The Adoption of Jean-Wilkey
On September 13, 2001 our son Wynn was born. On the 15th of the same month I left for Haiti to bring home our other son, Jean-Wilkey "Moise". Our adoption process took 15 months and in the middle of that process, Tamra, my wife, became pregnant. We tried and tried to work it out that we would not get both of our sons at the same time but it did not work. Moise came home with me from Haiti exactly one week after Wynn was born.
This all happened of course after September 11th. My flight was scheduled on the 15th and everyone said I would not be going, but the Lord worked it all out. The flights to Haiti did run and I landed in Haiti on Monday the 16th, late but in Haiti never the less. I was scheduled to meet with INS at 12:00 noon on Monday. After the long process of customs and getting luggage I arrived at the INS office at 11:55am and they were closed.
I then proceeded to the orphanage to meet our son. Moise was a sad looking kid and was just sitting on the concrete floor when I walked in. He was shunned a bit because he was missing his left eye. The rest of the day was spent getting to know Moise.
The next day was a quick trip to the INS only to learn that I was not old enough to adopt. The age requirement was 25 and I came up a year short. After a prayer, the INS agent agreed to let my age slide and he said to proceed and set up the appointment with the Consulate to get Moise's visa.
So we called the Consulate and the only time that they could see us was tomorrow. Now that would have been fine if my flight didn't leave tomorrow but it did. So off to the consulate we went, because it is harder to deny someone fact to face.
After a couple of hours of waiting we saw somebody who spoke English. The lady was super nice and said that indeed they did not have time to see us but they could process the documents and would schedule the appointment for 7:00am the next day, so we could make our 10:30 flight. And it was a good thing that we did go because we did not have all the required documents. (A very nice gentleman named Rudolph was helping us to drive around and meet our appointments, but this was his first time and he didn't know about the required documents. The usual guy that helped everyone was gone.) So we left the Consulate and returned to the Ministry House to complete the documents.
Now, I'm only 24 and the wisdom that comes with age I am still waiting for, so in trying to fill out these required documents I was at a loss. Tamra, my wife had stayed home because of the birth of Wynn and my mother had come in her place. Now, mom didn't know anything about the adoption and Tamra had completed most of the paperwork back in the US. So now I'm in Haiti trying to fill out these documents and ended up having to guess or leave some questions blank. They had questions about Moise's birth parents: names, address and age. I did the best I could but didn't want to do anything incorrectly because if there was anything I learned about government paperwork is that if it is filled our incorrectly they just send it back. But it worked out!!
We also had to get pictures of Moise for his visa. This was supposed to have been done but it wasn't and it took us two tries to get it right.
The next morning we woke early to make it to the Consulate to get Moise's visa and then to make our flight (remember this is post September 11th and the chance of making another flight out of the country was poor to nil). After breakfast, as we were about to leave, Moise's birth parents showed up. They were very nice at first and then became increasingly angry. It seems they would visit Moise in the orphanage and this was one of their visits. It just happened I was there and about to leave. They learned that Mosie was leaving for good and became angry because no one told them he was leaving and they thought I was trying to sneak him out with out them knowing. After several tense minutes Rudolph calmed them somewhat and we took a picture of them with Moise. We then left and drove to the Consulate - very, very fast, as we were late.
The consulate visit went okay until they asked for proof of employment. Now, I had sent this to Haiti earlier, but where it was now I don't know and neither did Rudolph. I just happened to have my employee ID (which the Lord told me to take when I left the US) and they allowed that to work. Praise the Lord.
The rest of the trip was lots of running around to make flights and a long wait at the US INS office. (I hope they start revamping the INS at the Miami airport!) Anyway we made it home and I can only thank the Lord because there were so many close calls. I know He was involved because of all this. Thank you A Child Waits Foundation for your support.
Hal J. Yeager
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