Instagram! and IMPORTANT, REQUIRED adoption travel hoops...

Follow our road to Mohale on Instagram!  
An instagram button is to the right.
@bringing_mohale_home

 Laura, owner of Rescued and Redeemed is holding an online auction through our instagram!
Ianna and Leora are working with her (I'm still figuring this instagram thing out:)

Some really awesome, creative, business mom's have donated incredible gifts to our action to help bring Mohale home!!

THANK YOU!!!!!!

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NEVER BORED

For those who will be adopting for Lesotho after us.  I would suggest NOT purchasing airplane tickets until AFTER the USCIS in Johannesburg has given you a visa interview date.
(Although It's apparently common to not wait- if you are "type A" like I am, it feels stressful.)

We were instructed to make travel arrangements before the USCIS in Johannesburg gave us a date to arrive at the US Consulate for Mohale's Visa interview.
OOPS.

The visa interview is where we are given final approval to receive a visa for Mohale.  Without a visa, he cannot enter the USA.

SO, it's felt a little extra stressful.  We had airline tickets, hotels and transportation for all of us lined up to place us in Johannesburg for the last week of our trip.  However, the USCIS had not yet granted us a date for Mohale's Visa interview for that week.  However, I got an email this week giving us a date for the visa interview...(huge, big sigh of relief here.)  Time will be really, reeeeally crunched and likely we will need to extend our stay.  Our agency director has made plans to accompany us for this last week to help us out.  Grateful!!

MORE STUFF TO DO:

Yesterday we "accidentally" learned that 
All children- 
biological, already adopted, and recently adopted need BIRTH CERTIFICATES issued within the last 4 months to TRAVEL in or out of South Africa.

Scrambling to get these before we leave in less that three weeks:

Tomorrow, on Ianna's 15th birthday, we will drive to OC and wait in line praying to get the oldest three kids birth certificates!

Fast Birth Certificates:
Vitalchek (Link) is a great way to get Birth Certs fast!
We've used them before and they are fast and affordable!

Isaiah 45:2
I will go before you, and make the crooked places straight

So grateful that we were given a visa interview date for the week we had arranged to be in Johannesburg!  Extremely thankful that we "accidentally" learned that ALL of our children will need birth certificates BEFORE traveling across the planet.  So grateful we didn't end up stuck anywhere or in a situation where we did not have the required papers on our children to enter or leave South Africa.

Although it is a hassle, it is GOOD that more restrictions are being put in place to prevent child trafficking.