Yes we've been out of touch with the world lately it seems. So if many of you haven't heard from us we are sorry. Yes we are alive, just not hooked up to the internet world....
Allison, Anjela, Abby (Our friend from Argyle,TX) and I are currently in Nairobi. We are on our way back to Mombasa from Western Kenya and have stopped in the big city to take care of some official document follow up.
After going from place to place these last few months trying to figure out the best way to adopt Anjela only to get differing information from every place, Allison decided to go straight to the US Embassy. So Allison and Abby spent the morning in the US Embassy to try to get CORRECT information. Praise God we found the RIGHT person we needed to talk to and got official correct information. We are going to now pursue FULL legal adoption of Anjela. We were given the name of a good court advocate and so the next step is to call and get hooked up with an official adoption agency. Adoption in this country is very complicated and could be very expensive. It could take the next 6 to 8 months or longer to complete this process. Please pray that this will be done smoothly and without too much headache. And pray it can be completed by next summer 2009 so that we will be able to return to America in September 2009 for one month to renew Dennis' American green card. We would like for all of us to be able to travel together as a family and Dennis not go alone to the States. Because as it stands right now Anjela cannot leave the country of Kenya.
We spent the rest of the day in town going from one office to the next and then the next and even the next trying to get Allison's dependant pass. This is an alien card which will allow Allison to reside in Kenya without having to keep renewing her visa every three months.
We applied for the pass in May and theoretically when the Kenya immigration office receives it they are supposed to process it and send it back to us within 2 months. Well its been over 4 months since then. So we went to the Immigration Department. After going in and out of several offices on different floors - holding on to the CROSS so we don't lose our patience and "salvation," we were finally told that the process we started many months ago had not even actually been processed and they had lost or "lost" our marriage license (Just a copy). They couldn't find any record of the paperwork that we turned in and was suppose to be processed, even though we had proof that they had received it. So all this to say that we had to begin the process all over again. So frustrating!! But once again....we all had to say "TIK" (this is Kenya) The lady promised that the process should be complete before October 1st - the date on which Allison's Visa expires. After going through all of this its hard to believe word of mouth promises anymore. We left very discouraged. We took names and numbers so hopefully this will help. Please pray with us that this happens. Otherwise Allison might have to leave the country and fly some place outside of East Africa alone and then reenter Kenya again to get another 3 month Visa.
Please pray hard for us tomorrow and over the next week or so...We will be driving to Mombasa tomorrow and moving our home and the entire family to Ukunda to be near the church on Saturday...and we haven't even started packing. All this is happening this weekend! Boy do we need a lot of God's strength and grace!!~~Dennis
Allison, Anjela, Abby (Our friend from Argyle,TX) and I are currently in Nairobi. We are on our way back to Mombasa from Western Kenya and have stopped in the big city to take care of some official document follow up.
After going from place to place these last few months trying to figure out the best way to adopt Anjela only to get differing information from every place, Allison decided to go straight to the US Embassy. So Allison and Abby spent the morning in the US Embassy to try to get CORRECT information. Praise God we found the RIGHT person we needed to talk to and got official correct information. We are going to now pursue FULL legal adoption of Anjela. We were given the name of a good court advocate and so the next step is to call and get hooked up with an official adoption agency. Adoption in this country is very complicated and could be very expensive. It could take the next 6 to 8 months or longer to complete this process. Please pray that this will be done smoothly and without too much headache. And pray it can be completed by next summer 2009 so that we will be able to return to America in September 2009 for one month to renew Dennis' American green card. We would like for all of us to be able to travel together as a family and Dennis not go alone to the States. Because as it stands right now Anjela cannot leave the country of Kenya.
We spent the rest of the day in town going from one office to the next and then the next and even the next trying to get Allison's dependant pass. This is an alien card which will allow Allison to reside in Kenya without having to keep renewing her visa every three months.
We applied for the pass in May and theoretically when the Kenya immigration office receives it they are supposed to process it and send it back to us within 2 months. Well its been over 4 months since then. So we went to the Immigration Department. After going in and out of several offices on different floors - holding on to the CROSS so we don't lose our patience and "salvation," we were finally told that the process we started many months ago had not even actually been processed and they had lost or "lost" our marriage license (Just a copy). They couldn't find any record of the paperwork that we turned in and was suppose to be processed, even though we had proof that they had received it. So all this to say that we had to begin the process all over again. So frustrating!! But once again....we all had to say "TIK" (this is Kenya) The lady promised that the process should be complete before October 1st - the date on which Allison's Visa expires. After going through all of this its hard to believe word of mouth promises anymore. We left very discouraged. We took names and numbers so hopefully this will help. Please pray with us that this happens. Otherwise Allison might have to leave the country and fly some place outside of East Africa alone and then reenter Kenya again to get another 3 month Visa.
Please pray hard for us tomorrow and over the next week or so...We will be driving to Mombasa tomorrow and moving our home and the entire family to Ukunda to be near the church on Saturday...and we haven't even started packing. All this is happening this weekend! Boy do we need a lot of God's strength and grace!!~~Dennis
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