Thursday was birth certificates and passport day.
We went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs building and had Noemi’s new birth certificates made. They state our names as her parents but it also states that we are her adoptive parents. We had 10 certified copies made of her new certificate and 10 certified copies of her old certificate. I hope that’s enough copies for her life time, otherwise we’ll need to make another trip back to get more! I think I’ve need a certified copy 3 times in my life and this adoption process was 2 of them.
After we had her new birth certificate stating that we were her parents, we went to have her Marshallese passport made. We paid $85 to have it expedited and we had it in 20 minutes! Sadly I don’t think we get to keep it. I think we have to send it in with our US Embassy packet, but I’m not sure. I don’t think US citizens can have dual passports, can they?
Then we came home (to the hotel) and Rosita came over for a few hours. We had a quiet evening and went to pick up KLG (the Marshallese version of KFC) for dinner. It was ok but pretty greasy. The family meal was $14.99 for a bucket of chicken (8 pieces), 3 french fry sides, and 3 sodas. We did a Al a Carte of the same thing (chicken, fries and drinks) but we didn’t need 3 of everything. They even gave us a cup of ice for our soda cans =) It was nice because since we have a fridge and a microwave, we got breakfast out of it too! Probably not the healthiest breakfast but worked for today.
Friday was waiting around for our lawyer to call day.
We went down to the lobby and used the internet and walked around the hotel beach. We came back and hung out. Rosita came by at noon again and is still here (7pm). We are starting to have issues with our BM and we’re trying to work them out through Maddy the social worker and Peter her Uncle/Father. If you’re in the process of adopting from the RMI and would like more details, please contact me privately. Another adoptive mother also had issues but I think theirs were resolved after the adoption. Ours started at the adoption.
Well, Rosita just left and we went to the restaurant downstairs to eat at Mexican Night! Ahooowa! It was definitely not worth the price tag, but I got to eat tortillas, flan and augacate! The cook making the tacos even had a serape! I hope all goes well tomorrow.
Hey there! You will actually get her passport back from the Embassy when you receive her Visa packet. She travels home on the RMI passport since technically she's still a Marshallese citizen until Hawaii (when you land in Honolulu she's officially a US citizen!) :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, when you get back you can complete a process here that will get her a MN birth certificate - then it's easier in future years if you should need a certified copy.
Sounds like you have your embassy appt tomorrow - we had so many funny things happen at our appointment I'll have to share with you sometime. Remember, like you said about your court appt, the embassy is easy and nothing to worry about.
Take care!
Teresa-
ReplyDeleteI hope everything is resolved quickly and painlessly with the BM. Emi is such a gift that it would be sad for issues to sour your view of BM. Sending positive thoughts and prayers your way-
Becky D.
Teresa -
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! The photos are absolutely gorgeous! I have so many questions I'd love to ask you but realize your time online must be very limited so I'll try to be patient :)
I'm going to friend request you on Facebook so I can send you my personal email address. Now or later, whenever you can, I'd like to hear whatever you can share about the situation with your birth mother.
Our social worker from LSS said she was going to see if another family who just returned was interested in meeting us. We're really looking forward to connecting with other RMI families in the Twin Cities!
Take care!
We had issues too during our stay in the RMI. I sent you a private email. I'm praying for you and hoping things are getting better.
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