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.