More Video

Video from day 1

We've been having difficulty with our internet connection being too slow to load video, but we managed to get one up so here it is:)

Day 2 with the boys...

We just dropped the boys off at HOH and it was more difficult than yesterday. I know that is what they are used to and the nuns are so wonderful to them, but we miss them! One more night without them and then they will be with us (as long as we get our travel letter on Monday). Today was even more perfect than yesterday- here's what we did:)

• Went to HOH at 8am, but the doors to the infant room were locked. As we waited we were mobbed by 30 or so 2 & 3 year olds. They were all crying and holding on to our legs so much that we couldn't walk. I bet that the care takers at the orphanage were wishing we hadn't shown up right at that moment:) We held a few of them until they let us in to see Levi & Judah.
• When we saw the boys this morning, they were all smiles and they seemed happy to be going with us. They were fed right before we picked them up and by the time we got back to our B&B, we could tell they were ready for a nap.
• Levi & Judah proceeded to take a 3 hour nap, which we found out was pretty typical for the kids in the infant room. Another adoptive mom (who has lived here for a year) said that the kids in the infant room spend a large portion of their day sleeping so all the activity over the past 24 hours probably really wore the boys out!!!
• We enjoyed taking turns laying with them and snuggling- it was a great morning:)
• When the boys woke up, we attempted to feed them some rice cereal (I think more of it ended up on their faces and clothes than in their mouths, but we tried).
• After eating, we played with the boys for about and hour and then took a walk down to Bourbon Coffee, which is the Rwandan version of Starbucks. We met another adoptive family there and talked adoption stuff until our driver came to take us back to the orphanage.
• When we arrived at the orphanage there were 3 other adoptive families that just got to meet their kids- Smith, Spore, & Bower families (they had just arrived from the airport). It was a beautiful thing to see them all holding their kids tight.

Our plan for tomorrow is to pick up the kids first thing in the morning and go to our POA's church where they have asked Adam to preach. We will spend most of the day there doing church Rwandan style, which will be amazing. We are praying for everything to go smoothly on Monday so we can obtain our travel letter and then it is on to working on the Passports. We are also planning on visiting the genocide memorial as well as other cultural sites around the city while we are here. I will keep the pictures coming so if you get sick of seeing our kids, sorry about that:) Lots of love from Kigali!!!

Adam & Katie

Details

We did not get our travel letter today, which means that we had to take Judah and Levi back to the orphanage at 5:30pm. The sister's were very sweet and understanding- they let us lay the boys in their cribs for the night and told us we could come back first thing to help them wake up and get ready for the day. On a side note, their cribs are TINY! Adam and I were both surprised at how small Levi & Judah are because they looked so much bigger in the picture. When we saw their cribs, we realized the scale of the picture was somewhat skewed. The clothes we brought still fit well with a little room to spare:)

On a scale of 1-10, this day was a 35 (at least). Here is somewhat of an outline...

• 9:00 Our POA picked us up and took us to the orphanage (my heart was beating out of my chest!!!)
• 9:45 The nuns brought Levi & Judah out for us. They had just woken the boys up from a nap so Judah was a little cranky, but he warmed up pretty fast.
• We headed over to The Minister's office to request our travel letter from Veronique personally. She was very sweet and wanted to hold the boys- she informed us that The Minister was out and may not return in time to sign our travel letter.
• After The Minister's office we went to exchange money with our POA and then we took Levi to the Dr. because he has quite a chest cold, but the Dr. said he was OK and that we should just monitor him for a few days.
• Following the visit to the doctor, we took the boys back to our bed and breakfast to feed them and have them take naps. Levi wasn't tired so he went on the coffee adventure (see pictures below) with Adam.
• The boys' schedules were completely thrown off in terms of eating, sleeping, and their normal surroundings, but they held up like champs. Levi had a little melt-down around 4:30 and then we heard from our POA that we would have to take them back to the orphanage.
• Our kind driver took us back with the boys and waited while we said goodbye (for an extended period of time). We also met two other families from the US who had adopted from HOH and met the in country representative for AWAA who was so very sweet to us.
• We ate dinner at a local Italian restaurant with really good pizza and now we are almost too exhausted for words, but so happy.
• THANK YOU FOR PRAYING FOR US AND STANDING WITH US!!!!!!!!! WE CANNOT WAIT UNTIL YOU GET TO MEET THE BOYS:)

These pictures are worth a thousand words...

While Judah was napping today, Adam took Levi on an "adventure" to a local coffee place. He managed to get the oh so serious Levi to laugh and giggle for pictures so you all could see his cute smile. We also happen to think that the last picture is priceless- we think he's saying, "yeah, I'm the man."

The Best Day Ever!

Today was amazing...there is so much to write, but I will leave it to the pictures for now.

We have arrived!!!

We arrived safely in Kigali at 1:45 local time. It is now 4:30am local time and we are getting settled in our room. Our POA will be by at nine in the morning to take us to the orphanage and then we will be stopping by The Minister's Office. Please pray for this first meeting- we are total strangers to Levi & Judah and we want this transition to be one that is good for them. We are off to try to sleep for a few hours and then what a wonderful Friday it will be!!! All our flights went perfectly and all of our luggage arrived with us- we feel so blessed and taken care of.

Sending our love from Rwanda!

Adam & Katie

In Amsterdam

Hey Everyone! We are in Amsterdam and on our way to Nairobi next. We are tired but oh so happy!!! We will be arriving in Kigali at about 2am Friday local time (that is Thursday evening for those of you in Michigan).

Leaving:)

We are leaving our house in less than an hour...clothes for two kids, diapers, wipes, carriers, hot pots, medicine, donations for the orphanage, and on and on (formula is really heavy)!!! The room for Levi & Judah is ready to go and we'll update you as soon as we have more to tell or if we find ourselves bored in an airport:) LOTS AND LOTS OF LOVE!!!

Adam & Katie

Itinerary

Less than 24 hours and we will be in the air on our way to be with LEVI and JUDAH. Our POA will be picking us up from the airport at 2am on Friday and we will go to our hotel, shower, and then meet them face-to-face for the very first time!!! We plan on updating our blog with videos and pictures as our internet connectivity allows. This is our itinerary...

• WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25th, Depart Detroit 5:55pm, Flight: KL 6242/ *NW 242
• Stop in Amsterdam and then on to Nairobi
• SWITCH AIRLINES, Depart Nairobi 11:40pm (THURSDAY), KQ 0466
• ARRIVE IN KIGALI, RWANDA 2:10am, (FRIDAY)
• Go to the Beth Shalom Bed & Breakfast in Kigali to shower and change
• FRIDAY, head to Mother Teresa's Home of Hope as soon as they will let us in!!!
• Hold Levi & Judah and stay with them as long as we are allowed (If we have travel papers by Friday, we can keep them with us. If we do not, we will have to return them to the orphanage by 5pm).
• SATURDAY- Hang out with Levi & Judah and see a friend we met on the internet from the states. Perhaps drink some Rwandan coffee:)
• SUNDAY- Adam is preaching at our POA's church. Please pray for God to speak through him to the body of Christ in Rwanda.
• 11/30-12/6 (Monday-Sunday)- Finish paperwork, see Rwanda, learn about the country and experience all we can while learning what it means to be a family of FOUR and take care of two little ones!
• SUNDAY (12/6)- Depart for Nairobi to process visas for the boys.
• MONDAY (12/7)- Medical appointments for visa approval.
• TUESDAY (12/8)- Receive results of medical exams.
• WEDNESDAY (12/9)- Visa appointment at US Embassy in Nairobi.
• THURSDAY (12/10)- Receive visas for the boys (they have promised me they will be finished on time:)
• DEPART FOR MICHIGAN 10:50pm- Thursday (12/10)Flight: KL 6253/ *NW 253
• ARRIVE: Detroit-Wayne County Int'l, MI (DTW) at 11:40AM

Katherine with a K!

We got an update from our POA today and he spent some time with Levi and Judah getting their pictures taken for their passports. He said that Judah is a "very serious boy" and he's calm, not scared of anything. Levi was a little more nervous being out and about and he said that neither of the boys wanted to let him go when they went back to the orphanage. He told them, "your parents are coming this week." Melt my heart!!! I am so thankful for our POA.

Our POA also scanned the birth certificates for Judah and Levi so we could have them in our files and I realized that they spelled my name Catherine with a C instead of Katherine with a K...I immediately sent a message to our POA and we are asking for prayers that this does not cause a major problem and that it is easily fixable because our I know our POA has been running around like crazy trying to get ready for our arrival on Friday.

That's all for now- we will post more as soon as we can. Now I'm off to pack and clean and try to install a gate at the top of our stairs:)

Reality Check

I follow the blog of an amazing young women living in Uganda, caring for the forgotten. She posted this today and it was a stark reminder of what NEEDS to be at the forefront of our minds as members of the body of Christ. As we rejoice in going over to be with Levi & Judah, there is so much suffering and sadness that cannot be ignored. I copied her post below because it is a beautiful and necessary reminder.

This is what she wrote...

"It started a few months ago when my great friends Mike and Suzanne were here to adopt their daughter. In finding out she had HIV, they were obviously broken. Mike made a statement that stirred something within me. He said, "I guess you know that children are out there suffering. You know that children are sick, this sick. But it is different when it is your child. It's just different." And it is. I don't mean this blog to criticize you in any way, Mike, because what you said was true for me too. It is different when it is my child. I spendcountless nights awake with dying, or at least critically sick, children. I love them and I cuddle them. I sponge bath them and give them their medicine and wipe up their vomit. I hold them and pray over them and tell them how special they are and how Jesus loves them. My heart really does hurt for them. But it doesn't hurt the way it hurts when I think one of my own children is close to death. It doesn't hurt the way it does when Sumini's fever just won't go down or when Patricia is up all night coughing with her third case of pneumonia in three months. It doesn't hurt the way it does when Margaret's teeth run into Agnes's eyebrow and I can see her bone, and then watch in terror as the doctor stitches it up WITHOUT anesthetic. Somehow, when it is my children, there is a bit more urgency, a bit more panic. There is a bit more frustration at the lack of medical care we canreceive here and a bit more google searching of what to do. I am not saying that I am proud of this. I am just letting you know that it isn't just you I have held several children as they died of inadequate medical care. It was horrible and I grieve and cried, but I promise you that I wasn't as devastated as I would have been had it been one of my daughters. Its ugly, but its true.

Its just different when its your child who's suffering. But should it be? This is what I have been struggling with. I believe that this is a normal human reaction. I also believe it is WRONG. I believe that each human on the planet is God's child, perfectly made and beloved and cherished by Him. I believe that His heart hurts like mine does, even more than mine does, when my baby is hurting for EACH and every one of the hurting, dying, starving, crying children in our world at this moment. So I HAVE to believe that if my heart was truly seeking to be aligned with the heart of God, that I would have to hurt for each of these children as well. But sometimes, I forget. Sometimes I'm busy. Sometimes hurting for my very own children just feels like enough. I believe that the world says that this is ok. And I believe it is wrong. And this keeps me up at night.

Angelina is seven years old and barely weighs 15 pounds. Youremember that picture that was made popular in the 1980's during the famine in Ethiopia of that little girl (who looked like a bag of bones) curled up next to a vulture? That girl doesn't look nearly as sick as Angelina. Her mother has not had any food to give her in over four months. When Angelina musters enough energy to let out a cry of hunger (she is far to weak to walk or even hold her head up on her own), her mother gives her some locally brewed alcohol to keep her quiet. For four months, keeping her a little drunk has actually probably been what is keeping her alive. The dirt floor where she has been laying her whole life accumulating bedsores is covered in waste, animal and human. Jiggers burrow deep into her little feet causing them to crack and bleed. She is naked, filthy, and cold. It is far worse than appalling.

I bet right now at this moment your heart is sad for her. Is it as sad as it would be if Angelina were your daughter? Angelina is God's daughter. His heart aches for this perfect, wonderfully made child of His. Her circumstances do not surprise Him, but I have no doubt that they grieve Him tremendously.

And it's not just children, because we are all children in His eyes. Grace is maybe 60 years old but looks to be pushing 100. She can't weigh more than 85 pounds. Grace is a mother to six children, but 4 have died of AIDS and the other two have deserted her for a better life. She lives in a 4 by 4 foot room that is pitch black, but she doesn't mind; in addition to being to weak to walk, Grace is blind. She NEVER has any visitors. At night her bones ache against the hard dirt floor and her feeble body shivers with cold. A cough racks her body and her stomach rumbles in hunger making sleep impossible.

Its sad, huh? How sad though? Sad enough that we want to do sometime about it? Sad enough that we will remember Grace tonight as we snuggle down into our beds or next month as we pay the bills? Maybe. But maybe not. Because it hurts, but it doesn't hurt that much. It doesn't hurt the way it would if Grace was your grandmother all alone there in the dark. It does for God. Because Grace is His.

As I snuggle both these sweet girls, as I kiss their cheeks, as I spoon Pediasure into Angelina's little mouth or watch Grace rejoice over the gift of a scraggly old blanket, I allow the tears to fall. The tears that hurt for these people as if they were my family. Because they are my family. And it SHOULD hurt. It shouldn't be different. I desire for it to never again be different.

We are the body of Christ. But do we know what that means? Do we long for our brothers and sisters to be comfortable and fed and well? Do we long for it enough that we are uncomfortable under our blankets at night or eating our pancakes in the morning? Do we feel the hurt that God feels as He watches the body of Christ sit back and allow these precious children of his to perish? Maybe sometimes. But sometimes, we are too busy, or we forget, or hurting for our own children is enough. We are the body of Christ. We need to hurt. We need to react. Their needs to be the same urgency and panic and frustration and desperation as if these were our own children. They are God's children.

Heavenly Father,
Thank you for Angelina. Thank you for Grace. Thank you for creating them perfectly in your image, your precious, beloved children. Thank you for your beautiful plan for their lives and thank you for bringing them into mine. Thank you that they are YOURS. Help me to hurt. Not just a little, but the way you hurt when your children are overlooked and perishing. me to never be too busy or too comfortable to remember the people who suffer. Help me to never stop desiring to do something about it. Lord help us to remember that as the body of Christ, this is our responsibility. Thank you for loving us, even when we forget. I never, never want to forget again."

Our Boys!!!

I found out later this week that we actually passed court on Monday and I didn't realize that everything was official at that time so we are able to post pictures. Here are our beautiful boys!!! It is hard to believe that we will be holding them in our arms in just 6 short days. Judah UWIMANA Dorband on the right and Levi KWIZERA Dorband has the cutest, chubbiest cheeks I have ever seen (and he is on the left). We are smitten and in love!!!

*This is their original referral photo- they are a little older now and Judah is all smiles:)

Lodging in Rwanda

Hi friends! I know many of you will be traveling to Kigali in the NEAR future (yay!!!) and if you are looking for a place to stay, I would check out Beth Shalom Bed and Breakfast. You can view their website at http://2020Rwanda.com. It seems conveniently located and they are extremely helpful. We e-mailed them over the weekend and they responded quickly to a multitude of questions. They offered to pick us up from the airport and they have a variety of services. Check out their website- the most expensive room is $65/night, which is very reasonable for Kigali. I just thought I'd pass the info along.

Adam and I are still busy making preparations and we just can't wait to hold them in our arms. Please continue to pray for Judah and Levi as they are about to meet these two crazy Americans and leave everything they know. We pray that the adjustment goes well and that all our travels are safe:)

One week until lift off!!!

Adam and I are so excited that in just one week we will be on a plane to meet Levi & Judah face to face. The joy is truly unspeakable. We are busy with preparations and our wonderful POA has been running all over town in Kigali to make sure all the paperwork is in order. He received their birth certificates on Tuesday with new "officially official" birthdays that are different from the earlier ones. According to the documents, Levi was born 1/20/2009 (my dad's birthday) and Judah was born 3/16/2009. I was just typing out our flight itinerary and I thought you all might be interested in our route to Rwanda so here it is...

Depart Detroit 5:55pm on Wednesday, November 25

Arrive Amsterdam 7:55am on Thursday, November 26

Depart Amsterdam 10:20am on Thursday, November 26

Arrive Nairobi 8:25pm on Thursday, November 26

Depart Nairobi 11:40pm on Thursday, November 26

Arrive in Kigali 2:10am on Friday, November 27

We are using Northwest/KLM so we have less flights to deal with (especially on the way home with the two little ones). As we are packing to leave, my only question is this...should we go through the trouble to bring a portable crib or should we rely on blankets and pillows to form a makeshift bed? Also, fellow adoptive families, tell me what is on your "must have" list so we can make sure we bring everything we need!

THANK YOU:)

Court Date- I am so amazed!

Adam and I are shocked and amazed- our POA and Attorney went to court TODAY and finished the court, not just the appointment (those are the words of our POA)!!!! God has answered our prayers for a November court date. Our POA will go back to the judge on Friday to receive the finalized paperwork at which point I will post full pictures of our beautiful boys:) We are planning and preparing to bring Judah and Levi home in the very near future. Just NINE days until we leave. Today is Judah's 10 month birthday and yesterday was Levi's. Happy "birthday" boys- we love you so very much and we can't wait to hold you in our arms.

Thank you for your continued prayers- we are being sustained by them.

Updated Info

The past week has been a process of running 90 miles an hour and after a ton of work by our AMAZING POA- we will be leaving to pick up Judah and Levi on November 25th!!! Due to the kindness of another friend in Rwanda, we also know their official birthdays as well and they are truly almost twins. Levi was born January 15, 2009 and Judah was born January 16, 2009. It is so surreal to actually be leaving in just a week and a half. There is so much to do! My dear, wonderful friends planned a baby celebration for today and we have been so showered with love- THANK YOU!!! The boys are going to be so smothered with love- they don't even know what's coming:) AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH we are so excited!!!

A little more info:)

We have decided on names!!! For those of you who have seen the pictures, the one with his mouth open will be Levi Kwizera Dorband- Levi means "joined together in harmony" in Hebrew and Kwizera means "confidence & trust" in Kinyarwanda. Baby boy number two will be Judah Uwimana Dorband- Judah means "praised" in Hebrew and Uwimana means "belongs to God" in Kinyarwanda.

Our POA was able to tell us that Judah was found on March 26, 2009 and the nuns believe that he was about one week old at the time. That makes his birthday somewhere around March 19, 2009. He is coming up on his 8 month "birthday". He did not have any additional information for us on Levi.

They are amazing and beautiful and Adam and I are so in love with them!!! It is truly beyond words. Please continue to pray for the other families awaiting their referrals as well as for the other processes that need to take place for us to bring them home!!!

Dorband Party of FOUR

With trembling hands I am writing to let you all know that we have two new additions to the Dorband family. We received a referral for two little boys this morning. It went into our spam!!! They have the most captivating eyes and the most amazing little toes. This moment feels so surreal and while I can't post them on a public forum until we pass court- here is a little sneak peak! The letter only gave their names- no birthdays or ages or anything. We will pass along the info as soon as we know!!! Thank you for walking with us on this crazy awesome adventure. Now we are focusing our prayers towards a NOVEMBER court date so we can bring them home.

Sweet Dreams

I dreamt about our kids last night. I LOVE it when I dream about them:) We were at Home of Hope picking them up and I had the impression that it was the first time we ever saw them. They introduced us to the first one, it was a boy and his name was Levi. He rested his head on my shoulder and we whispered, Ndagukunda in his ear. We walked over to the other crib, but I woke up before I saw anything...I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't...hopefully we will know more this week. Veronique actually e-mailed me on Saturday to say that referrals would be coming very soon. I hope very soon means Monday and we would so appreciate it if you would continue to pray for a November court date.

Rumors about God...

I've been meaning to write this post for a while, but I never got around to it, so here it goes. We are entering a series in our youth group called Secondhand Jesus, which is based off of a book by Glenn Packiam called "Secondhand Jesus: Trading Rumors of God for a Firsthand Faith." There is a passage in Job after God himself speaks where Job exclaims,

"I admit that I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand-from my own eyes and ears! I'm sorry-forgive me. I'll never do that again, I promise! I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor." - Job 42:5-6

One of the biggest myths or rumors in the Christian faith (and one I hear frequently regarding this adoption process) is this, "Everything that happens is God's will." This simply is not true. My friend Jerusha Clark wrote a book titled The Life You Crave- the promise of discernment and in it she says, "Not only does this fallacy wrongly deny the dynamic relationship between God and man, but it also fails to match up with our daily experience. For instance, it is absolutely true that God wants none 'to be lost, but he wants all people to change their hearts and lives,' as 2 Peter 3:9 (NCV) proclaims. But it's also true that many unrepentant people DO perish. While we don't fully understand it (and I don't think we ever will comprehend this on earth), there is an authentic interplay between God, mankind, and the actions individual men take."

Well said Jerusha! I cannot pretend to understand the mysteries of this relationship between God's will and man's actions, but I do know this. While God does not cause every circumstance, He can and will work in us through our circumstances to bring Him glory. I will continue to place my trust and hope in a God who loves me and gave His Son for me.

Hope Deferred Again

Ugh- this is what our POA just wrote to us. We were under the impression (from The Minister herself), that she was already done with the files and the information simply needed to be scanned into the computer. According to Veronique, this is not the case. This is what he wrote...

"I went to The Ministry today, as you know calling does not make things work accordingly, it seems like she will not send the referrals this weekend. It seems like The Minister has not approved the referrals and so they can't be sent to the parents. I am so sorry for the delays. She asked me to call her on Monday because Friday they work a half day."

I don't know why I am suprised- I should have expected this. Please continue to pray that we can secure a November court date.

I heard this quote this morning and I believe it is timely, "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." -Corrie Ten Boom

Keep Praying!!!

Thanks to our wonderful network of blogging friends, this is the word on the street...please keep praying that all the technology works so Veronique can get the referrals out before the weekend.  We also need continued prayers for a NOVEMBER court date.

This is what she wrote:)

"POA feels confident that your referral will come this week and said it will probably be Friday.  Veronique has reassured her that she is doing everything she can to finish up these adoptions before the end of the year and she knows the courts are not open in December.  Veronique is traveling upcountry some this week but should be in the office Thursday or Friday."