Terror warnings, Adoption news & some facts

Let me start with recent news.  There was a recent US Embassy warning that stated there is an imminent threat of terror expected in Mombasa, Kenya.  On Sunday there was an explosion at an outdoor bar near Mombasa and 3 people were killed and around 50 injured.  Please keep these people and their families in your thoughts. 
Mombasa is on the coast,  the Indian Ocean coast.  Nairobi is inland, in south central Kenya and about a 6-8 hour drive from Mombasa. 
We are about 30-40 minutes outside of Nairobi, in a very safe area. We are registered with the US Embassy. We get any warnings, we have a neighborhood person that will make sure we get the warnings as well. I have friends at the Embassy here that let me know of any warnings. 
We feel very blessed and very safe,  but we are careful and watchful all the same. 


I have not posted any adoption news because there is no news right now. We are waiting for the July NAC (National Adoption Committee) meeting, our documents need to be submitted by July 5th by our agency here, we are in touch with them and are hoping everything they need to include with our documents is complete prior to July 5th.  Then we will need lots of prayers that we are approved once again by the NAC in July,  but I will let you know that date when I know when it is ..... which I should find out soon :) 


Lets see ....  a few things you may not know or expect about (Nairobi) Kenya.


we are at 1°18'S 36°45'E .... but it's still cool here. 
Nairobi, Kenya - altitude 1,661 metres (5,449 ft), which is higher than Denver, Colorado,  the "Mile High City" which is elevation 5,280 feet.  


July is the coldest month and February is the hottest month.


Being a former British Colony the cars are right-hand drive and we drive on the left side of the road ..... I'm still getting used to driving here. 


(Ki)Swahili and English are widely spoken here.


Nairobi has about 3.5 million people, it's East Africa's largest city.


the currency is the Kenyan Shilling, it's about 80-85 KSH (or KES) to $1 US


We have a store that is walking distance to us ... about a 20 minute walk depending on how fast my walking partners (my 2 boys) walk. The shop is called Nakumatt, it's a fairly large chain, it is like Wal-Mart in the USA ... with groceries and other household and necessary items,  but not as much selection and NOT cheap.  A big box of Kellogg's cereal costs over $10 US! 


Kenyans do NOT like cheese,  now this may seem like a large generalization,  but every Kenyan I have asked If they like cheese and they make a face like I said rat poison.  My friend even told me snakes, chameleons and cheese she dislikes most! 
Now I tried cheese here, because I LOVE cheese ..... now I know why Kenyans do not like cheese ..... ACK!  It's not so good here ..... 


There are speed bumps everywhere.  Even on the highways, if you are lucky they are marked with lines or a sign to let you know they are there.  If you aren't so lucky ..... BAM! there's a speed bump.  On our mile trip to the Nakumatt there are 3 speed bumps. 


So the cost of living is more expensive than in the US.  Food, cars and housing ... all the more necessary things are more expensive then at home for the most part or at least similar cost.  
As we are looking for activities for the children we have found that these special things can be inexpensive. 
Waterpark, not as fancy as Great America,  but still looks to be great fun for the boys with at least 6 water slides and swimming pools and a lazy river .... open every day 10 am - 6 pm. Weekdays it's about $3 US and weekends about $5 US.  We haven't been yet as the weather is cool this time of year. 
IMAX 3D movie, boys want to see Madagascar 3, if we see one of the first 2 daily shows it's about $5 US. 
Horseriding, Gymnastics, Soccer, Music lessons ... a lot of  the things we would do at home are available to do here as well. 


Please comment .. I love to hear from all of you as well please :) 


Blessings from our family to yours. 


Tracy

Contact information and photos

Life in Kenya is not SOOOOOO exciting that I have not been posting .... it's busy that's for sure, so by the time evening comes I'm TIRED!    Things take a lot longer here ...... even making boiled eggs in the morning takes longer ..... the altitude in Nairobi is pretty high .... close to a mile up if I remember correctly.

Ah,  but I had promised contact information .... let's begin with that:
If you would like my phone number in Kenya please send me an email at TracyHerring at mac dot com.
No one receives mail at their home here,  so if you want to receive mail you need to have a PO Box, so the people we are renting from are allowing us to use their PO Box.
Letters are appreciated, please contact me prior to sending large packages or envelopes as we will have to pay for them when we pick the up at the Post Office.
Paul & Tracy Herring & family
PO Box 65018-00618
Ruaraka, Kenya

the postal code is after the box number (00618) but it should be written as it is above as not to confuse US/Kenyan postal workers.

We also have Skype (HerringPJ) and Facetime on the Iphone, Mac or Ipad,  so if you have an Iphone, Version 2 or 3 Ipad, or a Mac we could do Facetime with you,  just let me know your phone number or email address asscociated with Facetime.

We are 8 hours ahead of US Central Daylight Time, we don't change our clocks here so when you do in the Autumn we will be 9 hours ahead. If you are not in the US or on central time you can go HERE to check to time difference.


You asked for some photos:
Welcome to our Kenyan Home. We live on a compound of 4 homes. This is the entrance to our house.

 

The photo below is looking out to the main gate, our house is to the right in the photo. 

coming into the drive you will likely see the boys and our dogs will greet you. The blond colored dog is Grizwald, he barks a lot but in the end he's quite friendly.  "Shorts" is the dachshund, he belongs to our neighbors, we have not met them yet as they are out of town for the summer. My boys LOVE their dog :) 

Front of the house with Mocha and Grizwald, they remain outside and watch out for us. 

The boys on the front porch hangin with the dogs

view from the other side of the porch, carport is to the right. A very kind friend (in Kenya) loaned us 2 bikes for the boys,  they have been PERFECT :) 

Mocha in the backyard near the stream. There is a garden to the right, behind the house and another on the other side of the stream. We have bananas, kale, onions, beans, corn, nuts and a few other things. 

Our little stream, that's deeper than it looks and our bridge that needs repair :) 

 This is the boys new pet, Fred, He's a baby Chameleon and he's about the length of my thumb if his tail is stretched out,  the boys found him Sunday,  but since he's a baby they are going to return him to where they found him tomorrow.  Bye Fred!  They hope to find a larger one that they can care for easier sometime soon. :)

I will try and share more photos soon.  

I hope you enjoyed them :) 

We have arrived in Kenya

Sorry for the delay,  as many of you know we arrived in Kenya on Tuesday evening.  All 16 of our checked bags/boxes arrived.  we are having some wireless internet issues,  as in our wifi is not working,  but we do have a wireless modem so I am able to get on the internet .... Whew!  That's a relief.  But my photos I wish to share are on my phone and I can't share them until we have wifi in the house.

SO I had GRAND intentions of posting as soon as we arrived on Tuesday night .... but I was exhausted and fell asleep as soon as the boys were down to sleep.

The boys are SO happy .... mind you it's still new and a great adventure for them,  but the weather here is great .... like home for now .... this morning was beautiful and sunny and the boys were up bright and early ... running outside and playing!  We have 2 dogs,  they are watch dogs,  but pretty friendly and the boys LOVE them,  they have also fallen in love with the dachshund that was standing at the front gate yesterday .... they let him in and now they have fallen for him.  ALL day they run around the yard with the dogs .... we have a nice stream in the back yard and the boys were making dams, racing leaves, branches,  their new ball ..... which slipped through the metal grating so off it went.  the were asleep not long after their heads hit the pillow tonight ... Life is good!

Adoption news,  we went yesterday afternoon to our adoption agency here.  The director was out but we are hoping to have an appointment with her by next week.  We wanted to meet with them to let them know we are HERE, we ARE committed about adopting our 2 children .... so let's get on with it :)
We did meet with someone in the office and she even said .... I thought you would wait  a few days to get rested and settled .... UGH!!  No need for that ... we had arrived less than 24 hours before!
With the many delays we are hoping things will start progressing now. :)

I'm sure I left LOADS out so ask me questions .... Paul needs to get on to try and fix the wireless ....

Blessings :) x

Documents part 2 of 2 ... Done and already IN Kenya!

Our FBI documents were retrieved from the Kenya Embassy in Washington DC last Friday by our courier. We used Caring Hands Services for our courier for these documents.  They were really great.  They communicated well with us.  Let us know when our documents were authenticated at the State Department,  that they were dropped of at the Kenya Embassy and let us know when they would be ready for pick, they agreed to Fedex our documents directly to Kenya and sent copies of our documents to us. So I highly recommend them :)! I filled out the Fedex air bill online and faxed it to them.
We received our copies via the air bill I enclosed with our account number on Monday.  I checked in on how our delivery to Kenya was doing on Fedex.com .... our FBI documents arrived at our Kenyan adoption agency on Monday evening!  That was amazing, super fast service ... it was due to arrive today (Wednesday)!!
Yesterday was May 1, a holiday in most places including Kenya,  but not here.  They were off from work so hopefully today we will have some news.
Our US adoption agency faxed a cover letter for our documents and they needed to submit  another document on our behalf as well.  Those were both faxed on Monday and the originals were sent DHL.
SO now we are hoping all our documents are in order and acceptable to be submitted to the NAC (National Adoption Committee). We have already been approved by them pending the arrival of these documents.  The NAC only meets once a month, we never know when,  usually the 3rd week ... but not always.  Documents need to be submitted to them by the 5th of the month to be seen at that months meeting.  That is our hope that everything is in order and can be submitted to the NAC by Friday May 4th for the May NAC meeting!
Prayers PLEASE :)

After the NAC gives us the final approval to adopt 2 children,  then our Kenya adoption agency will work our our referral (of our 2 children). This can take up to a couple months we are told. We will be already living in Kenya by that time :)

After we accept our referral (of our 2 children) then we need to finalize our US immigration approval for these specific 2 children > our 1-800! we are told this can take up to 90 days to get approval!

I will write more on that when the time comes :)

Documents part 1 of 2 Authenticated in Washington DC

We Fedex'd our FBI background check to our Washington DC courier on Thursday. They got it Friday and took our 2 documents to the US State Department to be authenticated today (Monday), they kindly authenticate up to 15 documents while you wait, same day. So part 1 of 2 in the authentication process is done! Yay! Now did I mention that this should have been done 9 months ago when our 28 other documents required for our dossier were authenticated? Why is this one being done so late? After we have been approved by the Kenyan government .... When now we should we waiting for our official referral but instead we are doing more paperwork ... Our agency in the US did not realize it was a new addition to the dossier list for Kenya.
The Kenyan government is waiting for this document before they will begin processing our referral so this has delayed our referral by 2 months (at least).
After the Authentication was complete at the US State Department our courier took our 2 documents to the Kenya Embassy, this is part 2 of 2 of the authentication process.  They do not do same day service, so the documents were dropped off for pick up on Friday.
On Friday the courier will kindly pick them up form the Kenya Embassy, photocopy them for us and send us the photocopies.  Then they will send the originals to Kenya via Fedex. AWESOME!   Let's pray it really works out that way ....
Praying our documents will make it to the National Adoption Committee (Government body that approves International adoption applications/dossiers/FAMILIES!) office in Kenya by Friday, May 4th ..... we may just miss it, but we are going to try! We have been approved by the National Adoption Committee ... In February,  but they needed these last documents to make it official.
The National Adoption Committee only meets once a month.
If we miss the May 4th cut off we will need to wait until the next meeting mid-June,  by then we will be living in Kenya.

We are moving forward ....YAY!

Our FBI background checks arrived yesterday,  I nearly hugged the Fedex man!  LOL We are thrilled, it only took 36 days from the time we Fedex'd it to the FBI.

So today I am Fedexing these to Washington DC to be authenticated.  I am sending them to a courier that will hand carry my 2 documents to be authenticated at the State Department.  This will be done same day on Monday. Then it will go to the Kenya Embassy in DC,  I'm not sure how long that will take.  With 25 documents it took a week,  with 2 documents I am hoping it will take less time.

So perhaps by the end of next week I will have these documents returned to us ..... maybe.  I will keep you posted :)  

Moving forward .. Yahoo!!!

Catching up - Friday Photo: Something I found

From the April Photo Challenge, Something I found,  well nothing came to mind immediately ... but I was packing coats away and looking in the pockets I found:

YES,  that's right in all the jackets and coats I put away I found $.12 cents! I would have preferred a wad of cash,  but then it would not have been mine since I don't have wads of cash LOL 

I love this book and in this book Lucy finds something ..... 

A brain named "Fred"

 from Amazon:

A Walk in the Rain with a Brain is the illustrated version of that story. In it, a little girl named Lucy is making her way down a rainy sidewalk when she spies, of all things, a brain -- Manfred, called Fred -- sitting forlornly in a puddle. The courtly cerebrum asks Lucy for help getting home, and as they walk along she worries that she's not smart enough. "Everyone's smart!" explains Fred. "You just need to find out at what!" Fred reassures her that each child learns and thinks differently -- and that every child has special talents.

It's a GREAT BOOK! 

Catching up: Thursday photo: Stairs

From the April Photo Challenge, I didn't get very creative ... here are the stairs in my house ..... soon the icky carpet will be gone and it will be lovely wood:

What's with the banners you ask?  I love the color and fun they add to the house ... we have them up all the time ... sometimes we change them .... I have some for Kenya as well .... Kenya flags, plain white for decorating ....

Catching up ...Wednesday Photo: Where I ate breakfast

From the April Photo Challenge, Now let me explain ... we are putting/resanding wood floors in our house, so on this day the wood floor guy was packing and moving stuff. SO I ended up having breakfast in the family room .... looking into my sunny yellow kitchen:

April Photo Challenge .... Inside my wallet

As part of the April Photo Challenge : Inside my wallet .... now I don't carry a wallet ... I carry my debit card, credit card in a zipper pocket in my purse for now:

My driver's license, My Adderall, first aid cream and red washcloth with first aid kit in case of blood, receipt ... where's Waldo?

Friday Photo challenge - Lunch

Thai Chicken Peanut noodle dish ... it was lunch on the go yesterday .... but yummy!!

April Photo Challenge .... Just DO IT!

Like the Nike slogan ... Just DO IT! From my Dear friend 'Jo' in Canada

For all you Mom's out there who are in the same position as we are - WAITING. I hope you consider joining my challenge - something to help the time pass! I could use a little distraction.... so let's do it!

I know we are late... but here you go... snag this photo and posted on your blog and post one photo a day. I realize we missed the first two... and I will make it up by posting them later. But for now we have Day #3. 

MAIL

It was a low mail today,  but here it is! 

                                                        Someone who makes me happy:

Group photo of A & B and Paul, my husband in a bit of a silly shot

                                                                           Tiny
                                                                         

This is "A" born at 32 weeks 3 1/2 lbs. Here he's 4 days old.

                                       Backtracking to April 1: Reflection

Kenya Adoption Requirements

Kenya Adoption Requirements

What do you need to know if you are going to adopt from Kenya?


Here are a few of the basic requirements:

• Must be between the ages of 25 and 65 to adopt
• Married couples must be married for at least three years
• Single female applicants on a case by case basis
• More than 21 years older than the child
• Ability to live in-country for 7-15 months or until the completion of the adoption process
• Process is the same for former Kenyan Nationals that are US citizens seeking a relative adoption 

 Persons Not Allowed to Adopt:

The following are prohibited by law from adopting a child in Kenya:
1. A person who is not of sound mind
2. A person who has been charged or convicted previously of child abuse offense
3. A person that is a homosexual
4. Joint applicants who are not married to each other
4. A sole foreign male applicant

There are 2 US agencies that have current Kenya adoption programs: (click on links for more info)

Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan

Carolina Adoption Services

If living in the US, you must use one of these agencies to adopt a child in Kenya, there are NO "independent" adoptions allowed. 

Why Kenya?

The decision to adopt is a big one and a very personal one. Everyone has their reasons for the country they chose, the age of the children they would prefer to adopt, some may not wish to share .... I will share our reasons ..... it's part of the reason I am starting this blog :) 

I have 2 wonderful, adventurous, smart boys that are 9 & 10 (nearly 11). I had very difficult pregnancies; my oldest son was born at 32 weeks due to preeclampsia. After having a placenta abruption .... put on hospital bed rest , preterm labor ... not serious but found out when I was admitted, preeclampsia .... after 5 days of hospital bed rest , going temporarily blind because of the preeclampsia, having 2 seizures (while in the hospital)  .... my preeclampsia became eclampsia, my son was delivered via EMERGENCY c-section while I was under general anesthetic. He was 3 lbs 11 oz ... he stayed in the NICU for 25 days and then we brought home our 4 lb baby home. 

18 months later my younger son was born, full term 7 lbs 6 oz, after a high risk pregnancy that required a lot of monitoring and some unpleasant medication for 11 months. 

We have 2 healthy boys and for that we feel blessed. We talked about adopting a little girl ... someday. 

The boys kept us very busy for years ...... 

In 2007 I was called to go volunteer in Kenya at an orphanage for 3 weeks. 

It changed my life .... it changed our family's life :) 

after I was there for a couple days I knew we were going to adopt from Kenya ... I just didn't know how, or what the rules were,  I knew it was a difficult process and I needed to find out more. 

By the end of the 3 weeks my heart was full of love and pain, I had to leave all of the children I had just spent every day with .... I knew my family at home was fine without me, We missed each other,  but what was going to happen to all these children? I knew I would be back. 

The moment I got home and had a spare moment I was researching adoption.  I found an agency that had a Kenya program. I continued to research. In December 2007 I went back to visit. To find out more information about Kenya adoption and to visit all the children and friends that I had met. 

Kenya held elections Dec 27, 2007 ....... after the elections there was terrible violence resulting from the outcome of the election results.  A couple months later in 2008 our agency stopped their Kenya Adoption Program. Later in 2008 the US State Department closed adoption in Kenya. 

I made a few more visits back to Kenya. In late 2010 we went with the family. We didn't know adoptions were still closed at the time and we weren't really thinking about it when we went to visit. 

This was my husbands first visit with me. After that visit we started talking about adoption again. 

We started researching in November and December 2010. In January 2011 we called the US Embassy in Kenya and they told us the moratorium was being lifted ... WOOO HOOOO!!! 

We signed up with our home study agency , we contacted the ONE agency that had a Kenya Adoption Program at the time - Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and away we go .... One year ago today .... February 1st 2011 .... we mailed our home study application. Our first interview was February 14, 2011.