Passport delay

After waiting nearly 7 weeks for R.J.'s passport, we got this message today from Dixie, the orphanage director at GLA:

We have 32 children waiting for passports. The Ministry of Interior, responsible for approving the passports, has added a step in the process. They did not tell anyone that they were adding this step; however, no adoption passports have been approved since January. Finally in early April, we were told that the lawyer needs to fill out a form. They have since changed their mind, and now anyone from the orphanage can go to the Ministry of Interior and fill out this special form asking for the child's passport.

The form is very long, asking for a lot of information about each adoptive parent. LaDawn spent one whole day this week just finding the information for the forms, so that Terriot can go and fill them out. Of course, when he arrived with 32 forms, they would not receive him and gave him an appointment for Friday, the 27th. They told him they could not do all of them in one day, and he would need to come back three days next week to get them all filled out. They will not give us the forms so we can fill them out in advance. Rather, we must fill them out sitting with the person in charge of doing the form.

We are praying that once we have filled out and submitted these forms, that the passports will be approved quickly and we can get some children home and beds opened up!

Donations welcome for the GLA Toddler House

With an estimated 40 days until we travel to Haiti to bring R.J. home, we are beginning to plan ahead for our trip. It is customary for anyone traveling to an overseas orphanage to take along some donations, and we will be able to take 100-150 lbs. of supplies with us. We asked Molly for ideas of things that could be used at the Toddler House where R.J. lives, and we now have a list to share with anyone who might wish to contribute something to our collection of donations to take to Haiti.

Click here to download the list.

There are 65 kids, ages 2 and up, who live at the Toddler House at God's Littlest Angels orphanage. Just imagine the numbers of supplies they go through -- for instance, that's several 150-count bottles of multivitamins each week! School supplies are needed because all of the kids are schooled right there at the orphanage, which includes learning to read and write in English (since the majority of children at GLA are adopted by families from the U.S. and Canada).

As Molly said, Whatever you are willing to donate will be used and fully appreciated! Sincere thanks in advance to all who are able to help out! :)

~Angie & Phil