I'm sitting in the Fort Lauderdale airport with 10 hours to kill so I thought I'd update everyone on the last week or so. It's a long post....

The last week has been so crazy for us. We left Haiti not knowing where Jody and the kids were going to live. We had no idea where the money was going to come from to rent a house and no idea how long I was going to need to stay in Haiti once I returned. So many unanswered questions….

As of right now, some of those questions are still unanswered. Here is what has happened so far…

We arrived in Sacramento on Wednesday and Carsen picked us up. We stayed in a motel for the night while we tried to figure out what to do. On Thursday morning we went to view the 6 bedroom house we saw online, it was even more beautiful than in the pictures. The house was spacious, full of natural light and all around perfect for our family. The only problem was we did not have enough money to move into it. It was a hard and very painful decision but we realized that no matter how much we loved the house we just could not afford it. We told the property manager we were unable at this time to rent the house. There were 2 other families interested in renting it so she would not be able to hold it for us. It was not easy to hear! The house felt so right but obviously God has a different plan.

At that point we headed into town and went to look at an apartment complex that Jody knew the property management staff. They had several 2 bedroom apartments available and were willing to let us move in without a deposit. The apartment is a good sized 2 bedroom but still very small for Jody and the kids. It isn’t the optimal situation but one that will have to work for now. We then went to register the kids for school. Not an easy task we were soon to find out. The schools in Vacaville are very full and we were having a hard time finding one that had space for Dylan, Kynsley and Landon. On top of that, 2 of the schools are year around and were “tracking-off”. We left Vacaville Thursday evening not knowing where the kids would be attending school. But, before we left we were able to view a 3 bedroom house managed by one of Jody’s co-workers. It will be available December 1st, if we are unable to find anything else before the 1st we plan on moving in. It isn’t much bigger than the apartment but at least it is a house and it does have a third bedroom and a garage. It will be a VERY tight fit when I get back with the three little ones but at least our family will be together.

We stayed with my mom in Redding on Thursday night and got up early to load the U-haul. Jody, Carsen, Shane and I loaded a 26 foot U-haul by ourselves in less than 5 hours. We weren’t sure if everything was going to fit but I guess all those years of playing “Tetris” paid off. We got everything in and then headed to our friends, The Painters, for dinner, fellowship and a little Halloween fun! Jody was gracious and took Dylan, Kynsley and the Painter’s son, Daniel trick-or-treating so Lynn and I could stay home and catch-up! It was a great evening. I will miss being able to see Lynn regularly when I get back to California but we are still close enough to get together occasionally.

Saturday morning we left my mom’s and drove to Vacaville. We were met by several of Jody’s co-workers (Thanks Dave, Ron, Aaron and Mike). We had the U-haul unloaded at the apartment quickly and they even went to the storage unit and helped us get our excess stuff packed away. By 8:30 p.m. we were exhausted!

Sunday we spent the day shopping for necessary items, unpacking and trying to get everything to fit into such a small area. The kids were nervous about starting school the next day and we still weren’t sure where they were going.

Monday morning Jody got up at 4:30 a.m. for his first day back to work. The plan was for him to drive Carsen’s car to work since his car is still in Coarsegold with Angela. He went to the parking lot to leave and found the back passenger side window smashed and the stereo missing!! Not the best way to start out the week. I drove Jody to work and then woke Carsen up to tell her the bad news. She was very upset. The only thing that was taken was the stereo. She was actually sad that they had not taken her CD’s. Most of them were Christian artists and she said maybe they could have found the Lord listening to them! It started to rain soon after and we were able to get the car under a covered parking spot. The thief broke 2 windows trying to get in so it is going to be pretty expensive to replace.

The day didn’t get much better when we went to the school we were told had room for the kids. Upon arriving we found out that they only had room for Dylan and Kynsley and would not be able to take Landon when he arrived. After more searching we were finally able to find a school that had room for all three. It was God’s plan all along! The school is small, very diverse and Dylan immediately took to his teacher. We were most worried about Dylan’s transition since he is so shy but it really worked out well. I also met Landon’s future teacher, she is young, out going and vibrant. I think he is going to do very well there.

We experienced further issues when it was time to register Shane for school. There are 2 high schools in Vacaville. Jody really wanted Shane to go to Vacaville High School but we do not live in their boundaries. We went to the school anyway to try for an Inter-District transfer. We were told they were full and even if we lived in that area he would need to be “over-flowed” to Will C. Wood. We left there a little disappointed but were soon pleasantly surprised at the reception he received at Wood. He really feels it is the place he is meant to be. The only negative was in order to receive full semester quarter credit he would need to take the exact same classes he was taking at QCS. He was put in choir at QCS and did NOT want to be there! He wanted to take band. The counselor was not able to change it since he was already going to lose the credits he received for bible since it isn’t offered at the public schools. So he is in choir at least until January. He is going to try and make the best of it but is still disappointed. Hopefully he can get into band next quarter.

We do not have internet yet in Vacaville so we were not able to check our e-mail for awhile. I was happy to receive an e-mail with an appointment at the embassy to discuss Landon’s case. We are praying his visa can be issued without the one document we can not get from the Haitian government. I also received an e-mail from DHS saying they were ready to approve Isaiah’s I-600 BUT… our fingerprints had expired! And, the only place we can get re-fingerprinted was in Sacramento! I left all of Isaiah’s paperwork in Haiti so had no idea how to get a hold of anyone to set up an appointment. We finally just started calling people hoping to find a way to talk directly to the officer handling our paperwork in Sac. We tried all day Thursday and all day Friday with no luck. When we were unpacking a box Jody found a scrap of paper, believe it or not, with the direct line to the officer handling our case. We called and left her a message but since it was the week-end we knew we would not hear anything until Monday at the earliest.

After getting the kids registered for school on Monday Carsen and I decided to drive to the fingerprinting center hoping to talk to someone face to face, since we had not heard from anyone. They were closed!!! And there was a sign on the door that said we are currently at “Threat level-Yellow”. No one will be admitted into the building without an appointment letter! Now what?!?!?

We decided to try again on Tuesday without an appointment on our way to the airport and if I was not able to be fingerprinted I would need to change my flight to a later date.

On Tuesday morning at 7:30 as I was leaving the house I received a call from the USCIS officer and she said if I could come to Sacramento and pick up the letter from her office I could get fingerprinted before I left! I took the kids to school and headed to Sacramento, 40 minutes from Vacaville. We had to pass West Sacramento where the fingerprinting office is located. After we got the letters we drove back to W. Sac, got fingerprinted and then drove back to Sac to go to the airport. I honestly wasn’t sure if we would have time but God is good and we even had time to stop and get lunch before I had to be at the airport. Carsen was fingerprinted as well and Jody has an appointment on Friday. The officer told me she should have the clearance within 5 days. She will mail it to Jody in Vacaville and he will have to scan the letter and e-mail it to the Embassy. If all goes well we should have our approval within 7-10 days and be ready to make the final visa appointment.

So… it’s prayer time! We need the fingerprinting to go smoothly for Jody and a speedy clearance. We need DHS in Haiti to get our paperwork to the immigrant section quickly and an appointment scheduled. We need either Landon’s missing document to be granted or the Embassy to process his visa without it. We are really praying for our family to be reunited in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. Ticket prices will be increasing the closer it gets to the holidays and our resources are so limited right now. We need firm direction concerning a house to live in.

We are so close now. Thank you for praying with us and for us. Without our prayer warriors, I’m not sure we could have survived thus far. Keep it up, the journey isn’t over yet!