2 bedrooms, and a kitchenette (basically just a stove and sink- It was even smaller than the one at SD). I asked if there was a 1 bedroom one, which I then walked through. It still has a sitting area, tv, fridge, table/chairs, bed (bigger than the ones at SD), and bathroom with tub/shower. They do have wifi, and free laundry service (!), and a restaurant on site, but no pool, and no cool neighbors. The 1 bedroom does not have the kitchenette, but was only $150/night. So I went with that. I couldn't see spending an extra 70/night for just a tiny stove, although maybe I'll miss it more than I think. I do have a hotpot at least, but I'm not sure it's working very well. We'll see.

So, the pros and cons of this place (compared to Sunny Day) as I see them so far are:
Pros:
better sitting area (comfy chair, loveseat thing, coffee table)
bigger bed
better tv channels, including an English movie channel.
restaurant on site
free breakfast
free laundry service (Yay! Can I send everything on the first day!?)

Cons:
no pool, in fact, basically no grounds at all. Just one small patch of grass.
no friendly English-speaking neighbors
no kitchenette
less storage space (but we found space for everything reasonably well I think)
Slightly more expensive than Sunny Day

I'm hoping maybe Kelly and Stephanie will come and move into the 2 bedroom spot It's cheaper than Hotel Royal by a little bit, and had the kitchenette, (and separate bedrooms!) which would be nice for them, and maybe they'd even let me use it. :) (The stove I mean, not the bedroom) Plus then they'd be here with me, for some company. It seems safe enough, tho. It's about like Sunny Day atmosphere-wise. It's on the main strip, but is gated and guarded and all that. The grounds are very well kept. I'll take pictures when we go exploring this afternoon (after Eli wakes up), but I finally tried to load some pictures on here, and figured out the type of card that Amber's camera uses isn't one that fits in my adaptor. So there will be no more pictures until I get home unless my cord miraculously fixes itself and I can use my computer again.

I think we are going to go the Bonobo Sanctuary on Wednesday. Sounds like we're going out to lunch tomorrow. (And Kelly's going to come look at the rooms for them. Yay! Maybe I will get some English speaking neighbors!)

David said he'd call with an embassy update this afternoon. But when I was checking in here, and paying I asked if he thought we could be out of here before Saturday, and he said no, he didn't think we'd have DGM exit permits before Friday. He thought we'd get our visas Wednesday or Thursday. But then he said he'd call later with an update, so hopefully he'll get some good news today when he goes to the USE.

DRC Day 21

Happy Father's Day! (For real this time. I know I said it last week too- and then deleted it, so no, you don't have to go back and read it to make fun of me. It's not there anymore.) Valerie told me it was Father's Day last week, and I was naive and believed her. Being here is like a time warp, so whatever. If it weren't for posting on this blog with the date and day count, I'd have no idea what the day/date was at all. Anyway. For real this time, Happy Father's Day, John! We're so thankful to have you as the Ababa in our family. :)

I have no news to report for today. We are mostly packed up, but I don't yet where we're going. Kelly was supposed to be looking into some stuff for us, but I didn't hear from her at all today. I'm assuming we're headed to the Hotel Royal, at least for a night or 2, and we'll see after that. I'm really just hoping that our visas are ready SOON so we can forget alternative plans and just go home! We are definitely praying for that.

We did the usual things today. Breakfast, dishes, baths, packing (that one was new), laundry, play, lunch, nap, swim til we shiver, play some more, supper, hair and nails time, bedtime. That's pretty much our existance here. We skyped with Grandpa and Grandma. We skyped with Ababa and Isaac a few times throughout the day.

I don't really know what to make of Isaac these days. Mostly he refuses to talk to me. After 2 seconds of skyping he declares himself done and tries to hang up. I suppose indifference is a more comfortable feeling than sadness, and I think that's just his way of coping. I miss him so much, and can't wait to all be home together. Although I'm pretty sure poor Isaac isn't gonna know what hit him when Hurricane Eli walks through the door. That kid thinks he's in charge.

There was some music playing this morning that I thought was probably from a church, but I don't remember it on previous Sundays. Anyway, it was kind of nice.

I can't remember if I posted this before but anyway. The other day we measured the kids' waists, and they were within 1/2 inch of each other. haha. Eli is such a skinny little guy, and Raya's eating us out of house and home. (Good thing he's small. Maybe Isaac can still take him!)

Sorry, no pictures again today. Seriously. I've been so lazy about that. One of these days I'll have to give it a try...

DRC Day 20

My plane for home is leaving right about now, and I am not on it. :(

Aside from that fact, we had a better day today. We went to the fabric store, and the grocery store. We ate a supper of yummy Indian food complements of the neighbors, and we supplied the ice cream for dessert. (They didn't have brownie mix.) It was everything I hoped for and dreamed of. I even took a picture of my ice cream, but haven't gotten around to testing the waters of adding pictures on here yet.

We don't really know where we're going yet, come Monday. Probably Hotel Royal. Kelly was going to talk to them for us, but I haven't heard back from her. She arrived last night and stayed there. She came with us on our outing this morning, and it looked nice when we picked her up. It just doesn't have kindly neighbors who hang out with us 24/7 while our kids beat on each other (and play nicely and share sometimes too) and who cook dinner for us once in a while. It's also ridiculously expensive. So... we'll see. So far I don't have any better alternative.

I guess you can all be praying that someone here cancels their reservation for this coming week. :) And while you're at it, just pray for our visas to be issued (and Darren and Valerie's too!) so we can all go home. Sunny Day is nice, but I am so ready to be home. Not so much ready to sit for 30 hours on an airplane with the kids, but I'll tolerate that in order to be home. :)

So what else can I ramble about...

I'm unconvinced that Eli actually speaks/understands Tshiluba. They tell me he does, but any words I try and say, he seems not to know what the heck I'm talking about. So either I really stink at Tshiluba (which is a distinct possibility) or he has a hearing impairment (which he doesn't seem to really) or he is really good at blank stares and selective listening. He prefers the point and grunt/whine method of communication. (He gets that from you, Brandon!) Generally he gets his point across, but the whining is getting really old. Come on, kid, you're had 3 weeks of English immersion. Let's hear your best! (Ok, I'm kidding... Sort of.)

Julia (David's wife) saw Raya today for the first time in a couple weeks, as she had the priviledge of accompanying us on the shopping trip this morning. The first thing she said was "She's getting fatter!" ha. I guess it's pretty obvious. She's gonna be a big fat American baby by the time she gets home.

Oh, and Amber and I are super-talented at mosquito nets. We have generally stopped bothering, since every time we put it over the bed, by morning we have at least one mosquito inside of it. Which is perfect. So... whatever. We just keep Raya covered, (Eli sleeps with us. I have given up on the whole crib thing. I got tired of moving him many times a night. Thankfully he hasn't seemed to have gotten any bites. I guess they like us girls better.) We try and watch for mosquitos in the evenings and smash them before we go to sleep. (A flyswatter would be great.) We actually didn't bother with them at all the first couple weeks we were here, having rarely seen a mosquito until relatively recently. But there are quite a few outside especially in the evenings. Although my itchiest bites are from some other bug I think. Some sort of gnat or something. I don't know what it is, but they are more annoying than mosquito bites I think.

I guess those are my only riveting updates for the day. Maybe tomorrow I'll try and load some pictures on here. We'll see.

DRC Day 19

Well, the bad news just keeps coming in. Not only do we just keep extending our stay here, but now we are soon to be homeless. I went and talked to the owner here at Sunny Day, and explained that our papers weren't done yet, and they think we will be here til next Saturday. Unfortunately, they are all booked up here, and we have to be out on Monday.

I emailed St. Anne's (another place a lot of adoptive families stay) and they are also full.

There is a place I can contact that is out of town a little bit, and is nice and quiet and cheaper, but has little to no internet access. Which, given my email addiction and my high priority on skyping regularly with John & Isaac, is kind of a deal-breaker for me.

That leaves a really expensive hotel in town, which I have no contact information for, but that's where Kelly is staying starting tonight. I did contact her to look into this option for us. Or else our very kind (and obviously slightly insane) neighbors said we could move a mattress into their room for the nights they are full here.

We are going to discuss it again tomorrow.

We also were supposed to make a grocery run today, but that was cancelled at the last minute because traffic was particularly bad, and David was running late. Too bad, because I had a lot of very self-indulgent things on my list (ice cream, brownie mix, etc) for my pity party I was planning. It was really not good.

And finally, I came back to my room tonight to find that my computer is dead. It has been sort of having neurological problems for a while, but had been more or less fixed, but today decided again that it didn't want to charge the battery or recognize that it is actually plugged in. So... now I have a dead computer too. Which is just perfect.

Thankfully, I also brought my ipad (I told you I had addictions) so I am not completely left without contact with the world, but it's much easier to blog from my computer. (Hence the new background. The old one's background didn't load properly on the ipad, and I couldn't even read it.) And I do have an adaptor thing, but have never tried to do pictures on the ipad, and certainly they will not be edited if I do find a way to post some.

The only good thing that went on today was that we ordered pizza, and it was delicious. And then we ate chocolate (donated by the kind neighbors who took pity on us pathetic people). And they were also delicious. And we hung out and played with hair, and the children terrorized each other as usual, and now my boy is asleep, and my girl is... working on it.

And even though it is only 9pm, soon I hope to be asleep myself. Tomorrow is bound to be better.

DRC Day 18

I talked to David this evening briefly, and he said he doesn't think we'll have our visas on Monday anymore.  He said we should move our tickets home from this Saturday to next Saturday.  I don't have details other than that, but he is coming tomorrow to bring us to the grocery store, so we can talk to him more then.

Kelly arrives tomorrow night.  We are working on some outings this weekend and next week.  Again, more things that can be discussed tomorrow.

And here are some pictures of the last couple days:

Raya's first bites of baby food.

Amber's popular among the short crowd

Who can resist those eyes?

Lap Full of Babies

Paper Update and Some Rambling

Sort of a non-update, actually. I did talk to Stephanie and got an email from Kelly. (my agency ladies) One was more optimistic on timelines than the other, but both agree that I will not be on my flight home on Saturday. I guess that last paper that they requested to clarify something cost us a several days in our timeline.

So... I don't know what the plan is. There was some speculation that I could have my visas on Monday next week, which could have us on a plane headed for home by Wednesday or Thursday (remember we need to procure exit permits in there too yet) but this is just a guess, from what I can tell. No one really seems to be able to predict this at this point.

I'll contact David later today and see if there is anything new to know. In the meantime, we are thinking of planning some sort of outings around the 'hood so we can clear our heads and stretch our legs a bit. We'll discuss with our neighbor friends and see what comes of that.

As for my mental health, mostly I'm doing pretty well, thankfully. Better than I thought I'd be by now. It's just those moments where Isaac asks on skype "are you coming home soon, Mommmy?" and I don't really have an answer. Those moments get to me. So keep praying for the kids' visas to come through quickly. We'd happily hop on the next plane home any day now. :)

Sorry about no pics again. You sort of run out of things to take pictures of when every day is exactly the same. I'll see if I can get some new ones today. I'm not actually sure anyone is still reading this anyway. :)

The kids are doing well. Raya seems to be getting bigger and chunkier these days. She's getting nice fat baby leg rolls. She keeps going at this rate, and soon she's going to weigh more than Eli. :)

Eli is doing better at eating. Sometimes. But I have hope. He seems to be more willing to try new stuff,(and let's face it, it's ALL new stuff) tho he doesn't always eat more than a couple bites before he changes his mind. He's decided he also likes scrambled eggs and toast, rice, beef jerky, and this dry oatmeal-peanut butter-brown sugar concoction Amber made. And he's eating those fruit squeezy things! At first he would cry and spit them out when we'd try and get him to eat them, but yesterday he willingly ate 3! Maybe someday he'll wear bigger than 6-9m shorts. haha.

It's been cooler here lately. Yesterday was really too chilly to swim, although that did not deter the kids, who came out shivering and goosebumpy in the end. For some place on the equator, it's cooler than I thought. I was even wearing my sweatshirt yesterday morning, and wishing I'd packed more than one pair of jeans (which I'm saving to wear on the way home... preferably in a state of relative cleanness). Although anyone who knows my propensity for sweatshirt wearing and general constant coldness will find this rather un-surprising I'm sure.

It's also gotten more buggy I think. At first we barely ever saw a mosquito, and by now I have many bites on my person. Although I think they are not all from mosquitos. I think they have a particularly pesky sort of gnat here that gives a really annoyingly itchy and welty bite. But we do cover the kids with mosquito nets at night, and sometimes we put up the big one over the bed too, depending on what's flying around our room that we can't smoosh.

If you're free, you should all send me an email. It'll give me something to do for a while. :)

PS Grandma Barb- Eli loves the "8 Silly Monkeys" book you bought for Isaac back in the day, and thinks it's HILARIOUS! I'll have to try and get a video of that. He laughs so loud. It's funny to hear.

DRC Day 16

Paper update: Our requested document has been translated and turned in to the USE. I'm waiting to hear back from my agency what their projected timeline is from here, and whether they think we will still make our Saturday evening flights. I'm hoping we'll be all set by then...but we need speedy visas for that to happen.

I'll update if I hear anything.

DRC Day 15

A Day in the Life:

0145:  Up with Baby.  Move Eli back to Crib

0530: Up again with Baby.  Eli back in Bed. 

0655: Baby screaming, both kids awake.  Bottles for both.

Eli helps put the mosquito net away.

Amber heads back to bed, trying to make up for lost time. 

Baby Snuggles

0715: Boiling Water.  Doing Dishes.

This is my little helper.

 0800 Eli Bathtime

0820:  Making Breakfast.

0900: Breakfast, and then more Dishes. 

0915:  Baby Catnap #1 

  

1045:  Raya's awake.  Checking email, journaling, cleaning up, etc.  

1000: Head Outside to Play

1130: Baby Catnap #2

Room Cleaned. Get Lunch.  Find out I missed Skype call from John & Isaac.  :(

Tried back, but no answer.

1215: Raya up.  Lunch ready.  Eli playing at the neighbors'-  Jumping on the Bed.

Instead if eating, he mostly whines to go back and play more.

1230: Naptime 

1245:  Everyone back asleep, including Raya.

1415:  Nap Over.   

1430:  Headed out to swim.  

Get sidetracked and chase lizards first.

 

Made it to the pool.

Raya hangs out in the shade. 

 1630:  Back from swimming.  Dressed.  Time for Snack and playing outside.

Baby Catnap #4

1730:  Ate dinner at the neighbors' room. 

Playing some game that resembled "Let's Beat Each Other Up."

1800: Man time with Darren.  Drinking Beer and Watching Football (Soccer.)

Meanwhile... the girls do hair and nails. 

(Sheresa and Josee)

(Amber and Katie)

Not to be left out, Eli tries out some new shoes.

1945:  Jammies On.

2030:  Eli Asleep;  Raya wound up and giggling

Edit pictures.  Write blog post.

2100:  Catch John on Face Time

2230:  Raya Asleep

2250:  Face Time with Isaac

2300:  (Mosquito) Nets up.  Time to sleep.