His Passport is Printed

We received fantastic news that the orphanage has Joracin's completed passport.

We have been told we can begin to look into flights, but we don't have a specific travel date yet. This is the first time they have let us know we could look at flight options.

They are going to schedule his medical exam in the next few days. They are also working on pulling all of the paperwork together to submit to the Embassy for creating his Visa.

Here is the best part. They let us know that they estimate travel in 5-8 weeks. We should be able to travel and have him home by the start of school.

Hallelujah!

Happy Flag Day!

Happy Day! We are out of MOI

You have got to be asking yourself, "That sure sounds good, but what the heck is MOI"?

MOI is the Ministry of the Interior in Haiti and it is the stage that we were in were Joracin's passport was getting processed. Notice how I used past tense there.

Yep, we are out of MOI and his passport is in the process of getting printed. We have been told that the printing will take 2-4 weeks. Once the orphanage has his passport, they will submit everything to the US Embassy to start working on his visa.

We were also told that when the orphanage has his passport they can begin to estimate travel dates. Yes, travel dates. Needless to say, we are excited.

And here is a little humor/head scratcher for your day as well. Take a look at this post from the Orphanage Director on their blog.
http://godslittlestangelsinhaiti.org/andlifegoeson/2013/05/27/im-back/

At the bottom of the post you will see an note about crazy travel delays in a 3rd world country. Leslie has informed me is we get stuck in Miami and are unable to fly to Haiti that we will buy swim caps and start swimming. Glad the neighborhood pool is open. I better get in shape.

Another step in the process

We got word yesterday that Joracin's dossier was submitted Joracin's to the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) on May 7. This step is a two part process- final approvals/signatures on the adoption and passport printing!

We are encouraged by the forward progress and understand that the only way to finish the marathon is to put one foot in front the other. While small, the steps continue to move us closer to bringing him home.

We also wanted to share a couple of photos from our April update.

Look close and you can see his two front teeth are missing.

Yes, they had bunny ears for the kids to wear.

A couple of people have also asked how citizenship works. They were great questions and I didn't have an answer. Well, I did a little research.

He qualifies for automatic citizenship based on the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 and based on these criteria.

• Have at least one US citizen parent
• Are under 18 years of age
• Were admitted to the US as a lawful permanent resident
• Are in legal & physical custody of at least one parent who is a US citizen

All the paperwork we have and will get will allow him to be admitted to the US as a lawful permanent resident when we bring him home. 

Thank you again for all your words of encouragement and prayers. Having you be part of this journey with us means the world.

More Positive Progess

Boy does it feel like this update has been a long time coming. I don't know if it was the length of time or perhaps that we feel like we can see the finish line, but Leslie and I both have been very anxious for our next Joarcin update over the last few weeks.

Thankfully, we received our update today. His paperwork got through a bunch of signatures and is now headed into the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) where they will begin to work on creating his Haitian passport.

The good news is we have only four steps/hurdles left. We need to get his passport completed, all the paperwork needs to be reviewed, he needs to get a medical exam and then they will begin the process of applying for his US visa. Then, yes then, we will get the call to travel. Four little steps left. The not so good news in all of this is that the range of time it will take to complete these remaining steps is wide. We are talking six weeks to ten months wide.

We can't begin to thank you all for your support through all of this. We can feel your love and prayers. And, I think we are going to need them more now as we head into the homestretch than ever.

Progress to date

Even the boys at the orphanage love to take the living room furniture and make a fort

It's official, Joracin's a Manbeck

We received another exiting update yesterday on the status of Joracin's adoption. His adoption file is out of Courts. The Court stage is where the civil court document and Act of Adoption get created. This means that Joracin has legally become our child and has taken our family name of MANBECK. How very exciting.

The process continues to move at a consistent and steady pace. It is certainly not happening at lightning speed, but we continue to be pleased with the progress and that it seems to be moving forward with no unexpected delays.

The next big step is getting his Haitian passport. The orphanage is working on some additional signatures and then they will start that application process.

These photos are from our February update from GLA (the orphanage). Since it was February, they focused on Love. The love that God has for each and every one of us and the love that we can share with one another.

The person putting the update together asked Joracin to name some of the things he loves and here is what he had to say.

"He told me that his favorite thing to do in school is science experiments.  He loves the colors white and green.  When he is in the yard at the Toddler House he loves to ride the bikes and scooters and his favorite people to spend time with are Papouche and Mickenson.  If he could choose to eat anything he would pick corn flakes and cereal.  If he could have any animal he would chose a dog.  He told me it would be brown but he is not sure what he would call it."

Now when we shared this with Katie and Eli, they thought it was really cool. They said they love science experiments  The school colors for our High School are Green and White. And, we have a little brown dog at home just waiting to lick Joarcin's face.

We are no longer in the month of Love, but I want to encourage you to carry that theme throughout this spring. Think of how you can share God's love among those that you interact with. Peace to you all.

Our Dossier has exited Parquet

We got great news today. Our Dossier was approved by Parquet. Here is what GLA the orphanage sent to us.

"Great news! Your adoption of Joracin has just been approved by Parquet. This week, we are preparing your dossier to enter the courts, in which we will create the civil court document and the Act of Adoption. This is when Joracin will legally become your child and take your family name of MANBECK."

After the Court stage, our Haitian documents are legalized in both the Department of Justice and Minister of Foreign Affairs (MAE). These steps together – courts, attestation signature, legalization, and MAE – should take approximately 2-3 months to complete.

It is still to soon to predict a travel date as there are steps after the ones listed above, but we continue to make progress. I was just talking to friends recently about how we needed some good news on movement related to the adoption. It felt like we had been stuck in a holding pattern or stuck in the doldrums. Then low and behold, we get some fantastic news.

And in case, you didn't catch it above, there will legally be a Manbeck loose in Haiti in about 3 months. LOOK OUT Haiti!

Let's celebrate the Dossier clearing Parquet

In front of the Christmas Tree at GLA

Another Milestone

We made it on to the next stage. Our Dossier moves from Parquet in the Court.