Can Anyone Say Grovel?

The first thing we did today was pickup our lawyer, Valerie and go to the passport office to apply, "pressure." After some phone calls to higher-ups and getting nowhere our lawyer was ready to give up for the day and come back tomorrow. Dale wasn't ready to do so and did some good old fashioned Canadian begging. That eventually got us an appointment with someone important in the afternoon. We returned, the appointment took place. Our case was pleaded showing our bookings for the flight home and explaining we needed to get the kids passports so we could do the final steps in getting visas issued. In the end we need to come back tomorrow. Uuuugh! So we will do so, bring the children, sit, wait and pray. As soon as we get those Golden Tickets we can actually submit the numbers to Nairobi and make plans to fly there ASAP.
Epimaque is becoming more and more adventures. He is acting like a two year old exploring new things and pushing his limits. That's code for being told, "ohya" which is translated, "no" in English. Oh boy are we in for an interesting summer!!!!!
Ady

Church and Ice Cream

It was wonderful to be able to attend Vineyard Kigali for another Sunday. We brought the kids and I think folks were pleased to have the opportunity to meet them.
They have been praying for us too! After Antoine preached he had us come forward with our new children and they all prayed for them. Everyone prayed out loud at the same time, interesting experience.
Having this group of God loving Rwandans pray for Epimaque and Teresita was so amazing and meaningful.

In the afternoon Dale, Epi and I went to the area of Kigali that he was abandoned when he was three months old. We even went equipped with the name of the household he was left at. We searched for it with the help of our wonderful friend, Innocent translating. We talked to many people, but we didn't discover where the home was. There is no such thing as addresses here, so we took pictures of the area. Epimaque will have them for when he's interested in this part of his life.
After, we got some ice cream so Epi could experience it for the first time. As Innocent, Dale, Epi and I enjoyed our ice cream, Innocent told us this was his first one too and he is 38 years old!

Tomorrow we go to the passport office first thing. If they speed up the process on our behalf we will submit the passport numbers to Nairobi and finish the visa process. It's a holiday for both Canadian offices on Tuesday so please pray hard.

Ady

Hi to the Kehler's ,
Abby just connected me with this web site, so I will try to connect this way...once in awhile..
Today the girls woke up just minutes before 10 and managed to get ready for church, Rueben, however slept in until about 10:50 and he was almost in a panic, no breakfast , snacks there, got dressed and arrived a few minutes after 11. Glen was having the message and the first time we have ever heard him preach.. He did a great job, and was encouraging people to reach out to others, like neighbors, over coffee, and so on..thanking the young people for their willingness to serve, and at reaching out to others it would build the "church" for the future if Jesus didn't return before then.. sort of the gist of it... every one is laided back today, and in a few min. their will be oatmeal muffins, blueberry and chocolate chip... hope this message gets through to you, and keep us posted via internet on what is all happening....we will keep on praying that things will move as quickly as they did last week. love mom

Umuganda

Umuganda is the coolest concept I have come across in a long time. Today was Umuganda in Kigali. This happens one Saturday a month here, and what happens is everyone is expected to work for the morning doing community service. The shops are all closed and everyone gathers to work in their community. The police are out in force and if they see someone driving around, they will flag them down and they will out the people to work right there. Could be picking weeds, smoothing a dirt road, whatever. Some tell me that really what happens is that this is 99% social and only 1% work. Either way, I think it is very cool. Most muzungu's do not participate however. Too bad.

As a result, today was another low key day. We hung around the house in the morning and went downtown in the afternoon, however, most shops were closed - a side affect of Umuganda. So we didn't really do much there.

Tomorrow we will go to the Vineyard again. It will be great to be there as we were not expecting to be there twice. Then Monday off to Immigration to try get passports done.

Other than that, nothing much going on. I miss our kids at home tremendously and wish we could all be together.

Blessings.

-dale

Hello! :) Here are some photos that we have taken for you and Epimaque to see. Hope you enjoy them. Love, Abby and Auntie Karen.

First Full Day

Today was our first full day with Epimaque and what a joy it has been. But one thing is for sure, Rwandese or Canadian, kids do not like bed time. Even as I write, Ady it trying to settle the young fella down for the night. He has an interesting little cry that sounds like a high pitched fog horn, and he has some stamina! He also has a very interesting way of becoming a wet noodle when he is upset - so he is very difficult to pick up. Amazing survival techniques one must develop in an orphange. :>)

But we have had a wonderful day just laying low. After four frantic days of high pressure running around, today was a wonderfully low key day or rest. Monday things will pick up again as we try to get his passport processed quickly and then get the visa.

Anyway, it is late and I am about to hit the sack - just got back from a lovely supper at Serge and Jen's place, great meal with great people. We will post some pictures of the day later.

Blessings all and thank-you for your continued prayer as we try to get the passport and visa processed quickly.

Good to see a post from you, Abby, Ray and Reu. If Grandma Rose and Grandpa Bill have taken pictures maybe you could post one for us. Dad and I would love to see one. Epimaque is taking a nap right now. We are purposely having a very low key day, discovering what the kids are like. Macky slept through the night. Yahoo! He was very comfortable with his surroundings and me and dad. He doesn't like the dog, cat or any other creature for that matter. He is scared. I guess he hasn't had too much exposure to them in the orphanage.
We are going out to a neighbor's house to have dinner tonight. They adopted a little boy last year, I think, from Home of Hope.
Love, Ya my cute kiddies.
Mom

We've had a lot of fun while you were gone so far but we miss you very much mommy and daddy. We can't wait for you to come home. :)

Finally For Keeps

Finally Finally Finally

After uncountable trips of running around, waiting, and running around again, we finally got Epimaque’s travel document from the Minister today. When we were on our way to the Orphanage to pick up the children for good, our driver’s car run out of gas as we were going uphill. What can you do but get out and push. So Dale, Chad and I had the pleasure. We were quite a sight to the locals. Three muzungus (white people) pushing a car that ran out of gas. We managed to turn it around in the busiest traffic you could imagined, and coast for about 1km down the hill. There’s nothing like getting into a moving vehicle. I’m getting pretty good at getting into and out of moving vehicles. A regular stunt women.

When we arrived at the orphanage, the sisters were so happy and congratulated us on getting the final permission to take our children for good. There were lots of heartfelt goodbyes. As we were leaving the kids were calling out to Epimaque and Teresita from the base of the cement stairwell a chorus of farewells. Epimaque waved and waved back.

We have had a quiet evening discovering the kids while they investigate their new life. Epimaque is very scared of the Finnerty’s dog, cat and bunnies, so we know we need to pick him up when we enjoy the outdoors. He is smiling constantly now and we are too.

Thank you all for your love and intercession over this journey. Your prayers have realeased miracles for us. God has set things up in the midst of all this crazy stuff that only he could have accomplised on our behalf.

There are still two hurdles left that we need to process in the next week: 1) we need the passports for the kids to be processed FAST! With all the hang ups we have had, it has delayed our passport process a bit. 2) we need the visa's issued pretty much instantly once we get the passports. Please pray and thank-you so much for all your prayers you have given. We appreciate them more than you can know (and probably more than we can know).

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

What a day. We started at 7:00am to leave to pick up Epimaque and bring him to the Canadian approved consulate doctor for a medical - required for the visa. This went very well and he used the test results from the prior exam we had done through the Belgian doctor, so we did not have to go through the process of more tests.

And because of the wonderful news of being able to process the visa in Kigali, we got to change our flights so we only have to be in Nairobi for 1 night instead of 9, giving us much more time in Kigali, which we have quickly come to love. This was an hilarious episode with me and Epimaque as Ady went off to the Embassy for other paper work. I can't describe it all, but it included the teller taking Epimaque to the toilet as there was not a public one around - and taking him to the toilet is quite an adventure.

We also spent much time running around as there more pieces of documentation that the Kigali government required for Chad and Shawna's adoption. Our file is complete and is ready for sign-off, but they won't do this until the other file is complete. So, we drive around A LOT trying to jump through all the hoops. We pray specifically that the final piece will be done tomorrow morning and that we can get the signed letters from the Minister of Gender before 10:00am so we can send all our documentation (except passport) with our new best friend at the Canadian Embassy in Nairobi who is returning there from Kigali tomorrow at 10:30am.

And of course, all this running around means spending much time with Innocent, our taxi driver. I have come to love and appreciate this man. He is a father of 6 who faithfully drives us and serves us. A great man of God. Bless him, Father.

Lastly, we polished off the day with a fabulous meal with Antoine and Florence. They are being raised up to pastor the Vineyard church in Kigali. What incredible people. It was such a lovely time. (And so you know, I had the rabbit - very tasty. Also finished off the night with ice cream - again. Who ever said they don't have ice cream here?)

And now, time for a long awited sleep.

What a difference a day can make!

Still don't have the final letter from the Government of Rwanda, but we experienced some increadible God moments today.

The morning started out with a visit to the translator to pick up the new translations. This turned out to be wonderful because there was much more detail about Epimaque in the new transalations than the previous versions. We now know not only the Sector of the Kigali that he was abondoned in, but the very house where he was abandoned! Amazing.

We also went to the Canadian Embassy in Kigali, where God arranged an incredible meeting with a guy who just 'HAPPENED' to be here from the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi, and he just 'HAPPENED' to be here to work with the Rwandan government to speed things along with Canadian adoptions and he just 'HAPPENED' to be meeting with the Minister that needs to sign the letter we need, and just 'HAPPENED' to be going to the Home of Hope orphange from where we are adopting, and his meeting just 'HAPPENED' to be delayed so he was available to talk to us. and he just 'HAPPENED' to have our file along from Nairobi that an assistant gave him as he was walking out the door before coming to Kigali! It was incredible!

It looks like we might be able to stay in Kigali for the whole process - even the visa! This would be fantastic!

It was a great day today!

We also got to go to Hotel Des Mille Colline - the place where the movie Hotel Rwanda was shot (and the story occurred). Our lawyer here (who is great) had a meeting here, so we needed to come, but it was quite powerful. (Watch the movie if you haven't seen it yet!) And then off to the Genocide Memorial with our drive Innocent. His wife's family was killed in the Genocide and she had to run and flee during that time. It was very powerful to be there with him.

Well, must go have some ice cream - yes, there IS some in Rwanda!

-dale

Go Away - Come Back

In Kigali, people carry an amazing amount and variety of things on their heads. I know this because we drove around Kigali a tremendous amount today. And why is that you ask? Well, it’s because of the Rwandan Go Away – Come Back bureaucratic shuffle.

Today it seemed no matter what we tried, it wasn’t quite right. It started me setting the alarm clock incorrectly and only having 15 minutes to get ready before our driver arrived. Sigh….

From there, it went down-hill quickly. First literally, then figuratively. The literal down-hill was to the Orphanage to pick up the Epimaque and Teresita (Chad and Shawna’s little girl). The road to the orphanage is scary with 5 big adults packed into a Corrolla. The ruts on the dirt road are large enough to loose a cow – Corrolla’s are not much larger. But, we got there and got to be with our kids – so the figurative down-hill ended with a great time. Epimaque is more comfortable with us and knows we are his mama and papa and he smiles more often. This is wonderful.

The figurative down-hills were all related to the bureaucratic shuffle. We started by going to the Minister of Gender and Family promotion. Although the court has declared these children as ours, the Minister must given final consent for us to travel. So we get there hoping to get this signature, but they tell us we need some papers notarized – we have notarized so many papers over the time, it is amazing they want more, but they do – Go Away and Come Back. So we go to a notary, but they don’t like some of the papers, we need a different stamp from the Ministry of Justice – Go Away and Come Back. We go to the ministry of Justice, and they don’t like a couple documents because they don’t like the translator, we need to get them retranslated – Go Away and Come Back. We find the translator they recommend but they are in meetings and can’t do it until tomorrow morning – Go Away and Come Back. Mores sighs….

Tomorrow morning we hope we have everything for them and can get the final signature. Until then, we cannot take the children permanently – even though the court says they are ours. But, on the bright side, I might not have seen a guy carry a table and four-chairs on his head if it weren’t for all the running around we had to do!

-dale

YAY

YAY! Hope your having a good time! :)

The Best Father's Day Ever

We were able to attend church at the Kigali Vineyard today. We were so blessed to meet everyone. Dale and Chad preached and I actually got up and sang a song over the congregation. I was very scared and felt like crying because of God stirring my heart so much. I was glad I did it. I just had to give away what I felt God was saying.

In the afternoon Innocent took us in his taxi to the orphanage. What a crazy drive. I'm impressed it didn't totally ruin the suspension.

We finally arrived and got to meet Epimaque for the first time and the Lucas' baby girl Teresita. We were so overwhelmed with anticipation and happiness when we finally saw him walking towards us with one of the nuns. He was scared and excited at first. They explained we were his mama and papa. He warmed up and received us. He sat on my lap. I gave him a chewy candy and it took him about an hour to eat it because he was savoring it so much. He understands that we are his new parents. He even smiled for us. This is a big deal because we have been told that he doesn't smile. He even said, "papa" to Dale.

Tomorrow we will go back to the orphanage first thing, pick up the kids and our lawyer then head over to the Minister's office to get the final document so we can get passports done and be able finally have these two little ones all the time.

Here is Reuben and Daddy finishing up on the boys bunk bed. Getting all ready for the new little brother.

We are on our way

Well Dale and I are on our way with our good friend Chad Lucas to Rwanda. We have done everything we can think of doing. It's all very cereal. We've been laboring over this little boy, our son now, for about a year and a half. It's been the longest and hardest labor I've ever had and there's still more intensity to come. We covet all your prayers. The visa process in Nairobi seems to be the wildest card. We need God's favour over that process. We plan to be in Nairobi on Thursday with Epimaque to give them the final pieces to his file. We know the Embassy in Nairobi has his application but they haven't given us any info as to where they are at with it.

I hear the cockroaches in Kigali are pretty bad.

A little about the journey

We started the international adoption process Feburary, 2008. It started with a provincial home study and approval. If you don't mind your life under a microscope it's doable. Then after loads of paperwork, communicating with governments, and countless prayers we were on our way to submitting our dossier to the Rwandan government.
After many months we received approval to adoption from their country.
The orphanage we are adopting from was the only one the government of Rwanda would work with. We then submitted our file to the orphanage and they then selected a little boy they felt was the one for us.
His name is HABIMANA, which means, "God exists." His other name is Epimaque. His is three years old. Epimaque was abandoned at three months old and has been at the orphanage ever since.
After many months of working and praying we are finally able to fly to Africa this June and get him. We know it will not be that easy. We have tons more hoopes to jump through with passport, immigration, visa, medical tests once we're there but it's wonderful to be so close to embracing him for the first time.