One Year

Yesterday marked one year since Hugues has been in Haiti. If only we were at a different place in our immigration petitions than we were then. But, we are in the exact same place as one year ago...except worse because it has been so long and there have been so many mistakes made along the way. This week held even more mistakes by USCIS, which of course they "cannot" correct. So, due to them entering the date they received the documents they requested from us incorrectly, we have to wait an additional 30 days before we can even file another complaint. That will be 90 days since we submitted the evidence they requested (and they only technically "have" 60 to take further action), and 5 months since we were approved an expedite back in February. Maybe it is me, but five months hardly seems like expedited processing :) We were denied another expedite this week based on the fact that it had not been 60 days since their receipt of our documents (reminder: it has been over that). SO, long story short...it has been one year since he left, 19 months since we filed our petitions, and we are still getting the run-around. Don't really know where to go from here...

We are still working on obtaining tax-exempt status for Grain d'Espoir pour Haiti, Inc. ("Seeds of Hope for Haiti"). What a process! Hopefully that should be completed in the next couple weeks. We are planning on holding an open house on August 2, so mark your calendars! We would love to have you join us and bring friends! Jovan and I are planning to travel to Haiti to visit Hugues and get things set for the children for the '09-'10 school year the last two weeks of August. We will send more information as we finalize plans, but would you pray about joining us in supporting these precious children? We have 14 children that were in the program last year and have a list of 15 more children that we would love to sponsor if funds are available. If you are not on our mailing list but would like to be, please email me at joliejodi@earthlink.net with your name, mailing address, and email (if you would like to receive email updates as well). Please also spread the word to anyone you think would be interested in learning more! My goal is to update this blog more often and post pictures of children in our program and their stories. Keep watching for those...

Have to give a Jovan update: He is walking like a maniac. His morning schedule usually goes as follows: Wake up at 7am, empty the tupperware cabinet, empty the pots and pans cabinet (which usually wakes Nana up as well, so double points for that), pull all diapers out of the basket and distribute around the house, open wipes and distribute with the diapers, kick soccer ball from room to room, re-arrange the kitchen chairs, etc. All this is before breakfast, which is around 7:30am, and while we talk to Daddy on the computer. Somewhere in there, he usually manages to step on the computer, close it, or pull it off of whatever table or couch it is sitting on. :) Whew. Jovan is an absolute joy...full of character, smiles, and laughs! For those in Colorado...we can't wait to see you in August!

Now I must be off to finish up some things before Jovan wakes up from his nap and starts the routine all over again :) Promise to update sooner rather than later!