We're so thrilled to announce that we are officially the
proud parents of Zane Mukisa!!! May 3rd
will forever mark Zane's adoption "Gotcha Day"
This is still a little surreal- it's a lot to soak in. We can't believe this day has finally come,
but we're so incredibly thankful it has.
Our hearts are FULL of joy!
Tomorrow morning we are saying good-bye to Mbale and heading
to Kampala. On the way we're planning on
stopping in Jinja for a few hours to visit with friends. We should arrive in Kampala tomorrow evening
where we'll be staying with our friends, Jamie and Jeremy Phillips, for an
extended time.
Isaac leaves Uganda on Sunday evening and Caitlin, my
sister, will be flying into Uganda on Friday morning. Caitlin and I have tentative flights home for
May 29th (landing in Dallas on the morning of the 30th). It's a shot in the dark how long these
remaining steps will take, so we're anticipating having to change our
flight. Hopefully we'll be booking it
for sooner than the 29th and not later.
My 3 month travel Visa was going to expire on the 9th, but
today we were able to extend it another 3 months.
Next week our three main goals are to: obtain Zane's Uganda
Passport (Dr. Patrick is helping us with this on Monday), get a required
medical exam (I'm hoping to get a driver to take me on Tuesday or Wednesday), have
the mother's death certificate and Zane's birth certificate changed into the
certified form (our attorney will be handling this part on Monday). Once we have these things completed, we'll
make an appointment with the US Embassy.
May 8th
We've been having a wonderful time with our friends, the
Phillips (see them in the picture below), in Kampala who are graciously
letting us stay with them. On Saturday
we had such fun day going to several art galleries and a craft market. I bought
a fabulous painting for the nursery that I'm super excited about. Then, in the evening we went to a Cinco de
Mayo celebration at a Mexican restaurant where they surprisingly had great food
and fun entertainment. On Sunday we
packed up, had lunch with Dr. Patrick and his wife, and then just hung out
around the house until Isaac had to head for the airport.
On Monday morning I went to the passport office, and at the
end of a long and challenging day I had Zane's Uganda passport in my hand! I can't even begin to describe what I
miracle this was- No one I know has ever heard of such a quick turnaround! At minimum I was told it would take 3 days
(and that was through some connections), but it often takes a week, and I've
even heard of adoption families waiting up to 7 weeks for it.
This morning I went to a medical office where Zane had to
have a physical exam for the US Embassy.
I was nervous about it after our terrible experience at the Mbale
medical clinic, but things couldn't have gone more smooth this morning! Because he is under 2 years of age, he didn't
even have to get any blood work done. I
had heard it takes the clinic sometimes 2-3 days to turn in the physical to the
US Embassy, but because he was healthy and under 2 they said the US Embassy
should have it this afternoon! Again,
such answered prayer!!!
So, what's remaining?... While we have the official court
"order", we're still waiting on the judge to sign the court
"ruling" which is a more lengthy document that we also need for the
US Embassy.
This afternoon our attorney's office is trying to obtain a
certified copy of Zane's birth certificate and his birthmother’s death
certificate. They tried to get these on
Monday, but they realized they were missing a letter from the LC1 of Zane's
area. The letters from the LC1 were
supposedly sent on a public transportation bus this morning, so it should be
arriving any moment. Please pray that
Isaac, the attorney, is able to obtain both of these certified documents so
that I can have these in my possession this afternoon.
IF we are able to obtain all these documents before noon
tomorrow (4am your time), then there is a chance I will be able to make an
appointment with the US Embassy for Wednesday afternoon so I can turn
everything from our case in to them for evaluation. If not, then we'll try making an appointment
with them on Monday since they only sees adoption cases on Mondays and
Wednesdays. I've heard that after your
initial appointment, you can sometimes hear back from them on the next business
day. At that point they can either grant
you the Visa or sometimes they will require further investigation.
I cannot tell you what a breath of fresh air Kampala has
been!!! It feels so much closer to home
in so many ways!!!!
May 9th
Quick update...
More prayers were answered!
The court ruling was signed yesterday and overnighted to Kampala. Also, the LC1 letters we needed for the
certified birth and death certificate were received and turned in yesterday;
however, they weren't able to process the request the same day. As of 4:00 today our attorney says he is
still awaiting a signature. Once he has
these remaining two documents then we'll be ready to go to the Embassy.
I learned that while the Embassy only handles adoption
interviews on Mondays and Wednesdays, we are able to turn in our paperwork on
Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays in the morning.
So, on Friday (assuming we get the necessary papers tomorrow) my plan is
to pick up Caitlin from the airport on Friday morning and then head to the
Embassy to turn everything in! We should
be able to get an interview appointment at that time. Our hope and prayer is that they will let us
have an appointment on Monday.
May 11th
The good news is... Caitlin made it to Uganda safe and
sound! It's so amazing having her
here!!!
The not so good news is... after many broken promises and
headaches, we still do not have all the paperwork we need to start on the VISA
process at the US Embassy. There is supposedly a hang-up with either the birth
or death certificate. When they went to
get the "village" version turned into a "certified" version
in Kampala, they were told this morning that they didn't have the correct
stamp. So, they now have to go back to
Zane's village where he was born (which is approximately 6-1/2 hours on
terrible roads from Kampala) and get a new birth/death certificate before they
can go back to the Kampala office. I was
told today that I should have it by Wednesday so I can go to the Embassy on
Wednesday morning. The most frustrating part about it is this could have (and
should have) been done long ago! We've
been asking our attorney to do this since week 1 of being here (that was over 3
months ago).
The good news is... Caitlin is here so it makes the wait
more manageable!
May 16th
After talking to our attorney's office yesterday we really didn't think we were going to be able to go to the Embassy today. There were many hang-ups trying to obtain the certified birth and death certificates. Even though our chances were small, Caitlin and I decided to stake out in an eating area down the street from the Embassy today just in case we needed to go to the Embassy at the last minute. By a miracle I had the four remaining documents I needed in my hand at 11:30 so we were able to turn in everything!
After talking to our attorney's office yesterday we really didn't think we were going to be able to go to the Embassy today. There were many hang-ups trying to obtain the certified birth and death certificates. Even though our chances were small, Caitlin and I decided to stake out in an eating area down the street from the Embassy today just in case we needed to go to the Embassy at the last minute. By a miracle I had the four remaining documents I needed in my hand at 11:30 so we were able to turn in everything!
On Friday before 10am they want 1) a copy of Isaac's
passport- notarized (this shouldn't be a problem- he can email this to me today
for me to print) and 2) a irrevocable release letter from Zane's great aunt who
had custody of him before we did (this is a major challenge since she lives 6 ½
hours from Kampala and 2 hours from my attorney... and because NOTHING gets
done quickly here). I knew we needed
this, but my attorney insisted that the aunt's affidavit would suffice. Now we know it won't.
So, if we are able to get those two things accomplished on
Friday, we have our interview with the US Embassy on Monday at 2pm!!! Zane's great aunt Ana, is recommended to be
at the appointment. This will be
challenging since she doesn't speak English, cares for many young children, and
lives 6 ½ hours away on terrible roads!
Please pray for Friday and Monday to come together
smoothly! After our appointment Monday
there is a chance we could get the Visa on Tuesday or Wednesday; however, it's
always a possibility that they would want to do further investigation which
will delay the process several weeks. We
will not be surprised if they want to do an investigation on our case. If they do, we're not worried at all about
anything, but we will be disappointed that the process will, yet again, be
delayed. We're ready to get Zane to his
new home!
I've had a WONDERFUL last few days with Caitlin here! We've done so many fun things! We've had great food, done a lot of shopping
at different craft markets, went to a local artist's studio, explored the area,
taken long walks, and drank a lot of lattes (which was the one thing I craved
when I lived in the village).
May 18th
After a really stressful morning, I turned in a copy of the
Irrevocable Release and a copy of Isaac's notarized passport to the US
Embassy. I knew I needed the original
fingerprinted Irrevocable Release even though they didn't specify, but after
many, many phone calls and texts over the last 24 hours a scanned copy was the
best I could do. It was like pulling
teeth to get the document via email by 10:30am this morning- and I was supposed
to be there before 10! And of course the
day I'm late, the Embassy had a huge line outside. Gratefully the Embassy lady didn't say
anything about my tardiness; however, she is now specifying that she wanted
originals of both the notarized passport and the Irrevocable Release. So, first thing on Monday I will turn those in
and thankfully we still have our interview appointment at 2:00 on Monday.
Like I mentioned before, the Embassy will need to see Ana
(Zane's aunt who had custody of him before we did) at our interview. Because she doesn't speak English, and because
his grandparents want to say one last good-bye, the grandparents will be coming
with Ana to Kampala on Sunday if all goes according to plan. Please pray that they will come as planned
and that Ana would be honest and that her nerves would be calmed. (Some deceitful extended relatives have fed
her lies in the past and it has caused her to be sort of scared and
confused.)
I am so ready to have this Embassy interview appointment
behind us! We should know on Monday or
Tuesday if they want to investigate anything further or if they are going to
grant us a US Visa. If they are ready to
give us a Visa then we likely would have it Tuesday or Wednesday.
May 19th
May 20th
At the coffee shop for lunch
Meeting with Zane's family for drinks in Kampala
About to head home after a long day
May 21st
Praise
God the US Embassy has granted us a US Visa!!!! They asked us to
pick up the actual Visa on Wednesday at 4:00. We've re-booked our
flight home. We now are scheduled to leave Uganda on Friday at 9:10am,
then we spend the night in London, and then we should arrive in Dallas on
Saturday at 3:35pm!!!
THANK
YOU for following us on this journey! I'm so grateful for your emails,
prayers, support, encouragement,.... We are incredibly blessed to have such
wonderful friends and family!!!
I
can not believe this 4 month journey has finally come to an end.
Wow. That's basically all I have right now. I'm overwhelmed by
God's goodness through all of this. Every time I thought I couldn't do
it- He sustained me. Now we get to go home. Praise God!!!
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