Adoption update

Our dossier arrived at our Rwandan attorney's office this evening. We will meet tomorrow and then she is presenting it to the Minister of Gender and Family Formation. According to this attorney, it is highly likely that we could receive our child within 2-3 months. The other thing she told us is that since we are in-country, once the Minister has approved our dossier, then our attorney will go with us to the Sisters of Charity Home of Hope orphanage and we will choose our child. Dano and I are taking big, deep breaths right now. This is so different from how our other two adoptions went. And it feels like a very heavy weight on us right now to "choose" our child. So we are praying in a very different way for our son right now and would appreciate any prayers from friends and family.

A little press from our friends in Rhode Island

http://www.eastbayri.com/detail/131672.html?content_source=&category_id=&search_filter=rwanda&list_type=&order_by=&order_sort=&content_class=&sub_type=&town_id=

The reporter saw the chalk painting that our friend had commissioned of the girls at the Providence Street Festival and wanted to know the story behind it. Dano did the interview via Skype, so there are a few misspellings and omissions, but it was still nice to have the free press.

We also have a blog for Karisimbi at www.karisimbipartners.blogspot.com

Day to Day in Rwanda

So we've been here nine days already. In January 2008, my college roommate, Anne Mugofwa, told me on a phone call that I would find myself in Africa much sooner than I expected. I told her we kept getting sidetracked by Asia. Who would have guessed?! Anne has never been to Rwanda, but the company she works for just decided to open an office here, so she was here on Wednesday and will be back in a few weeks. We managed to get breakfast together. I think it was rather surreal for both of us. When we were in college, we always dreamed of doing some great work together that would bridge our continents. Now we are on the same continent. I'm still in a season of listening, absorbing and learning, so am not jumping the gun on any work-related ventures (outside of helping us launch our company), but it is fun to wonder how Anne and I may do something together in the future.

I don't really have a routine yet. I've told myself next week is the week for that. I have my language lessons scheduled for almost every day next week so that I can catch up to Carter. Lian's school will be on a regular schedule and I'm committed to doing "school" stuff with Anna. Of course, if you know me, you know that is hard for me to do and not invite all the neighbor kids. So, Anna and I took "school" outside the gate today. Also, if you know me well, you will know what a stretch it is for me to live in a "gated" area, but that's how things are done here. Anna and I set up our blocks on the front yard and just started playing. We saw Pierre and JoJo and said, "Ngeeno Hano" (come and play) and they did. I spelled out their names for them, whcih was very fun for them. Most of all, they just liked building towers and crashing them down.

Setting up a house here is a lot different. Stuff at the department store is not cheap, so you go to the furniture market where you can either choose something off the block or bring ina picture of what you'd like and have them make it for you. Of course, that requires a lot of bargaining and negotiating and since I'm white with Chinese children, we are an oddity. But, I felt more confident today and I asked our house helper, Consolee, to help me with some of the negotiations. It took 45 minutes, and me walking to the store across the street, in order to get them to lower the price on a bathroom cabinet, but in the end it was a good deal on all fronts.

Lian had a great first week of school and seems to be doing well. We decided that we city folk need to embrace our new surroundings and our beautiful yard and welcome a few more additions to our family. So meet "Sunny and Joy" - these are our gifts to our girls for being such troopers this summer. We met this guy who was giving them away for free. And he has someone make the cage for us. The girls were so surprised! We saw them today and chose two boys (yes, boys, even though Anna named hers Joy) so as to prevent future bunnies from being born. We will go back next week to bring them home. Hmmmm...chickens might be next since we do have the chicken coop...

First Week's Reflections

***Having a difficult time uploading pics here. If you are on Facebook, please check out my Facebook photos for most recent pics***

It is hard to believe we have been here six days. I actually feel like I have lived here for much longer than that. Now I don't think I could have said that the first two days, but now I am starting to feel at home. The past two days in particular have been wonderful.

Yesterday was Lian's first day at Kigali International Community School. She had a wonderful time and it was honestly nice to just have Anna home with me for a day. We were able to have one on one time, made an art project and just played together. Then we went for a walk in our neighborhood. I took a play parachute with me. We walked to the place where people seem to gather. There was one small boy there and a teenage girl. We showed them the parachute and I asked if they wanted to hold it. Then I began to sing Kinyarwandan numbers from 1-10 to the tune of "Ten Little Indians". Before I knew it there were about a dozen kids playing with us. We had so much fun.

Lian had asked me the other day why we couldn't give the kids the candy we had brought. I told her that I wanted the neighbor kids to see her and Anna as their friends first, rather than the girls who give them candy. She seemed to understand. After a few weeks, I'm sure we'll give them some treats, but for now it is neat to see them becoming friends with their neighbors and it felt good to tell the neighbors that we would be here for a few years. Thus, even though we had to go inside, we would be back.

After picking up Lian from school, I went to my first Kinyarwandan language lesson. Carter has been studying for a few weeks, but said I could join him for his lessons. I have much to catch up on, but the tutor was so encouraging. His name is Silas. I like that we are learning the building blocks of the language, rather than just expressions. There is much to learn, but I am so desparate to be able to communicate with the children here.

We had our first Rwandan meal last night since our house helper, Consolee, cooked for us.

What a treat. It is definitely a change for me to have someone helping with the cleaning, cooking and laundry, but somehow I don't think I'll be complaining about it. I am still cooking several nights a week ,but it is fun to have Rwandan meals a few nights as well. We are definitely much healthier here - we drink water all day long and sweets are expensive and not easy to find. Thus we're eating a lot of beans, rice, and fruit.

We got a car today as well. It is a sedan and is the color of eggplant. It has tinted windows and has this lovely "funky" sound when you go into reverse. It's gotten a few laughs, but it gets us where we need to go, is great on the bumps, and gets great gas mileage (gas is $6/gallon here). Kerry said it needed a name. Eggplant in french is aubergine (sp?), so we're calling it "Obie" for short : ) It feels great to be driving on my own. I got lost going to Lian's school today, but managed to find my way. There really aren't that many main roads in Kigali, so should be easy to navigate once I practice a bit. Even managed to find my way to the market and craft store today.

Kerry, Kristin and I went to a Bible study for women today. There are two women there who've adopted Rwandan babies, so another great community to connect with.

On the Karisimbi front, the guys have their first strategic planning retreat this weekend and it looks like three more definite clients are in the works. We have eight proposals out to other potential clients and things continue to move forward.

I just realized this posting isn't really my reflections, but more newsy. I"ll try to be more reflective in my next post because there is definitely a lot upon which to reflect here.

The First 48 Hours in Rwanda

I'll try to post some pictures in the next day or two, but they are taking too long to upload tonight and I am quite tired. We have had a very full 48 hours here in Kigali and according to our friends here, we have accomplished a great deal in a short amount of time. Many thanks to the Crocketts who have been here for five weeks. Kerry has been my tour guide around Kigali and Carter had things like internet, water, electricity (have to pay in advance), and interviews with potential staff lined up for us the moment we arrived. I hear that is a minor miracle.

We were without water yesterday. The emergency tank was empty. Then the electricity goes off almost every day for an hour or more, so that is fun. But, we truly have so much to give thanks for. One hundred yards from our home is a common clustering of shanties and mud houses. The children from this area hang out on our street a lot. While waiting for our ride yesterday, the girls and I orchestrated a game of tag with the neighborhood kids. We had a blast and I hope to see Jackie, Nadesh, Daniel, and Christian again soon. I truly have nothing to complain about when the water tank is empty. Most of these families have to walk to a well to fill their jerry can with water.

I am truly understanding the need for our home to be our refuge. Maybe that sounds selfish, but there are so many needs all around and just doing life takes a lot out of you - and it's only been 48 hours! It is nice to return to our home and just feel safe and surrounded by a few things that make us feel at home. I am very grateful for the beautiful garden we have and I am determined to grow something successfully :) Lian is most excited to eat the mango, papayas and avocadoes growing from our trees.

Lian starts school on Monday and we are going to meet her teacher tomorrow. Anna will really miss having her big sister around, but we met a young woman on the plane who is Rwandan, but has lived in California for the past ten years. Olive has a three year old daughter, who was also on the plane. We hit it off and she asked if we could get together sometime. She wrote me today and Anna has her very first playdate next week. Hard to believe my three year old has lived on three continents in three years.

The guys are hard at work already with Karisimbi. They are hosting a strategic planning retreat with Gerard Sina of Sorwatum, a tomato processing company, in a week or two. And they continue to meet with potential clients. The need for these small to medium size companies in this country is great.

The End of our Great Journey...Beginning of Another

At some point, I need to really reflect on all that took place this summer. We feel so blessed to have visited friends and family from so many different spheres of life. And most of the time, we felt unworthy of the love and prayers we received from those we love. It is hard to know how to say thank you to the many friends who opened their homes to us across the country. We only stayed in a hotel one night. Incredible gift. Just this week, after celebrating my brother's wedding, we traveled to Boston and stayed with our dear friends, Eric and Beth Mollenhauer. It is so refreshing to be with friends who've known you for close to 20 years. We then traveled to Rhode Island to stay with other dear friends, Kurt and Mary Jamiel, and to celebrate our friend Amy Macera's wedding with my annual reunion gang.

Kurt and Mary completely surprised us with an incredible gift. Kurt was a sponsor of the Providence Rotary Club Street Festival fundraiser. He wanted to show us the chalk art done by various artists. As we were walking on the path, we came to one entitled, "Love is Patient" and there was an incredible portrait of our girls. Kurt had hired a local artist friend to creat the beautiful picture you see here. Dano and I did not know what to say.

It seems we've been speechless most of this trip. We are blessed with incredible friends and family members who inspire us with their generosity, humility, good works, and faith. So thank you to everyone who made this "Great American Journey" possible. Now we set off for another tomorrow morning...one we know is already changing our lives forever.

Dossier off to State Dept and Rwandan Embassy

Six weeks ago, we began the process to adopt a son from Rwanda. I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by. We are doing the process independently, so I was a bit nervous regarding the administrative challenges of getting this all done without any problems. However, here we are six weeks later and our dossier is complete and being reviewed by the State Department and will be delivered to the Rwandan Embassy tomorrow supposedly. Hoping and praying that we did not forget anything. I am still in shock by how fast we got this done. We are so thankful to be in Vermont for this process. In Seattle, it took me close to nine months before our dossier was ready to send to China.

Today, Anna said, "Thank you mommy for getting me a little brother. I SoOOOO excited!"

And Lian is already making her list of names for him.

We feel very blessed.

12 days left till we move to Rwanda...in that time we will attend my brother's wedding, drive to Boston, see some Revolutionary War sites, visit our good friends the Mollenhauers, drive to Warren, RI to stay with our dear friends, the Jamiels, and then attend Amy Macera's wedding, which will be my annual reunion with my college roommates, and then finally drive to NJ on the 27th to stay with the Peixotos, before their daughter, Caroline, joins us on the flight to Rwanda on the 28th. Whew....my emotions are starting to run a little high by this reality.