Yarn Braids

Can you tell she loves them?

Passports

The passports for the girls arrived yesterday. They are now fully documented! We had to send the originals of their Citizenship Certificates with the applications, and we are waiting for them to be returned. I can't believe it, but our little ones are now fully documented American citizens.

It is humbling for me to think of the fretting I have done about this. Another way the Lord is shaping me and growing me in this adoption.

We had dinner tonight around the fire pit. I remember sitting in the dusk last year with our older three dreaming of the day the Marianna and Evelyn would be with us. It is good to be thankful.

Am I On Candid Camera?

I am to the point in my interaction with USCIS that I am searching my home for bugs and hidden cameras.  It is not possible for an office to be this incompetent without trying.  So, my new theory is that someone at the Department of Homeland Security has decided to personally test my limits of civility, sanity, and forgiveness simultaneously.  If you find my response on YouTube, just know it was filmed without my knowledge.

The local Social Security office has been trying to verify the authenticity of the girls' Certificates of Citizenship through USCIS for two months.  I have been checking in weekly to see if there has been any progress. 

Today, a letter.  Yippee!?  No.

"We are unable to issue Social Security Cards because the Department of Homeland Security will not verify the authenticity of your citizenship documents."

Four, yes nearly four hours of elevator music later, this is what I know:

• The helpline told me to drive to Kansas City.  That was not an edifying conversation.
• Kansas City (yes, I figured out the elusive phone number) told me that they entered the girls as citizens on 2/3/2011 - that's today. So, they figure I could just call the SS office and clear it all up.
• The Social Security office said that they would be happy to clear it up, but that because it took so long to verify the documents, they labled the case as fraudulent, and deleted the girls from the system.

"You did WHAT?!"

We have to start over.

Assorted Happiness

Away in the Manger

Joy to the World

Merry Christmas!

Our Senior is a Senior

Today we are celebrating one of the ways that the Lord has provided in our adoption story.  Two years ago this week, we made a firm commitment to pursue adoption and our older three were thrilled.  But for Elizabeth, the clock was ticking.  It was easy to do the math and realize that if she went away to school, she would have precious little time to be with new siblings. 

The home education community is an amazing resource for "outside the box" options- and we found ourselves looking into several.  There were many non-adoption factors that went into the decision, but in the end, Elizabeth decided to pursue a program that would allow her to work on her BA and high school at the same time.  It has been a good fit, and she has worked hard.

She enrolled last fall, took 4 months off for Africa and adjusting, and today earned her 90th credit.  Our senior in high school is a senior in college!  If things go as planned, she will be finished with high school and a history degree in May.  Wow.  Her dad and I just shake our heads in amazement and she gets that bright smile.

The real blessing is the freedom this gives her over the next few years.  So, pray for Elizabeth as she dreams about the ways that the Lord would use her passions and talents.  She is choosing a life that is far outside of the norm and we can't wait to see what the next years will bring. 

Her little sisters are too young to understand, but some day they will see the tremendous love and investment she has poured into their lives.  We love you Elizabeth.

The Baby Jesus

This morning Evelyn knelt down in front of the manger scene:

"Mommy, come here.  Baby Jesus sleeping."

"Yes, Evelyn."

"He not sucking fingers."

"You're right!  He's not sucking his fingers."

Advent

Advent began Sunday. 
It is one of our most treasured family traditions. 
How exciting to share it with Evelyn and Marianna this year! 

The first ornament on our Jesse Tree is a globe. 
The first thing that we learn about Jesus
is that he was active in creation. 

"Marianna, who made the world?"  Silence.
"God made the world Marianna."

"Who made the trees?"
Now she's catching on..  "God made trees."

"Who made the cows?"
"Papa!"
"Well, actually, God made the cows too."

Evelyn's turn:
"Who made Evelyn?"
"God made that Evelyn!"
Where does she get that thick southern drawl?!

Science Class

Safety first!
I can't help it, I'm married to a chemist.

What Are You Doing? UPDATED

The winter farm boots came in the mail today.

The box was the best part.

"What are you doing?"

In unison: "Quiet Time."

Marianna: "Bible book!"

******

Okay.  Now the quiet time session has ended with a little drama.  We are piecing events together from evidence heard and seen.  No one witnessed the entire thing, but we think that Marianna tried to give Evelyn a little ride down the basement stairs in the previously mentioned box.

What we do know is that the box came down the stairs accompanied by the sort of noise that you would expect.  It hit the wall at the bottom of the stairs and was followed shortly thereafter by Evelyn, who was making the sort of noise that you would expect. We think that she ejected mid way.  A startled Marianna was found at the top of the stairs.  All she could say was, "me." 

Everyone but Mother is calm now. 

Certificates of Citizenship

Our saga with United States Immigration has come to an end.  I could have hugged our mailman.  I don't think there was any way to explain to him that those two little packets were worth over $26,000.  He didn't have time to hear the story, but I want to write it down, because I want my little girls to know that God is interested in the details.

Our efforts to contact someone, anyone, who could help us had proven fruitless.  Our state representative and senator's offices were involved, but not yielding much encouraging news.  One of the officers in the Kansas City office actually told the rep that they legally did not have to respond to us until February.

Last Monday, Mark and I took the little girls to Wichita.  Our plan was to try to connect with the USCIS officer who had been helpful and sympathetic in previous visits.  We still didn't have an appointment.  She saw us come in, finished with her previous client, and motioned us to her window. 

I laid out the letters.  "This is ridiculous!" she said as she looked through them.  She looked up both girls in the system and made a call to KC.  They told her they were working on it.  She could see the disappointment in my face.  And then, she just decided to do what she could to help.  She had the authority to issue temporary work cards.  What?!  They are two and three!  She said it was worth a try and she thought that the social security office would work with us. 

All she needed was two passport photos.  I had them in my folder from Rwanda.  They couldn't be more than 6 months old - whew!  just under the time limit.  She took them.  She couldn't issue Evelyn's in her new name, because it had not yet been changed in the "system", but she told us we might be able to get the name changed at the social security office with our re-adoption paperwork.  She stamped the documents and wished us luck. We were praying for favor!

The young man at window 4 asked to see almost every document we had related to the adoption, and then he declared, "Yep, we can do this."  The cards would come in the mail in 1-2 weeks. 

And then, the next morning at 7:30, the KC office left a message at our state rep's office.  Both girls had been approved and the certificates would be on their way.

Today, the certificates came - so now we will take them to social security and have the status of their numbers changed from "temporary work" to "American Citizen"!

So incredibly thankful!

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Last night, our church family gathered for a meal.  We gathered to give thanks to our Creator and Savior.  We clustered around tables for eight for a delicious meal, and then we sang.  The first song we sang was Great is Thy Faithfulness.  Marianna's eyes brightened, and she sang one of her mamma's favorite hymns with all of her heart.  Her little, strong voice rang out, and nothing could have convinced me to "dampen" her enthusiasm. 

She sang, and I wept.

Great is Thy Faithfulness
O God, my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not,
Thy compassions they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy Faithfulness
Great is Thy Faithfulness
Morning by morning, new mercies I see
All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided.
Great is Thy Faithfulness
Lord unto me.

One year ago, everything about this adoption seemed so uncertain.  Six months ago, our girls had never seen us.  And last night, those beautiful, sparkling eyes, that adorable accent, and those powerful words just did me in.  Completely.

Dear waiting families,
The day is coming when you will be overwhelmed with the faithfulness of God.  The fire of waiting will not last forever.  We are praying for you and trusting with you.

USCIS strikes again

Today, we received a letter in the mail from USCIS.  It states that they received a request of the status of Evelyn's file.  They were writing to tell us that they have no record of her in their system.  No applications, no payments, nothing.  (I have a cancelled check for $420, but they evidently don't know how that happened.)

It also included the National Help line number - just in case we had any questions or need any assistance.

I despise the USCIS.

But, I love the Lord, and I belong to Him.  And, in his wise providence, he has ordained this frustration as part of our adoption - for our good and his glory.  Lord, give us patience.

"Magenta!"

Last week, I spent several hours on the phone and on-line trying to contact a real, live, and COMPETENT person at USCIS.  That is asking for the moon.  My questions were simple.  "Why does one daughter have a green card, and the other does not?"  AND, more importantly, "Since you cashed our checks for $840.00 in August, where are their Certificates of Citizenship?"

At one point, I was told that I would need to make an InfoPass appointment for the Buffalo, NY office.  For those of you who are not involved in this crazy paper chase of international adoption, that means they were telling me to TRAVEL to Buffalo.  We.  live.  in.  Kansas.

The national help line had proved, once again, to be entirely unhelpful.  So, I resorted to my old tactics of trying to locate a phone number for the Kansas City office.  After about 30 minutes of detective work, I was able to find a fax number.  No luck.

This led to the unthinkable.  And we did it.  While we were in Wichita for the girls' doctors appointments, we decided to try to walk in to the USCIS Immigration office without an appointment. 

The first time we visited, (fingerprints) we had an appointment, and the welcome was not friendly.  The last time we visited, we had an appointment, and had driven to Wichita specifically to hand in our N600 paperwork.  We were told that even though the web site said that you could turn the papers into the Wichita office, that was not the case.  "Sorry, you need to send all of this to Kansas City."  "Your girls are SO cute!"

Mark kept the girls in the car.  I passed through security and sat down in front of the window and tried to make eye contact with the woman behind the glass.  (She was the officer who thought that the girls were so cute back in July.)  Three officers were all discussing a court case that had not gone well.  They were not smiling.

Despite my rotten, cynical attitude, God decided to work.

She asked if she could help me. 

"I don't have an appointment."  (Thinking to myself, this is when they call security)

"That's okay.  What can I do?"

I explained the situation.  She looked a few things up on the computer and disappeared into the back.  The next thing I know, another officer is standing behind the glass with a huge folder open in his hands.  As he shuffles the pages, I see the small packet of passport photographs that I had mailed to Kansas City...  wait a minute...  KANSAS CITY?!  I drove here to hand you these pages, you turned me away and told me that I had to mail them to Kansas City, but now they are HERE?  What in the WORLD is going on? (All thought, not said.)

I was told that Kansas City had sent the file back to Wichita because there were different birth dates on the records.  They needed to do an interview with the girls present.  They were sorry.

"Wait!  My husband has the girls outside!  I'll go get them."

"But the person who does the interviews is not available today.  Well, wait just a minute."

Guess who had stopped by the office after testifying in court?  The senior officer in charge of interviews.  Yep, in his flag tie. 

They told me they would see what they could do.  I called Mark and told him to bring the girls in right away.  Evelyn was crying like there was no tomorrow.  Her thighs were both throbbing from shots.  The "they are so cute" officer grabbed a box of crayons and some dinosaur pictures.  Evelyn tearfully picked up a crayon, took one look, and mournfully announced to the waiting room, "Broken."  I suggested that she try another.  The tears dried up.

About 30 minutes later, the flag tie officer stepped out into the waiting room.  "Mr. and Mrs. Engelland?"  We scrambled to put away books and crayons.  "May I see your photo IDs?"  Very formally, he led us back to the interrogation interview room.  "I need you to remain standing, so I can put you under oath."  Marianna dutifully raised her right hand, just like everyone else in the room.  Flag tie man leaned over his desk and asked her, "Are you going to tell us the truth?"  "YES!" was her clear, firm answer.  Marianna has a very no-nonsense voice.  He looked shocked.  I smiled.

"What is Marianna's birth date?"

We answered and he agreed. 

While he was rustling through papers, Evelyn (26 months old)  picked up a crayon, held it up high for the officer to see, and exclaimed, "Magenta!"  Clear. as. a. bell.  And she was right (which is funny, because at home, she gets her colors all jumbled)  Oh, great Evelyn, now you've done it.  He is going to think that we are trying to smuggle 8 year olds into the country in two and three year old bodies.  I couldn't help but laugh.

A few minutes later, we were shaking hands and giving thanks for the fact that we had found a real, live, helpful person.  He told us to NEVER believe ANYTHING that ANYONE tells you at the national helpline.  Note well, fellow travelers!

Here is the summary of what God did:  He sovereignly arranged for Mark and I to BOTH be in Wichita for the doctor's visit. He allowed an appointment that should not have happened.  Our troubled file was in Wichita.  He arranged for our file to be pulled from the abyss by a man who was not supposed to be at work that day.  And he arranged for our completed file to be placed on the truck that left for the Kansas City office that afternoon.

Humbling.

I'm going to work on my attitude before I try the Social Security office again.

What Time is It?

This morning, Nathan asked me,

"What time is it?"

Before I could open my mouth,

Marianna answered confidently,

"Two Forty Sixty."

Birth Certificates

Thanking the Lord this afternoon for two new Kansas birth certificates!  They have the right names, dates, and certifications!  That, in light of all the birth date confusion, is a miracle!

We are praying that this will satisfy USCIS and that they will issue Certificates of Citizenship soon.  In the meantime, we have what we need to apply for Social Security numbers.  One more piece of the paperwork is completed.

Four Months Home

This week, I caught both girls "reading" on their own,
so we captured a bit of that for you... 

Too cute!

(Pause the music player to the right to hear better.)

A quick, blogger housekeeping note:

If you follow this blog, but it does not update in your reader,

try deleting it from your reader and add it back.

This step has helped some frustrated readers!

Sadly, the fact that I have been terrible at updating

cannot be fixed with such a simple step.

I'll try to do better!

Peek-A-Boo Pictures

Where's Evelyn?

There she is!