All in a Day's Work

The courthouse where Reni became our son in 2010.

Friends tell me that they find it interesting to read how bits of our daily lives here differ from their experiences at home.  Today I got an e-mail from a childhood friend that prompted the following recounting of our day:

Today, [you should] thank the Lord for online document request forms!  That would be SOOO nice here!  

The goal today was to attempt to renew Reni's Albanian passport.  Everybody told us something different so we knew the day was likely to unfold in an unpredictable manner.  Keep in mind this was in a very busy downtown area with one-way streets, oodles of pedestrians and cyclists darting in and out between cars and parallel parking only.

First we had to get a current birth certificate at building 1 (they are no good if they are more than 3 months old, so the one we got in July while we were pursuing residency is no longer valid). Since we had done this before and knew where to go, we started our paperchase at this office, after we had Reni's new photos made at a photo shop. 

(I really should have started our account with this stop because the stinker acts so silly when he's the center of attention and while the photographer was telling him not to laugh, it was having the opposite effect for what was supposed to be a serious expression on his face.  It spiraled downhill quickly from smirks to crossed eyes and everything else you can imagine a 5 year old boy doing -- I think he would have rather stood on his head than sit up straight and look into the lens). 

Our next stop after the birth certificate was to get an original adoption decree from the court house (building 2) because we left ours in the States in our fireproof document/media safe which my parents have been unable to open in our absence.  Just in case we would be required to relinquish the original when applying for the passport, we had been advised to get notarized copies of the adoption decree, which are supposedly as good as the original for 7 years. 

Upon reaching office/building 3, the notary perused our papers and quickly told us we were missing some necessary stamps on the adoption documents that had just been issued at the courthouse. so we had to go back to building 2 when the kancellari's office opened at 1PM. 

The kids were getting hungry, so we go eat lunch.  

After lunch we return to the courthouse, get the needed stamps at building 2 then walk to building 3 to see the notary again.  She does not have a copy machine and directs us to a coffee roaster up the street who also has a copy machine service in the back of her shop.  Of course.  Copies are made with friendly service.

We return to the notary and she efficiently stamps all our copies and keeps one for her files.  Now we are prepared to apply for the passport at the police station but the notary tells us we have to get the application at the passport application office which is in the same building where we got the birth certificate this morning (building 1).  I start walking to that office and Nathan loads up the kids to move the car closer to building 1.  

I wander in building 1 and try to figure out the system (there is a row of chairs along the wall where people are sitting and a couple of random folding tables in the middle of the room with office equipment on them and 3 workers standing around, sort of looking busy.  There are minimal signs on the wall (it really all had a very temporary feel to it) and so I wait a few minutes to see if I can figure out the system without inadvertantly jumping the queue.  A couple walks in behind me and goes straight to one of the workers at a table and is helped.  I figure I can't hurt anything by asking so I try my best to explain that I am there to get a passport for my son.  The guy tells me I need to produce an application.  I explained that I needed him to give me one, but he tells me those are at the police station, so I need to get that first and complete it, along with bring a receipt of payment for the passport which I pay for at the post office.

I go outside and call Nathan to tell him to pick me up on the curb.  He's just unloaded the kids a few blocks up the street but gets them back in their seatbelts and comes to get me.  We drive back towards the direction of the court house where we had seen the police station and Nathan drops me off half a block away while he goes to find parking.  I spot the only female officer in sight (really, the only female within a block) and tell her I need to get an application for a passport.  She tells me that I must first pay at the post office and bring a coupon with me to show proof of payment before we can get an application.  Uh huh.

I call Nathan and tell him to come pick me up where he dropped me off (he had just found parking, again). As I wait, two nuns from Reni's former orphanage spot me on the street and we have a nice little chat.  8 minutes later Nathan rolls up, having tried what he thought might be a short cut but which turned into a labyrinth of narrow alleyways.  No biggie, I had a sweet conversation catching up with two Sisters of Charity, some of my favorite people in the world. Given that it was now 3:00, the time that most government offices close, we decided to call it a productive day.

Back to Elbasan we will go!  At least sometime in the next couple of months.  Before our papers can expire and we have to repeat the whole process again. :-)

P.S.  In case you are wondering why we are concerned about renewing Reni's Albanian passport it's because we were told that as our children are Albanian-born, we would not have to go through the costly and time-consuming process of applying for residency papers for them as long as they had a current Albanian passport.  Nathan and I are legal.  Now we're working to get the kids that way too!

P.S. #2 -- we made a quick, but long over due stop at Reni's orphanage to deliver our favorite caregiver to work after taking her to lunch with us.  I can't tell you how much love we experience each time we visit the Sisters of Charity.  I leave each time asking the Lord to let His love flow through me towards others they way it flows through them. We got to hold a baby and the kids got some energy out running the playroom floor. As we left they told Reni to think of their place as "Grandma's House" and come back any time!  
So as you can see, it was a fruitful day.

P