UPDATE: Reuniting a Family

August 20, 2009: We received the birth certificates. I quickly scan them along with all the final documents and head to the post office. I tried to overnight them, but that option is not available. (We were given an APO address.) The only option is Priority Mail. I went ahead and send them with delivery confirmation. Now, we wait.

August 19, 2009: The long awaited birth certificates are in the U.S. Now we wait for the US Postal Service.

August 5, 2009: We received the signed legal forms from the kid’s mother authorizing their move to the U.S.

July 23, 2009: The last thing required is Proof of Relationship between Parent and Child, or in my case, Petitioner and Stepchild. I spent a bit of time looking through old photo albums and digital images. I collected a few photos of us together along with letters written to me by the children over the years. I’m going to send these with copies of my passport showing my visits to Honduras. Transaction cost: $12.13 Total spent: $3361.44

July 22, 2009: We shipped off the legal forms to Holland for signature and anxiously await their return. At this point, I have to stop and confess that I am worried that the children’s mother may back down. I pray that she does what is best for the children, and that God illuminates her heart. May she sign the forms and allow the children to join our family here. In Jesus name… Transaction cost: $27.95 Total spent: $3349.31

July 20, 2009: Esteban accompanies the children to part II of their physical appointment. They receive their immunizations and the official forms for the American Consulate.

July 16, 2009: The appointment goes very well. There are a few things missing though so we do not receive visas today. Esteban is given a list of things to compile along with an address to mail them to. After that, the children will be asked to come back with any adult and they will receive their visas.
· Esteban made the children’s appointments for their physicals. Transaction cost: $829.49
· He had a lawyer draft the memo granting permission to remove the kids to the U.S. which will be mailed to the children’s mother for signature. Transaction cost: $158.78
· Esteban also secures a copy of Shannel’s police certificate, certifying she’s never been in trouble with the law. Transaction cost: $18.52
The last thing left will be the children’s long form birth certificates. Apparently, this is a different version than the ones we submitted. Esteban’s Tia Melida will help us with this when she travels to Honduras next month. Travel, room & board: $264.64. Total spent: $3321.36

July 13, 2009: Shannel arrives in Honduras, after a hard and long journey from Guatemala, where she lives with her husband and child. All three of Esteban’s children are together for the first time since last year. Transaction cost: $6.35 Total spent: $2049.93

July 9, 2009: I received an email saying the appointments have been scheduled for July 16, 2009 at 7:30 a.m. I am in awe of God’s power, for only He could make this happen in this way. Thank you, God, for answering our prayers. We put in calls to all our relatives asking them to stand with us in prayer, that God will show favor on our petition and grant the kid’s entrance into the United States. Shortly after, I received a second email asking us to bring all forms and documents with us to the scheduled appointment.

July 8, 2009: I drafted an email in response to the embassy. I gave them Esteban’s cell phone number as well as Jerry’s number, who is now the boy’s guardian in our absence. I also asked if we should drop off the DS-230 part I and II while Esteban is in the country. I wonder if I will need to be there as the petitioner?

July 7, 2009: I got an email from the embassy in Tegucigalpa saying they were ready to set an appointment for August 2009 and they wanted a local number to reach them at. I am shaking. Could this really be happening?

June 30, 2009: I called the National Visa Center to get some clarification on the visa packet. We finally have all the forms, passports, photos and documents we needed and filled out the forms, but when it comes to the NVC, I like to make certain. They proceeded to inform me that our case had been expedited. I just have to take a moment to say Thank You GOD! Because, I know, that I know, that I know, that all this is happening because of his goodness and grace. They said they sent the file to the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras as of June 25th. I called the Embassy in Honduras and was given an email address to follow up with. I drafted and sent the email, the very same day. I’m hoping that Esteban can just hand deliver the forms to them while he visits.

June 5, 2009: We receive the visa application packet. The application doesn’t seem too bad. They are requesting a ton of original documents though. Many original documents, some of which we do not have. Luckily Esteban’s uncle was visiting in Honduras and he will bring us the children’s passports and updated passport photos. Because the kids are currently split up, he will only bring the boy’s updated passport photos though. Shanel’s photos and passport will have to wait until Esteban visits in July.

June 4, 2009: We send in our request to expedite the case, in Jesus name!

June 3, 2009: Things are getting worse in Honduras. Ricardito is in trouble and I am more desperate than ever to get him out of there and bring him home with us. I call immigration and they confirm they received the visa fee. The next step is the visa application packet. She tells me she will request for a packet to be emailed to me. I ask if there is any way to expedite the case. She said they will only expedite in the case of military or life and death. I explain our situation with the kids. She tells me to send in a request via email and submit a copy of the death certificate.

April 19, 2009: Esteban’s mother passes.

April 15, 2009: We sent in the visa fee. Transaction cost: $1207.99 Total spent: $2043.58

July 3, 2008: We received notification that they reviewed the documents submitted in support of an application for an immigrant visa but could not continue the case without the visa fee. We had two choices. We could send the payment, but Esteban would have to forgo his trip to Honduras. Or we could send Esteban to Honduras and wait to send the payment next year. At the time:
*Esteban had already skipped his trip to Honduras in 2007
*Esteban’s daughter bore a child out of wedlock and he was now a grandfather
*The children’s mother had decided to leave the country and the boys were practically on their own with their maternal grandmother
*Esteban’s mother’s health was declining
We decided that it was much more important for him to visit Honduras. The fee would have to wait.

June 23, 2008: I submitted the I864 and the I864A forms. I guesstimate that it took me a full two weeks of filling out applications, making phone calls, making copies, sorting through three years of financial data and organizing documents. Transaction cost: $12.45 Total spent: $835.59

April 25, 2008: We received notification that effective January 1, 2008, the immigrant visa fees increased from $380 to $400. Lucky us.

December 9, 2007: We received notification that they received the Agent of Choice letter but they could not continue until we submit the immigrant visa application fee of $380.

December 6, 2007: We sent in the Choice of Address and Agent form. This took a while because we were under the impression that they should be signed by the children personally. We later found out that because they were minor children, Esteban could sign the form on their behalf. Transaction cost: $4.80 Total spent: $823.14

September 3, 2007: We received notification to fill out the I864, Affidavit of Support. This was by far the most overwhelming application for me. I postponed the project many times and I considered giving up many times. This was my contract and promise to the children that I would be their sponsor. It was emotionally overwhelming. The directions alone were 11 pages long. The application was also 11 pages long.

August 22, 2007: We sent in the fees. Transaction cost: $214.65 Total spent: $818.34

August 6, 2007: We received the I864 processing fee bill for $70 each. We also received the Choice of Address and Agent form.

July 3, 2007: We received the I797, Approval Notice. We were thrilled.

June 16, 2007: We sent in the copies and translations. Transaction cost: $23.88 Total spent: $603.69

May 7, 2007: We received the I797E, requesting evidence. They wanted copies of the children’s birth certificates and notarized translation copies.

January 26, 2007: We received the I797, which is like a receipt. It confirmed that they received the petitions and the fee.

January 22, 2007: We sent in the I130 (immigrant petition for relative). At that time, these were $190 each. Transaction cost: $9.81 Total spent: $579.81

Our First Bowling Experience

Note to Self: I need to teach the kids all the do's and don'ts of an activity before inviting Esteban to come along...

Jayden has been asking to bowl so badly that I started to consider it. I don't know where it came from. Maybe from playing the Wii at Judy's, but we finally decided to take them on Sunday. I had a lunch date after church so we decided we would take them later in the evening and have dinner there.

I got home and picked up the family. Esteban seemed a little strange, but he was playing along so I let it go. We got to the lane, got our shoes and lane assignment and started to play. I didn't know they had special "bumpers" for little kids so that was great. Everything was fine until some bowl-a-holics got the lane next to us. It was so obvious that they didn't care for kids and things went downhill from there. Esteban kept correcting the kids and pushing Jayden around, which of course made Jayden unhappy and mouthy. It was awful. I was snapping at Esteban because he was being mean to the kids and he was annoyed.

In the hopes of saving the evening, I talked to the hostess and asked if we could switch lanes. It didn't help. Then I tried ordering food. Maybe the kids would settle down if they were munching on something and maybe Esteban would feel better too, but nothing. Esteban's mood was ruined. He started to bowl gutter balls, and continued to snap at Jayden and poor Maya wanted to participate so badly, but she kept running out into the alley and into other people's games. So she was getting pulled and tugged all over the place. Sigh...

I was devastated for Jayden's sake because he wanted to go so bad. I felt sorry that it wasn't fun and that he got yelled at so much. And I felt angry at Esteban for letting those rednecks ruin our night. Esteban misses alot of "firsts". I'll show him all the pictures afterwards, which paint such a happy picture, but teaching the kids to do something for the first time takes alot of patience and understanding. Apparently there IS someone on earth with less patience than I! So disappointed...

Horrible picture, but here's Jayden's ball going down the alley. Every ball would have been a gutter ball if it wasn't for those bumpers. He was rolling his 5 pound ball ever so gently. It was taking forever to get down the lane.

As you can see, any minute now Maya is going to pinch her fingers with those heavy balls. And Jayden gives up waiting. He comes running over to "help" correct Maya.
This is the beginning of our first game. Jayden was doing better than I was.

Jayden's first game score was 64 and his second game was 58! Way to go son!

Creating Space in the Garage

This week was supposed to be a super productive week. I was going to call all these contractors/handymen to come and give us estimates on converting some of the space in the garage. But it didn't happen that way.

So here is a sketch I made of the garage and what I would like to see happen to it. The area marked storage is a unit that I already have. I just marked on my grid where I would place it. It's not going to be a large room, but then again I don't have a large house. My master is 12x12 and bedrooms 2 & 3 are 10x11. The room will have electric outlets, a ceiling fan above, a telephone jack and a cable jack. The closet gives us extra storage, which we need so badly. I'll actually have an enclosed laundry space, which I don't have and I'm very excited for. And I'll still have quite a bit of garage/storage space left.

• First guy was slow to return calls and slow to get back to us when he said he would get back to us. When he finally came out, he looked at the space, took my sketch, offered no suggestions and then failed to call us back. Well over a week later, he priced us at $4676, not including the electrical. He's still waiting to get that estimate back. He said I wouldn't need a permit, but I could apply for one if I wish. I doubt that I will go with this guy because I prefer to work with people who do what they say they are going to do.


• The second guy came recommended to us and called when he said he was going to call and came when he said he was going to come. He was direct, no fuss/no muss. He's a military man stationed here until February 2010. I have to say, I liked his style immediately. He came out, looked at the space, offered suggestions and cost cutting ideas. He was up front about what he could do and what he couldn't do. We buy the materials and he supplies the labor. The estimate came back at $2800, not including air, flooring, sheetrock finish and paint should we decide not to do paneling. He's not liscensed or insured (just a handyman) and it doesn't cover permits. If we do the work without permits, we would have to knock it all down should we decide to sell the house.


• The third guy came out today. He took a look at the space and offered his take on the space. I like him because he is local and he's currently not working. I think he might be very willing to work with us on price and he also said he could start immediately. He needs to work. Plus he's familiar with the law and building codes. He said it was up to us if we want to deal with permits or not, but in his opinion, it wasn't worth it to pay a minimum of $800 for an architect to come and draw up the plans to put up 3 walls. Either way, he's used to dealing with permits and it's our choice. He suggested cutting out the closet and purchasing an armoire instead which would make for a larger room (12x13). He also suggested a slightly different floorplan which is below.
He's getting back to us on Monday with an estimate. **Update: He got back with us today and I talked him down to $4145 if we paint and do the floors.

• The 4th guy was supposed to come today, but he stood us up.

Beach Day

We squeezed in one more day at the beach this year before school starts. Did I just say that? Sebi and Serg have the right idea here...
These three are dangerous when they collaborate.

Fill buckets, empty buckets, fill buckets, empty buckets...

Maya and Chooch get along very well.

Jayden gets along too, as long as nobody takes his toys.

Cuties!

Time for a drink.

Preparations...

This week has been a week of preparations. But how do you prepare a home for 2-3 more kids when you already feel claustrophobic with the 2 kids you’ve got? Well, I don’t know the answer to that, but here’s what we HAVE done. We’ve been doing a heck of lot of cleaning, organizing and purging. Not to mention that we’ve also been mentally preparing Jayden and Maya for the arrival of their siblings. I’d like the transition to be as seamless as possible for us all. Jayden is thrilled to be sharing a room with Antony and Maya is not going to like losing her roommate one bit. I can tell this will be hardest on her.

This week, I finished moving the office out of the spare room and into my living room. I thought this would be the end of the world (losing my office), but actually it turned out quite nice. I ended up finding a wonderful piece of furniture that I love. Here's my new secretary when it's not in use.
And here it is when I am using it.

We also purchased bunk beds for Antony and Jayden. Jayden and Maya have been beside themselves with joy at the new “toy”. Jayden has already decided that he gets top bunk and Antony will sleep on the bottom bunk. Esteban thinks this will suit Antony just fine. Except for the fact that this thing is huge, it's a pretty decent set. It includes the built in desk with three desk drawers. It also has 3 shelves and 5 drawers.

Can you tell it's a party? I already removed the ladder. hahaha

Here's Jayden taking his first official nap in the bed. Not the top bunk yet, but he seemed fine with it. PS When I went in to check on him, I found Maya in bed with him. It was so funny, but I separated them immediately. They don't have their afternoon naps together in quite some time. I don't know what she's going to do when he's not in the same room with her. I'm thinking of converting her crib to full-size just so that she feels like she got a grown up bed too.

We also purchased a small bedroom set for Ricardo. It will not fit in the bedroom with the boys, which leaves us with no other option but to convert space in the garage. My new project is to get some people out to look at the space and gather the estimates.

It’s an interesting process. The other day, I was talking to Esteban and I compared it to the nesting stage of pregnancy. I’m doing as much as I can to prepare and yet the more I do, the more unprepared I feel. As I’m going through the motions, I can’t help but feel like it’s the end of my life as I know it. And though it’s not so much the end as it is the beginning, I can’t help but feel sad. It’s as though I’m counting down the days. I feel an overwhelming sense of sadness as I think of all the things I won’t be able to do anymore or won’t be doing as much of. I can’t really say that my life will be better or worse, just that it will be different, but I sometimes feel a sense of doom. And yet, I'm totally excited that the boys will be coming and their years of moving around from one guardian to another will be over. I'm excited that WE will be their family from here on out, for better or for worse. I think about all the things I will be a part of, that their mother won't be around for. I'm secretly imagining what Christmas this year will be like and how awesome their birthday parties will be. Going to the beach, visiting at Disney, going to church together, New Year's Eve! Wow!!! Extracurricular activities, family gatherings and getaways, prom...

My emotions are across the board. Is that normal?

Mi Comai!

I get such a kick out of saying that! Comai is short for Comadre, which means Godmother. Judy, my best friend since the 5th grade, is Jayden's godmother and we went to visit with her just before Esteban's flight arrived. Here are Jayden and Ivanna playing the Wii. These guys are so funny together. I am shocked at how young kids these things up. He was awesome on that thing.
Maya is the observer, but she didn't seem to mind too much.

Ivanna, pretty girl with a pretty smile.

More pool side fun...

Everyone stops for a melon break! Maya, Jayden, Becky, Ivy, and Gabby

Yummo!

Weekend at Beth's

Every year, we go to South Florida and visit with my girlfriend Beth. Sadly, we did not get a chance to go last year, but this year, we went and had a great time! Basically we spent the entire time in the pool. We did leave once for dinner and once to shop, but it was just too beautiful not to enjoy the pool. Suits me just fine! Here's Sinclaire and Jayden.
Maya discovers a water balloon.

Jayden feels super confident with his noodle.

Maya appears to be doing the pee-pee dance, but she was just having a good time on the mat.

Just hangin' around.

These two are so funny!

My babies!

I know he can do it, if he gets over his fear of the water.

Water balloon madness...

Maya heads towards Beth.

Irv teaches them to pinch their noses.