Saying Goodbye

Today has been a bit of a rough day emotionally. This morning right after breakfast we had to say goodbye to Mike. Kerwin was very upset that he was leaving again and I could not convince him that it was only for a few days this time. So we looked at the calendar and his adoption book and I tried to explain how it was all going to fit in timewise. Then we went swimming for a while because I wanted to enjoy what I hope is my last sunny day by the pool. It's been so overcast here recently, especially in the afternoon, so we swam first and had school in the afternoon today. Kerwin actually did really well with school today. His dad took over with school while he was here and I think it helped to have a different teacher working on slightly different things. His handwriting was the most improved.

Secondly, I've been on edge all day about the visa interview. We found out this morning before Mike left that we were scheduled for the appointment for tomorrow morning but there was a document that did not make it from the US immigration office up to the Consulate. It's always something. So, I waited all day to see if the appointment was going to be cancelled because of that. No call came. When I did talk with Barb she said we are going in there tomorrow no matter what. So, I am now preparing for what could be either an extremely good day, an extremely bad day, or an "okay" day. The extremely good day would include us getting our visa and getting out of the country on one of two flights leaving tomorrow afternoon/evening. Then we would fly the rest of the way home on Thursday. An extremely bad day would include us not getting the visa tomorrow for some unknown reason. A okay day would be us getting the visa but not making it onto a flight tomorrow and having to wait until Thursday to leave the country. So, please pray that we get that visa tomorrow.

This evening we had another nice dinner with the Yoders. The boys said goodbye in case we do not see eachother again tomorrow. I don't think Kerwin quite understood that this could the big goodbye for a while but he was still a little emotional after they left. I think he is kind of spent already and tomorrow will be a big day no matter what.

We are going to prepare to leave tomorrow and I'm going to try to get some sleep. I don't know how successful I will be. We are so close now and I am as nervous as ever. We could be saying goodbye to Haiti for a long time.

Down with Columbus Day!

Since we've personally been so affected by Columbus Day, I've decided to do a little research about this great holiday. In doing so I found out that Columbus Day actually has quite a bit of opposition. In fact, it is not even celebrated in the state of Minnesota. So, I have decided to join the opposition and try to convince as many as possible to join with me. First, the day that Columbus landed in the Americas was actually October 12th. If the government offices were observing the actual Columbus Day, they would not be closed today and we could have received our visa a day earlier and been home before the holiday even occurred. Second, and more importantly, Columbus was nothing more than an imperialist brute who sought to dominate anyone who was not European deeming them "ignorant and cowardly." In fact, here's a little piece of trivia for you. The first European settlement in the Western Hemisphere was actually a colony here on present day Haiti. It was a settlement started after the Santa Maria ran aground on Christmas day of 1492 while the crew slept (lazy, ignorant peasants). They named the settlement La Navidad and 39 crew members were left to man the settlement. At first the native Arawak people were friendly and helpful to the crew. However, once they realized that they crew was simply there to dominate and overtake them, they slaughtered them all and left their carcasses on the beach for Christopher Columbus to find when he came back the following year. So, in Haiti of all places, Columbus day should not be celebrated! I hope you have enjoyed my completely non-biased account of the true Columbus Day events. Ha!

Okay so really we had a great weekend with lots of great food. We had so much fun it went by really quickly. Right before I got here to Haiti four months ago, I had lost about 15 pounds. I really have no way of knowing what I truly weigh now but I think I have probably gained it all back again. So, in the last week or so of my being here, I decided to try to diet as much as possible with the limited foods available to me. I'd been doing pretty well until this weekend. Saturday we went up to the Montana and I had crepes made with pesto, tomato sauce and cheese. And they came with moist chocolate cake with a raspberry drizzle for dessert. It was the best meal I've has since I've been here. It was almost American except it was supposed to come with a salad which we never got (just to remind me it was Haiti). Then that evening, the Yoders came over to our hotel room to watch the Cubs game since they are big Cubs fans. Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks completed their sweep of the Cubs that night but Jackie did make chicken corn soup served with fresh croissants. I had three helpings. Then Sunday after church we came back to the hotel and ate the buffet for lunch. It was very good and fresh. The highlights were the lobster tails in the seafood mix and the flan. Kerwin had a great time with the kids. We have very quickly reached the point where other kids are much more interesting than mom and dad.

Today we will have school and get Mike packed up and ready to leave tomorrow. We have decided that he will go ahead go back on Tuesday as scheduled since we should only be a day or so behind him and it would end up costing us a lot to change his ticket. We are hoping to all be together at home by the end of the week. I am hoping to be there to see the Cats take on the #1 LSU tigers on Saturday.

Recent Pictures

Kerwin turns his plantain into a footbal
Kerwin eating his football
Mike and Kerwin watching the lowlights from he UK-South Carolina Game
My latest knitting creation (I gave them to one of the cleaning ladies here who is expecting)

Christopher Stinkin' Columbus

Well after my little fit this morning, things took yet another disappointing turn for the worse. We found out that because all of our papers did not make it to the Consulate until mid-morning today, there was no way for them to be able to process them in time to give us a next business day appointment. We also found out that Monday is Columbus Day which we typically could not care less about. However, now it means that we will not get a visa appointment until at least Wednesday. So I had a slight pity party this afternoon. But I have now (in the words of my mother) "readjusted my happy cap" and am back to my normal self again. We had dinner tonight with our friends the Yoders and we are planning a really fun day with them tomorrow with lots of good food which can always make me happy. We are going to go to the Montana for lunch and then in the evening we are going to watch a baseball playoff game in our room. Jackie has offered to make soup and bring it over to eat while we watch the game (and you know about me and my soup). Sunday is church and then just a few more days and I'll be home.

I am beginning to plan things for when I get home. I have rescheduled Kerwin's medical appointments. I need a day just to go through mail and put the house back in order. I have a list of about four or five restaurants I am dying to go to. I am also excited about being able to make my own meals again when I feel like it. I just this week really reached the point where nothing at the restaurant here sounds any good to me. And I am really excited about going to my first UK footbal game of the season. Unfortunately they are no longer the undefeated Kentucky Wildcats but I'll be happy to see them none the less. I am really looking forward to getting things packed up here. Then it will seem real. I am planning at this point on trying to hope a plane the same day that we get the passport. I think it's possible. We'll spend the night in Miami and then get home earlier the next day rather than late at night.

Our friends from Scotland left for home today. We are so happy for them. They have been waiting so long. Hopefully we will be in the air soon as well. Wishing everyone a good weekend...

A bad day for the home team

Well in all the frustration of trying to get the broadcast for yesterday's loss to South Carolina (we were having major audio problems), I forgot to write a blog. The news wasn't particularly good either. We do have the passport in hand now, which is a good step but there was a bit of trouble with one of the papers that need need to go with us to the Consulate. Plus, the Consulate is so busy right now, they hadn't even looked at our papers yet and would not give us a interview date. So, we are definitely not going in this week. Hopefully Monday. Barbara is going to deal with the paperwork problem today and then take it over personally to beg for a Monday visa appointment. I have also spoken personally with the lady a the Consulate who is very polite but has not be able to give me an answer about when we can come in.

Wait till you hear what the paperwork problem is. Kerwin was taken in for a physical several months ago but you do not pick up the physical form until you have the passport in hand. Don't ask me why things are done in this order it makes no sense to me. So when she went to pick up the physical form yesterday she sees that somehow they failed to document that Kerwin is handicapped even though she specifically told the doctor this and he said to her, "Yes, I can see that." I was there and heard the whole exchange. However, somewhere between him examining Kerwin and the report being written the fact the he had CP and was deaf was forgotten. So now we have to take in documentation of Kerwin's disabilities so they can fill it in on the "Diagnosis" blank. AAAHHH! The incompetence.

If you don't care to read my diatribe you can just stop here because the news for today is over. But I have yet to really rail on the government or the culture or the way thing are done here but I am about to. I'll probaly go back and delete this later but for those of you who caught it now, here it is. I have a tendency to lose my tolerance and ability to remain focused toward the end of something. I found this to be true when I spent the summer in Russia. By the last two weeks I was already home and my tolerance for that place, what we were doing, and my teammates changed drastically. I feel the same thing happening here. There is one thing I don't think I could ever deal with if I were called to overseas missions. I cannot just take this attitude of, "Well, that's just they way they do things here and you have to just accept it." Well I do not. I do not accept it. It is pitiful. It's not just different, it's worse. If you have seen better you cannot deny it. I'm sorry. I know incompetence and corruption and apathy occur all over, but nowhere is it tolerated and expected like it is here. It's wrong to have to always wonder if every person you talk to is lying to you. It's wrong that people in offices that are supposed to be helping children, the "employees" are sitting around playing computer games, sleeping, laughing it up with their buddies, and just generally passing time. And unfortunately I do not have any great overarching plan for fixing this place. It's not an easy (or even possible) thing to do. I do, however, reserve my right to be disgruntled.

These annoyances not withstanding, we are all happy and generally doing well. It's very nice to have Mike around to give me a few minutes to myself every now and then. Kerwin is definitely enjoying having both Mom and Dad around. We actually told him that we are going to be leaving soon. He is much more excited about getting in the "big airplane" at this point than he is about going home. But he is excited about that too. Hoping for good news this afternoon.

Together again!

Mike arrived without incident. He was actually early and waiting by the road when we drove up. This airport pickup is getting easier and easier each time someone comes down. But I am still glad that this will be the last time we have to do it. Mike and Kerwin had a very sweet (and active) reunion. They played about a half of a football game in the room and then we went up to dinner. Kerwin also got some new clothes, toys, and a backpack to put them in. (See pictures above) I didn't get any posed pictures of the two together because they wouldn't hold still long enough. We had dinner with the Yoders. They have been such great friends to us and we are making plans to stay in touch and try to get together again sometime in the future.

We got good news today but right at the end of the day. The passport is printed but we don't have it in hand yet. Since we didn't find this out till the very end of the day it was too late to get an appointment scheduled for the visa. Barb is sending an email tonight so hopefully it will be addressed first thing tomorrow. It would be wonderful to get the interview by the end of the week but we may have to wait until next week. I am much happier to wait now that we are all together again. Thanks for all the emails and notes. I can't wait to see many of you again soon and for you to get to meet Kerwin.

Oh, by the way, the girls that Kerwin likes to play with here at the hotel now have their passports, visas, and hope to be heading home Friday if all goes well with getting their transit visas to travel through the US on their way to Scottland. We have also enjoyed having them here as the kids have played together and the adults have commiserated together. We are so glad that they are getting to go home soon too!

The Good and the Bad

Kerwin asked to put on his jacket with the hood today because it rained for a while. We had another rainy afternoon today. Kerwin has been walking on his own a lot more recently. He walked all the way down to the room the afternoon without falling once. Here's are a couple pictures of him walking and make a pipe cleaner creation in his hood.

Today we got bad and good news. The bad was that our passport did not get printed today but Barb is confident that it will happen tomorrow. The good news is better than the bad news is bad. The good news it that all of the business with the US immigration is done (that 3-9 days we were talking about)so as soon as we have the passport tomorrow we can schedule the visa interview. So hopefully, we will be able to come home with Mike. Thanks for joining with us in prayer. Praise God for his faithfulness. And thanks also to those of you who have contacted me to let me know you are reading. What a blessing!