Yup. Got the Dossier, no letter on it. Got in touch with the woman at the Embassy, she was completely embarrassed and promised to send the letter out FedEx this weekend so that I would have it Monday a.m. and suggested that I make travel arrangements.
So, I called the agency and we started the details of travel- how much money to bring, who to tip, how to not get scammed, and blah blah. I was gonna plan travel for Wednesday, get in Thursday and have the lawyer take me to the Ministry to deliver the Dossier Thursday or Friday. The woman from the agency will accompany me if I feel I need her...
So I'm on the phone blathering about the arrangements, doing all last minute details, and flipping thru my paperwork.
Wait a minute. Wait. WAIT. These papers don't look right.
The Dossier in my hands just seems off. There are two documents: One is the original. One is a copy. What distinguishes them apart is that the original is fastened together with a very official (and costly to place) rivet, fastened also with an off-white satin bow. The cover page is on heavy cardstock, US seal and Condoleezza Rice's signature. The rest of the document that follows is mostly on similarly important looking papers all with embossed seals of some sort or another. The copy is just that: A uniformly stark white flimsy paper series paper clipped together complete with yellow post-it titled "copy" in plain blue printing.
Only the copy has Embassy seals on every page (at 30 bucks a pop) with painstaking text hand written next to each one authenticating the copy.
HUH?!?!?! I needed the original official copy to be authenticated. The seals need to be on the original!
So. Off to the Rutland airport I went today. Drove there (well kinda, it took me an hour of circling the surrounding towns to actually find the airport and then when I finally arrived there the kind policeman told me that fedex was actually not there, but on the other side of things...) and got there at 12:03 to find they close at noon. But alas, the lady felt bad for me and let me in and rescued the day. Can you believe that I had to repackage up the Dossier, stick it in a self sealing envelope and send it BACK to the Embassy?
I felt so badly for myself that I went directly to Staples and spent half of what a good Rwandan makes annually on an iPod. Came home and proceeded to download podcasts so that I have something to listen to in Rwanda (if I ever ever ever get there). Put a bunch of my favorite mixes on there too which didn't work out so great as they pop up "Untitled Artist" and "Untitled 1" and so on. So now my iPod looks like this:
Untitled 1
Untitled 1
Untitled 1
Untitled 2
Untitled 2
Untitled 3
Untitled 3
Untitled 3
You get the idea. Which also means that I get a totally different mix when I hit play since all the songs line up as tracks under the artist "Untitled". Sucks. Any pointers? Grr.
One step forward 4 steps back.
Oh, and if you are feeling grumpy that you donated and I bought something as frivolous as a made-in-someplace-else hunk of natural resources, I am too. Only I am really really enjoying it already and the distraction from my self-inflicted waiting-for-our-child misery. Plus I didn't use that money, I used back pay Scott finally got for the last two years of working without a contract! Woo-hoo!
Going nutty,
Jaya
Our Journey to Pacifique
OUR NEW VIDEO! disable site music first
Rukundo Pacifique Holliman officially adopted June 19, 2009
We witness a miracle every time a child enters into life.
But those who make their journey home across time & miles,
growing within the hearts of those who wait to love them,
are carried on the wings of destiny and placed among us
by God's very own hands.
Welcome Rukundo Pacifique!!!
Finally! After a year and a half of trying to adopt in Rwanda, we are by the Grace of God with our new son, whose given name is Rukundo Pacifique! In Rwanda the people have a Kinyarwandan name and a French name, and our son was given his during his hospital stay after he was found by two young boys in the bush on the night of December 5th, 2008.
Rukundo means love and Pacifique, peace. We have been searching for peace for a very long time, but we thought it was a feeling we were longing for. Now we know it was also a human being we were being called to.
Bless this child, he is a miracle indeed. He was likely born very prematurely and left in the bush by his mother. We will never know her story, but we imagine it. He has now a second chance at life and love as we do after a long journey after losing our beloved son, Trace Oak.
Trace was born still at term- the same day that I lost my womb. What kept us afloat in the current of grief was Hope.... Mizero in Kinyarwanda. Hope brought us to search for Pacifique, and Pacifique and Trace will always share a very beautiful brotherhood. With Trace's gift of life and death came Pacifique's gift of love from our family.
Rukundo means love and Pacifique, peace. We have been searching for peace for a very long time, but we thought it was a feeling we were longing for. Now we know it was also a human being we were being called to.
Bless this child, he is a miracle indeed. He was likely born very prematurely and left in the bush by his mother. We will never know her story, but we imagine it. He has now a second chance at life and love as we do after a long journey after losing our beloved son, Trace Oak.
Trace was born still at term- the same day that I lost my womb. What kept us afloat in the current of grief was Hope.... Mizero in Kinyarwanda. Hope brought us to search for Pacifique, and Pacifique and Trace will always share a very beautiful brotherhood. With Trace's gift of life and death came Pacifique's gift of love from our family.
3 comments:
Well, let me first say, "spend your money on whatever you want!" It's your money. We donated to help you through this process. If an ipod helps you, so be it. But, since you didn't spend that money anyway, don't spend another minute thinking about that. You've got enough to worry about.
Also, at least you cought the mistake before you went all the way there! Sorry you have to wait longer. You are in my thoughts daily and I check your blog many times a day to see if you've updated it. I hope things move faster for you.
And, I don't have an ipod and my husband only has the shuffle with no screen, so I can't offer you any pointers on the untitled business. Sorry. Keep your chin up. When you get there, it'll be the perfect time for that child. Not saying it's easy to wait, though.
Meg
Just yesterday, I was wondering if you had an iPod to bring with you. You're one step ahead of me.
As far as I know, the untitled tracks are unavoidable if you have exported songs from anywhere but iTunes. It's just another way to lure you to iTunes.
Jaya,
so glad to hear that everything is approved. Just a few details to get straightened out. I'm impressed you noticed it; that would be the kind of thing I ordinarily wouldn't pay attention to until it was too late and not readily fixed. I know this seems excruiatingly slow, but every little step brings you closer. Hang in there!
Can't help with the ipod renaming, but I know I love listening to podcasts on overseas trips. If you subscribe to a feed through iTunes lots of them are free (This American Life is my personal fave).
Thinking of you always and sending you warmth and energy and love,
Kristi in MI
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