Meghan neglected to include a few important points from the magistrate meeting. First, we actually made a date to see her back here on Sept 2nd 2010. Second, she said that at that time she will do everything she can to help us with the adoption and that no one will deny us an adoption of Eden! We’ll still need to worry about getting her adopted in the US and/or getting an immigration visa for her…but as Meghan keeps saying: “one step at a time.”
We had our second ultrasound of Baby Andy yesterday. We had the same bed-side ultrasound machine as last time, so I took our video camera and recorded the entire thing. You can watch it here or find one of the HD versions over on the http://wolfes.blip.tv site.
YEA!! Yesterday morning we went to see the magistrate (for the 3rd time this week) and it was a success! We were granted our travel order and the magistrate decided she needed to sleep on the birth certificate order. The lawyer went back today and the magistrate said said that we didn’t need a birth certificate to bring Eden home. She says we just need the travel order and the custody order. We will go on Monday morning to apply for the passport and then as soon as we get her passport number we will head on to Nairobi for the embassy. We are very excited that things have gone so well (even though there have been delays it has been nothing compared to what other families have gone through trying to adopt) and we’re also very anxious about our time constraints. We are scheduled to leave December 1 and it would be best if we could all go at that time. We appreciate your continued prayers for speedy processing of the paperwork!
There was a time not so long ago where I was the popular Wolfe. Every one wanted to talk about me and see pictures of my growing tummy. It seems that was quickly and easily replaced with Eden who is clearly now the most popular Wolfe. I understand and I’m not complaining (too much) but I just thought everyone should know that I am aware that I am not as exciting as I once was. So, for an update on Miss Eden…
It’s hard to believe that she has only been with us a little over two weeks. I think we have all adjusted pretty well. Ben has had a harder time adjusting to the lack of sleep but I had the advantage of getting up every few hours during the night before Eden came because of little Andy anyway. Our daytime routine is pretty settled, but the nights are still a work in progress.
She is changing and growing so fast. She loves to walk behind the little car at the Sally Test Center and she can do that all by herself now. She has learned how to drink out of her sippy cup and pulls herself up on everything. A few days ago she started letting go and standing alone and she is able to do it for a pretty long time now. She gets a big smile on her face and holds her hands up in the air. She is going to be walking in no time. She is very good at waving and waves at everyone (and sometimes no one) and also talks all the time. She likes to end her “sentences” very loudly for emphasis.
The lawyer is filing for an emergency adoption order again hopefully sometime next week. Apparently there is a different judge that he is going to file with and he is feeling optimistic. We have also started the process of getting a birth certificate for her and will hopefully complete that on Monday. Then we can get her passport and then the visa. Keep praying that everything goes well and quickly!
Just to cheer you all up after my last post, I uploaded two more videos of Eden today to http://wolfes.blip.tv. Sorry about the lighting on this first one. The power went out right before I got the camera. For the second one we were smart enough to realize we could open the curtains to let in more light! 🙂
Power outages here are actually rare. Pamela says that that was the first one in the year she has been there. Apparently they were repairing a transformer on a main power line that was coming out of town. Not sure why they chose a Sunday night to do that…
We’re all doing well now with Eden home. She sleeps through most of the night now…mainly because we’re letting her stay in our bed. We’ve switched to a room in the new house that has two double beds pushed together, so there’s plenty of room!
Just a reminder that our road ahead is long and laborious. The adoption process in Kenya is quite difficult. For international adoptions you 1) contact and agency in the home country 2) The agency picks out a child 3) You travel to Kenya and start living with the baby for three months (aka obtain guardianship) and then 4) After 3 months you must have three visits to the High Court to get approval. You can then get a US visa for the child and finalize things in the US. Unfortunately, the High Court is always booked 3 months in advance…so that fourth point above takes 9-12 months. :-/
For domestic adoptions you 1) obtain guardianship 2) live with the child for 3 months (maybe less) and then 3) see the high court once for the adoption. Unfortunately, the US won’t grant visas for children adopted this way. However, the US does grant visas if you can prove you have been taking care of the child for 2 years.
Due to this announcement about Kenya not really following all the Hague Convention rules, that first method isn’t really an option. At least it isn’t for the forseeable future. The goal right now is to get a temporary visa for Eden to come home with us while baby Andy is born and come back next summer/fall. If we can do that, we only need to stay in Kenya for about a year before hitting that 2 year mark (“only”!). The US embassy in Nairobi has yet to respond to my emails or answer any phone calls, so its hard to say how likely getting her a temporary visa is. It looks like a group interested in OpenMRS is going to fly me to NBO on Friday, so I’ll take that opportunity to just stop by the consulate and ask whats up. 🙂
With that out of the way, check out our video of cute little Eden from last week feeding herself. FYI: I re-encoded all of the videos on our wolfes.blip.tv video site, so now they should be faster, cleaner, and skip less. (“New and Improved! Now with less skipping!”)
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