Photos of Getting Faith

Check out pictures from our trip at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/3rdRider/GettingFaith

Home as a Family

We are glad to be home as a family. Jonah is an amazing big brother and he loves to play with Faith. We are excited to be starting this phase of our lives together.

Home at Last

Piper, Faith, Rachel, and I made it home safely on Saturday night. We were exhausted, but had a wonderful time. Faith handled the flights much better than we anticipated. She slept through most of the first flight from Uganda to Amsterdam. Then she was content to play on the flight from Amsterdam to New York. We are excited to be home and keep praying that she will adjust to home life well.

Thanks for all of your prayers.

We will be continuing this blog at www.slcnuetzelfamily.blogspot.com since we are home as a family now.

Homeward Bound

It appears to have been a while since my last post. We have done a lot of relaxing and traveling. Last weekend, we took a trip to Kampala. There we went on a coffee safari to learn everything there is to know about growing, exporting, roasting, and tasting coffee. It even came complete with a broken down safari vehicle. We were also able to visit with our friends James, Priscilla, and George while we were there. We also got a personal tour of a very average neighborhood in Kampala.

On Tuesday, we went for dinner at Bujagali Falls on the Nile. It was great and relaxing, sort of. We were signed up to go over the falls the next day on our rafting trip.

On Wednesday, we rafted the Nile! There were 10 rapids in all including 4 huge class fives. We only had to swim once. When I get home I will post the pictures.

Tomorrow we depart for home. After 30 hours of travel we will arrive in Salt Lake City late on Saturday night.

The next time I post, it will be from high speed Internet, yahoo!

We have a Momma!

Piper and Rachel arrived safely and with all of their luggage on Friday night. Faith was there waiting for her, but was crying for 20 minutes prior to arrival because she was up for 2.5 past her bed time. We have been relaxing and playing with babies and Faith at Amani. Faith has developed a considerable cough in the last couple of days. It should pass soon. We will try to post a family picture tomorrow.

Please pray for the babies that have colds, coughs, and chicken pox, they are too many to list here.

We've got a visa!

Praise God! Today I was able to pick up Faith's visa from the US embassy. This means that we can fly home with Faith. I leave in a few minutes to pick up Piper and Rachel (her cousin) from the airport. Today is a great day!

We could wrap this thing up tomorrow!

Daniel, the consular at the U.S. embassy has told us to pick up the visa at 11:00 am tomorrow! Piper will be here at 8:15 tomorrow night! What an exciting day I have in store for me.

Working on the US visa

Faith and I have spent the week working on obtaining her US visa. We have everything complete except for determining if there has been a complete enough search for Faith's mom. We have submitted a letter from the social worker at Amani today to that effect. Please pray for this visa process as it could be done tomorrow, or this could potentially drag out longer. We are praying for a quick resolution.

Thanks for all of your prayers so far. We have seen the fruits of your prayers in a smooth process so far.

I am so excited to see Piper on Friday night. I will be taking Faith to the airport to meet her Momma!

Passport complete and turned in!

Today we were able to get our passport for Faith! We are so thankful for the quick turn around. Then we took it to the embassy and dropped it off. On Monday (22 July) we have the visa interview for Faith at 3pm. Please keep this meeting in your prayers. We are so thankful for how quickly and smoothly this process has gone this time. Thank you for your continuous prayers. I am ready for a restful weekend, without having to get up at 5am or earlier and 5+ hours in the car.

I will hopefully communicate again on Monday.

We Just Keep Moving Forward

This week has been grueling. We have been up at 5:00 or earlier for the 2.5-3 hour trip to Kampala to continue on with the process of collecting the right papers to move us closer to a visa for Faith. On Monday, we weren't able to meet with Mr. Otim (the Director of Gender for Uganda) but we were able to meet with the Consular at the US Embassy. On Tuesday, we were able to get a critical letter from Mr. Otim so that we can apply for Faith's passport. In the afternoon we applied for the passport after several delays. Today is Wednesday, and we were able to do more work on the passport, and with some prayer, might receive it today. Once we have the passport, we will meet again with the Consular at the US Embassy and finally apply for Faith's visa. This is scheduled to be done on Tuesday, July 22. The visa should only take 1-2 days to process, and we will be done. Then Piper, Faith, Rachel, and I can relax and enjoy two weeks stress free in Uganda!

Ruling Received

We have received our written court ruling! It came last Thursday. Now we are moving on to the last three steps. First, we must get a letter of recommend from the Minister of Gender, who is responsible for keeping the children of Uganda safe. Then we take his letter to the passport office to get Faith a passport. When we have the passport we can apply for the US visa at the US embassy. Please continue to pray for these steps as well as thanking God for a quick ruling.

Faith and I are having a great time together and we get to play a lot at Amani. she isn't enjoying the drives to Kampala as much as i would like. We will be there the next several days doing paperwork.

Enjoying our time

Faith and I have been enjoying our time together since our court date. We have mainly been relaxing and playing at the babies home. She has become rather talkative. She loves to walk all over the place at the babies home and has trouble remaining in one place for too long. Faith also loves to sit in and play with dirt. We are getting into a routine of waking up and eating breakfast together. Then we clean up our room. On even numbered days we do laundry together, by hand. Then we head over the to Amani. After playing and having lunch she sleeps at Amani for her nap. I take the opportunity to walk into town to get things, or work back at my hostel. Then I head back to Amani for more play time. Faith eats dinner and I take her home to go to bed. After she goes to bed, I read or talk with other guests at the hostel.

Finally here with Faith

Although I arrived on July 2, I have not been able to get onto the Internet until today Here is a brief recap:
July 2 - Arrived in Kampala and spent the night with our friend James, who Piper had toured on the African Children's Choir with. None of my luggage completed the flight with me.
July 3 - James drove me into Kampala to meet Faith for lunch. It was amazing to meet her for the first time. She is adorable and cute, and really observant. She doesn't talk much, but I'm sure Jonah will be able to change that for her. I bought some clothes for court and we went to Mommy Robinah's guest house for the night. George, the gardener, was there as was Robinah and David, her husband. It was great to briefly catch up with them.
July 4 - Amy, the social worker, Faith and I appeared at high court. Although the judge did not ask me any questions directly, I was able to provide additional paperwork that was not in our case file. The lawyer thought the appointment went well, and we should hear her ruling sometime next week. We then ran some other errands around Kampala and picked up one piece of luggage from the airport in Entebbe. It was a good, but long day. I am very excited to be back in Uganda again. It has begun to feel like a second home.
July 5 - Woke up this morning in Entebbe. Our driver is attempting to pick up my second piece of luggage while he picks someone else up in Entebbe. I should know this morning if my bag with my clothes has arrive. I have been wearing the same pants for five days. Faith is talking more now and seems to be warming up to me. We are having lots of fun.

Prayer requests - Please pray for this entire process. Please pray for a just and fair ruling from the judge. Please also pray for smooth processing of paperwork for the rest of the time we are here.

Court date!

We have a court date scheduled for July 4th!
We have a court date scheduled for July 4th!
We have a court date scheduled for July 4th!
We have a court date scheduled for July 4th!
We have a court date scheduled for July 4th!
We have a court date scheduled for July 4th!
We have a court date scheduled for July 4th!

Kirungi

I forgot to update you on Faith's African name. The ladies at the babies home have been calling her Kirungi for some time now. Now it is official, her African name is Kirungi, which means pretty. I think this is a great name for her.

Faith was Tiny Once

This is a picture of Faith just a few days after she came to Amani. She was super tiny back then.

Faith's First Birthday Party!

These are photos of Faith's first birthday party. Some volunteers at Amani took her out for ice cream. I believe that explains the brain freeze on the right. We can't wait to party with her!

The Lawyer has our Final Paperwork

After FedExing our final court documents a week ago, our final paperwork was given to the lawyer today. Now he just needs to file them with High Court and geta date and time back. We are excited and can't wait for this to happen.

Mr. Opio Rocks!

This week we have gotten lots of good news.

First, we sent a letter to Mr. Opio, the social worker in Uganda who works for the courts, and he agreed to write our guardianship papers without seeing us again. We were lucky enough to have meet him when we were in Uganda last time to adopt Jonah.

Second, he sent us some documents to fill out. We sent them off on Friday, February 15, and they arrived in Jinja, Uganda on Tuesday, February 19. Great job FedEx! Once Mr. Opio signs and approves these documents we can apply for a court date.

As you can imagine, we are incredibly excited and can't wait to meet our daughter!

I-600 A Approved

Today we received our letter that our I-600 A was approved! We are sooooo excited. What does this mean? It means we have approval from the United States to bring a Ugandan orphan into the country. Now we just need to get the babies home to start the paperwork on their side. What a great gift for Faith Elizabeth's first birthday!

Finger prints done

Today we got our finger prints taken. This will let the FBI check out our criminal records. I don't know about Piper, but I have been too busy teaching for the last couple of years to get into any trouble. This is my fifth time having my background checked in the last three years. We don't know exactly what the next step is, but we'll keep you posted.

Recieved Reciept for I600A

Today we received the receipt for our I-600A. It doesn't really mean much, but it is the first step step in the process of getting it approved. We just keep waiting and praying for more news. We also sent off birthday presents for Faith's first birthday. We sent her a blanket, photo album, stacking cups, and a dog that has a recorded message from Piper, Jonah, and I.

I-600 A and home study sent to Uganda

Yesterday, Piper was able to send in our I-600 A application to USCIS and faxed our home study to Uganda. We have done our side, and now we have to wait for paper work to get completed both here in the states and in Uganda.

Home Study Interview Complete

Today, we had our home study interview. It was done by Suzanne Stott who did our last home study. She really wanted to talk more to Jonah than to us. She had lots of fun talking with Jonah and watching him play. We are hoping for a quick turn around on this so we can send it to Uganda and USCIS by the end of the week.