Yesterday's horrible/great day!

So yesterday was horrible and great  day all bundled into one day.

The NCC was supposed to give us our final document (traveling papers so that we could apply for Ezra/Innocent’s passport), but the woman in charge messed with us again.  First she didn’t show up to work, even though she told us to she would be there to issue the papers... not the first or second time she’s done this.  She was at a photo shoot.  Then, over the phone, she told us we needed to draft  a document.  Then she told us we needed to fill out more forms.  Then she told us that she wasn’t even the person we needed to sign the form!!! 

Up until this time I was frustrated and angry, but by this time I had lost all sanity and ability not to cry.  So I sat in the waiting room and cried.  Not a pretty movie cry, but an exhausted angry cry that makes everyone unfortunate enough to be sitting near me rather uncomfortable. 

Finally, the letter was written and sent across town for the director to sign.  So by noon we had our letter... we are done with the NCC.  Passports applications are only accepted until noon, so we weren’t able to do that... but we had the travel letter—Thank you Jesus!!!

We are hoping to have the passport by Friday (they’re willing to do it quickly because of the death of Shawn’s dad)  Then on Saturday or Sunday we’re off to Nairobi (who just told Shawn on the phone that the process will take 3 months—it’s so ridiculous it’s funny!!!

We need prayer for... everything.    God is so good and gracious to us.  Please pray that it all comes together (flights-we have to change them all, Immigration, passport, and whatever else we can’t see yet).  I’m so glad we’re not doing this alone!

Clap your hands, all you nations: Shout to God with cries of joy. 

How awesome is the Lord Most high, the great king over all the earth! 

~ Psalm 47:1-2 ~

A Sad Morning

During our devotions this morning, Shawn got news that his dad had passed away.  This wasn't a surprise but still very sad.  Shawn's dad has been dealing with cancer for about 16 months now and before we left for Rwanda, he wasn't expected to even last the week.  He was in a lot of pain and at times frightened and confused (due to the pain medication).  So, it is a relief that he is without pain and now with his Saviour--Praise God.  He would have liked to meet his new grandson and was so excited to see pictures and videos of Innocent (we even made a video of Innocent saying "hi grandpa"). 

We are so thankful that because of God's Grace we will see Shawn's dad again in heaven. 

"But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

~ 1 Corinthians 15:57 ~

Rwandan Time Warp

I jokingly said to Shawn today that I'm starting to believe that we're in a bureaucratic time warp here.  It looks like what we had hoped to accomplish today will once again be put off a bit and that we will be here at least until Friday to finish the "Rwandan portion" of this adoption (and it's looking like a trip to Nairobi will be necessary for immigration purposes). 
We have Innocent all day today though and that just makes the day wonderful.  We walked around for a while and stopped at a restaurant for lunch.  Then walked back to the guest house (in rain... but not torrential rain thankfully!)  Now the little guy is napping--so cute.  He's so happy and snugly when he wakes up that we all pile in the bed for giggles, snuggles, tickles and then the inevitable wrestling.

At first I thought this said "Meat balls taste better with Coke"

I like my version better.

Lies!

This was back in the Brussels air port.  Seriously Coke, What's up with this???

Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.

~ Psalm 43:4 ~

From Baptist to Petnecostal to the Vineyard!

So today we went to our lawyer's church.  It was a Vineyard church and even though I didn't understand a word of the sermon it was great.  I love hearing the preaching of the Word and watching the church come alive!  The dancing at the end was fantastic--neither Shawn nor I danced because... well.. we're white...  And if we dance, we dance like white people... with less than no rhythm!  But I have to say, with our son in my arms I was a-swayin and a-bopping :)

Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to get an important signature on our court document, our travel letter, and some other stuff (hopefully the mass office exodus is over and they're all back and ready to work).

 And to end, I have some point form observations:
- Innocent LOVES being naked
- I absolutely hate the smell of B.O.
- If I ruled the world, I would make deodorant mandatory for everyone.
- There was a fantastically loud thunder storm today with tons of rain (and this time we weren't walking in it)
- People still stare at us because we're white... but now that we have a dark child they stare in a different way.
- I haven't eaten meat in about 2 weeks now (I have trust issues so Shawn is secretly eating my portions of meat--what a trooper!)
- Innocent is tall with a big toddler belly, but his waist is SO small most of his shorts that we brought might not fit... I'm glad I packed overalls!
- God is good.  I have peace.  He is faithfully carrying my burdens!

After being stuck in the rain the other day, we dried our shoes in the window... it seems this idea is international!!!

I Gave In

Last night I finally gave in and let frustration, fear and worry take over.  Bad move. 

Our lawyer was looking at what the immigration process was looking like (in light of all the hold ups we’ve had here in Rwanda) and he’s thinking that we might either have to change our tickets and fly to Nairobi or end up staying here longer.  Even as I write this my eyes fill with tears and I get a lump in my throat. 

Please don’t get me wrong.  I am so very thankful for how God has moved and given us our son.  I do, however, want to go home.  Our 8 year old son is in Canada still (very well cared for!) and we miss him so much.  I want this process to be done in the allotted time—I want it all to work out neatly—Ha!  Haven’t I learned a thing?  God has moved mountains many times since we’ve been here... I don’t understand why I give into worry, fear and frustration.  But I did.

Last night after (or kinda still during) my pity party, I was praying and realizing that I liked it so much better when I gave all these things to God.  He took care of all of them so far AND I had joy and peace. 

So I’ve decided to give in again... but in a good way. 

I give in to the idea that it’s not all going to happen the way I thought it would. 

I give in to casting all these cares on His shoulders and receiving the peace that surpasses all understanding.

I give into praising Him and thanking Him before I see the outcome... no matter the outcome.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”  AMEN!

Philippians 4:6-7  

He's Officially Ours!

We went to hear the judge's ruling today and he is ours!  His given names were Muhire Innocent and when we get back to Canada we will name him Ezra Muhire Innocent Robinson.

We are now a family of 4... wow!

Thank you so much for all your prayers.  God is so good!

This is us in the taxi on the way to court.

We went to go and get some important papers signed but once again there has been a mass exodus of the people we need to sign, so yet another step has to wait until Monday.  We still haven't heard from the Canadian Immigration in Nairobi and I am choosing not to worry.  This silence could really hold us up, but as I said to Shawn today, if this is God's will and they want to stand in the way  of His will, then I will gladly let Him fight the battle.  Please be in prayer for these potential hold ups.  Our return tickets are for June 7th... we desperately don't want to have to extend our time here (we have our son at home waiting for us and I miss him so much).

I was hoping that now we would be allowed to post pictures of our handsome son, but our agency said that it would be best to continue to wait. 

We finally found a place that served milk with coffee.  So at 6pm last night (after an hour of walking), Shawn was able to have his first "non-gross" cup of coffee.  FYI the normal stuff we seem to have access to is coffee creamer that is more like powdered parmesian cheese--in looks and smell.. and flavour.

He was sooo excited.  And, since they left the little coffe pot, he had about 3 1/2 of those cups of coffee. 

Thank you SO much for your love, support and prayers.  We can definitely feel covered in your prayers!

Court Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the day of our second court hearing.  This is basically where the judge gives his ruling. 
We, of course, are hoping for a positive ruling!  If it is positive, then we will be allowed to take our son for the day, but he will still need to sleep at the orphanage.  We don't get to keep him 'for good' until we get the travel letter from NCC (formally MIGEPROF).  We were hoping to do this after the court case, but when we walked there this afternoon to talk to them about getting the letter ready, the office was empty and apparently they were all gone for training and wouldn't be back until Monday... this isn't the first time we've experienced this sudden office exodus.  The positive part about going to the NCC building was that, even though nobody was there to help us, we got some great pictures of the view from the 3rd.. or 4th floor (I have no idea what floor we were on, there were just so  many stairs!)

On our walk today we went somewhere we've never been.  It was a long (uphill, of course) walk.  I love going for long walks all the time--today we were out from 10am until 1pm... and yes, my feet are tired!

Then we got to visit our boy again.  Today, we finally got a tour of the orphanage.  Normally we just get to spend time up in the parking area and there's a room we can hang out it.  It was so exciting to see where our son has spent so much of his life.  I'll have to try to upload the pictures later because I just spent about 10 minutes trying to upload them and lost patience.  Oh well, after tomorrow, hopefully I'll be able to post pictures with our boy IN them!!

Thanks so much for all your prayers!



Pizza!!!

So, I love pizza.  We've been fed very well (and affordably) at our guest house but occasionally we venture out for walks and food.  We walked back to the African Bagel Company for lunch (it took us a little over an hour to walk there). 

While we were looking at our options, we saw they had pizza!  So we took a gamble and ordered a "small" pizza.  It wasn't small.

It was SOOO good! 

You can't tell by Shawn's sleepy face, but he enjoyed it.

Now, seeing as I'm usually the one taking pictures, there aren't very many 'normal' pictures of me... and this one isn't the exception.

On our way to the bagel/pizza place, we stopped at a market.  Let's just say that I don't think many white people visit this market because Shawn really stuck out in that crowd (I on the other hand, with my significant sun tan was able to stealthily navigate through the market as one of the natives).  They really had no problem staring at us.  We didn't buy anything but I think I would like to head back again and purchase some of the beautiful material they were selling next time we're out walking again.  It's hard to buy stuff here when you don't know what it's worth... they have normal price and then there's "muzungu" (white person) price... and they have no problem referring to you as muzungu.

On the way home, we were temporarily kidnapped by some passing children... all in all, it was a great morning.

This after noon, as usual, we got to visit our boy.  We love spending the time with him.  He's so comfortable just sitting on Shawn's shoulders or just being held by me.  We know that at almost 3 1/2 years old, he doesn't need to be carried everywhere, but it's so good for him and us to have that close contact--a really good way of teaching him that we're not just any adults/volunteers, that we're his parents. 

This is the view going down the hill to our guest house.  Every view here is beautiful... I just love the hills here (not when I'm walking up them, but you know what I mean).

Monday, Monday

We went to our first court hearing today and it went well... at least I think it did.  Whenever our lawyer is advocating for us, whomever he's speaking to always looks very unimpressed and I think "this is not good... they're going to deny our request".  However it all ends up working out.  I have a sneaking suspicion that God is using this to keep me praying, because, believe me, when those unimpressed looks come, I start praying!

Us before we left for court.



The judge was very good to us and gave us our second court date for this Thursday at 2pm Rwandan time.  This is where he gives us his decision.  The only two questions the judge had for our lawyer was
1. Do we have enough money to care for the child
2. How long have we been married.

This is our wonderful lawyer, Antoine in his court outfit.

 

Once the court hearing is done on Thursday, we have to try to:
- get his travel papers
- get his medical done by a special doctor (immigration will only accept the medical from this one doctor)
- get his passport
- do all the immigration stuff with Nairobi to obtain our son's visa (a quick side note about that... we have been dealing with immigration in Nairobi for 2 years now and have even just recently submitted money and papers within the past 3 weeks.  When trying to obtain a specific form we need for the medical, they had no idea who we were--excellent!  Another chance to pray!

We had a wonderful time with our son this afternoon.  We didn't even bring out any toys today, we just walked around, took pictures and had fun together.  I find he does so much better just being with us rather than when we try to entertain him with colouring and toys.  I just love him so much!  Once the court case is done, we will finally be allowed to post pictures of him.  Until then, some random pictures of our day...

For all the farmers back home, there is a right way and a wrong way to carry your chickens into town.  This, my friends, is definitely the right way.

I wish I could carry stuff on my head with such ease. 

 

 

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

~  James 1:2 ~

Church African Style

So we went to a church about a 3 minute walk from our guest house.  It was small but they were very welcoming.  We actually recognized one song--a very upbeat version of "How Great Thou Art".  They spoke and sang in Kinyarwanda, but a few times the speaker translated for us and then a woman came and sat with us and translated for us.  They were very kind and friendly to us.

After lunch we went to a clothing/sewing sale where some women were trained to sew stuff in order to sell it to make money.  There was a fasion designer who came from the U.S. last year who spent about 4 months training them so the items they made were very nice and very well made.

Then, off to the orphanage to visit our little guy.  Today's theme was fun with bubbles, and fun we had!  I wish we could show pictures! 
We have our first court date tomorrow and then we'll be praying for our second court date to be on Tuesday.  The judge has a month to set the second court date, but we're hoping and praying for much sooner! 

Some random pictures:



 The sign on the front gates of the orphanage

The area where cars park in the orphanage and where we get to play with our boy.

This was our visitor at our guest house... he watched us from the ceiling.

It was a busy day but a good day. God really is so good to us!

Africa Bagal Company

Today our lawyer, Antoine, took us to a place called Africa Bagal Company.  We walked for about 35 minutes to get there (all up hill I might add).  It is an organization that helps women learn skills so that they can earn money and survive.  They sell some creative things and also donuts, cookies and delicious bagals.  Every Saturday all 'white' people get together to eat and just hang out in the garden there.  It's beautiful and yummy.  We got to spend time with some of the area missionaries and pray with them. 

Then, as always, this afternoon we got a chance to visit our boy.  Up until now he has favoured Shawn, but I guess today was my day.  I got lots of hugs and he took an interest in my hair. 

This is the road we drive down to get to the orphanage.

The Blue gates of the orphanage

Tomorrow we're going to investigate the area churches.  I don't like having to hire a taxi every time we want to go somewhere so I would like to walk around and find a local church.  Who knows where we'll end up, but I'm looking forward to some good old African worship!!

My God Can Move Mountains!

Wow, we went to visit the president of the court today to request an earlier court date (our date that had been given was June 11th). Our lawyer was hoping he would speak English so that we could speak to him and plead our case, however we didn’t even need to say a word. Our new court date is this coming Monday!!! To God be the Glory! Thank you so much for your prayers. It is so exciting to see a hurdle and then watch God remove it. So, Monday is our court appearance and then after that, the judge has up to a month to set our second and final court date. We are hopeful and are praying that he will set that next court date for Tuesday. Praise God for what He has already done. Please pray that things would continue move along quickly.

 

This was us about a week ago in the Brussels airport on very little sleep.  Seems so long ago!

 

Please Pray!!!

We covet your prayers right now.  We finally were granted a court date, but it is for June 11th.  Our tickets home are for June 7th and that was giving ourself an extra week 'just in case'.  As I understood it, other families were given court dates just days from when they applied.  Early tomorrow morning we are going to the court to ask the president of the court to grant us a much earlier date. 
God is great no matter what happens.  We do hope though that He will intervene in a mighty way!  Please pray.  God is continually teaching us to trust Him and to choose joy rather than worry.

O Lord, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me!
I will not fear the tens of thousands
    drawn up against me on every side.
Arise, O Lord!
                                 Psalm 3:1,6,7

Day #5 Patience is a virtue

Well it's another day of waiting.  Hopefully our lawyer can convince the ministry to give us a court date.  They seem to be trying every excuse to make this difficult for us.  They said that our medicals should be updated every 3 months so ours are out of date.  They wanted us to fly home, find the same doctor and get a new medical.  I don't think that's really going to happen.  Then they said that we need a new dossier because the child is almost 5 years old and we're only approved for a child under the age of 4... our boy is actually 3 years old.  Hmm, it feels like they're just trying to make this difficult for us.  But my God is greater than all of this.  I am so encouraged by all the prayers that are being offered on behalf of our family.  This is just another opportunity to stand and see the Glory of God. 

Okay, so this has nothing to do with the above paragraph, but I just love how Rwandans transport things!  If I had 25 mattresses, I would never think that they would/could fit in a truck this size.  Apparently I would have been very wrong.

While waiting at a government building the other day we got to just sit on the grass and look at the beautiful landscape. 

Day #4 All Dressed up and Nowhere to go

       
It seems like we started this week with a bang and lots of running around.  These last 2 days has slowed right down.  It’s hard just waiting in the guest house knowing that each ‘rest’ day means another day longer at the end of this journey.  Please continue to pray for us. 
-Please pray that all our papers are up to date. 
-Please pray that we can get appointments with the people we need to see. 
-Please pray for a quick court date. 
-Please pray that we can figure out the whole immigration process and that it goes quickly. 
-Please pray that the money we brought will miraculously stretch (we were told that our transportation was already paid for before we came, then we were told that we’d have to pay it when we got home, now we’re told that we have to pay for it while we’re here).  
God has made just a few fish and loaves feed thousands of people, I truly believe that if He desires it to, our money will stretch.  I have to choose not to worry and choose to constantly hand my concerns over to Him.  Please pray that I can do this (I want to give Him the praise and glory that He deserves).

We’re hopefully going to visit our little guy this afternoon... he had a cough yesterday and so we’re hoping he’s not worse today.  Thank you for all your prayers and support!

This is a picture of the sisters signing the Act of Adoption. 

Very exciting for us!

We went for a long walk yesterday and went to a canadian restaruant.  It was very tasty, but because it was a burger & Fry place the grease just made us feel icky.  It was cheaper than eating at the guest house but I like the healthy meals at the house better!

Day #3 Lovely Day for a Walk

We kinda have a day off today.  Our Lawyer is running around trying to do stuff for us so the only thing we need to do is to go and visit our little guy this afternoon.  So we went for a long 2 hour walk this morning and it was so much fun.   I love the busy streets of Kigali.  On our way home we were met with what seems like torrential rain and had to walk for about 15 minutes in it.  By the end we were just laughing because we could hardly even see.  When we got back to the guest house the staff just burst out laughing at the sight of us (we were quite the sight!!!)  I’m glad someone got to enjoy it.

Yesterday was filled with opportunities for us to see so many hurdles and watch God take care of everything.  Every office we come to to try to complete a step tells us “we’re not doing adoptions anymore” and so our lawyer has to explain that ours is still open.  That phrase breaks my heart.   I hope they will open adoptions again very soon.

We finally did get everything worked out so that the sisters could sign the Act of Adoption which is very good!  Our Lawyer is so encouraging and positive and is constantly telling us that “it’s not a problem, it will all be fine”.  That’s what I need to constantly hear!!  I am certain that our Lawyer is a gift from God.

******************************

We just came back from our visit with our little guy and he’s still cute J.  He now has a cough and seems tired and not as perky.   Yesterday he had some red marks on his arm and head and now he has a few more on his head—I’m not sure if they’re bug bites or what.  Oh, the worries of parenthood.

I wanted to share a couple of pictures from yesterday and today but the internet is just SOOOO slow going so I'll try to do that later when my patience has rebooted. 

Thanks for all your prayers!!  There are many roadblock and God is showing Himself to be Mighty!

Note:  Shawn has already pointed out about 3 spelling mistakes and now has left the room due to an unfortunate angry stare from his wife.  Please excuse all mistakes you find in my post.

Yay, We're Here!

Rwanda Full day #!

Things last night didn’t all go as planned.  It seems like the fact that we took so long (thank you Canadian government) might make things difficult.  To Rwanda, it’ appears as though we really weren’t interested in the child.  There have also been a few little bumps in the road already.  So of course, I had my cry last night (which Shawn is convinced is mostly due to 36 hours of no sleep).  I am so thankful that my friend Katherine has been telling me about being inspired to “choose joy” and I really felt last night that God was wanting me to let go of trying to put everything in a little box and make it neat and perfect and just trust Him.  Seriously, look what He’s accomplished already—look what mountains He’s moved... He will take care of it all.  I am choosing not to worry.  I am choosing not to be angry with the Canadian government.  I am choosing to see where we are right now, realizing that I can rest in the knowledge that He is in control, He is a good God and I can praise Him no matter what is going on.  What Joy and peace that gives me in my heart and soul.  Thank you Lord!  Funny enough, one of the books I brought with me is entitled “Choose Joy” by Kay Warren—it was a free gift from a women’s conference I went to a few months ago (Thanks for taking me Shelley!).

So today is Mother’s day.  We got to meet our little guy today!!!!  I was so prepared for him to cry and not want to see us but it was amazing!!!  He smiles, he laughs, he hugs and loves copying.  He already calls us mommy and daddy.  When we were leaving, he waved by and said bye bye mommy—my heart melted for the millionth time.  He’s soooo happy and playful.  Not at all surprising is how amazing Shawn is with him.  They were running and giggling together in no time.  What a great dad he is!   It’s funny because I felt last night that there were a bunch of untidy loose ends and bumps in the road, but when I see what a gift this meeting was today, the rest is so forgettable.  And it will all get taken care of and in a few weeks we will come home and marvel at the amazing God we have!

Rwanda day #2

Well, neither Shawn nor I slept well.  We went to bed early because I couldn’t stay awake, but then it seems that neither of us could stay asleep.  So we’re working on roughly 5ish hours of sleep today.  Needless to say I’m hoping that there won’t been ‘not enough sleep crying’ tonight.  I look forward to giving everything over to God today and watching Him do great things.  I think for now, I’m going to try to have a little nap before it’s time to wake up :P

Can't Sleep .... Too Excited!!!

Okay, so this is really happening!

We’ve bought our tickets and we leave on Friday.  Liam (our 8 year old will stay here with his grandparents and be well loved/spoiled while we’re gone.) 

I keep getting waves of realization that I’m going to meet my son in about a week—that’s crazy!  Three years of waiting, hoping, battling, and wondering and in less than a week we start our trek over to Rwanda to meet our boy.   Our adoption agency is now thinking that we might not have to travel to Kenya for the visa thing.  We’re going to try currier it there and back (if that doesn’t work, Shawn will fly over and try to deal with it while our boy and I are back in Rwanda).  I’m hoping we can stay in Rwanda the whole time.  I love it there and it would be nice just to be in one place.

 

Did I mention at all that I’m excited??!!

 
So the house is a mess as I wander around trying to figure out what to do.  I’m also trying to enjoy each and every hug and smile from Liam while I can.  He is such a fun easy boy.  He’ll be sitting beside me and then just blurt out, “I can’t believe it, I’m going to be a big brother!”

I can’t wait to share pictures with all of you.  I can’t wait to see my son.  He’s not smiling in any of his pictures and so we’re excited to eventually see his smile … hoping that he has a sense of humour.  I can’t wait to hear his laugh. 

Okay, I have to go wander around my messy house and figure out what to do.  Thanks for all your prayers. 

 
Juanita