Washington D.C. Trip

Well, I'm home.


Thank you SO much for the support that so many of you have offered by prayer and encouraging words regarding my trip to D.C. (posted about it here).

It will be hard to summarize our trip in one blog post. 

But I'm going to try!

So I arrived in Washington D.C. Monday night.  A sweet lady named Mary hosted me and Emily while we stayed there.  She lives just outside of the city so each morning and evening we'd take the metro for transportation.

Me and Emily on the Metro for the first time!

Mary made us breakfast each morning and made our stay FAR more comfortable (and cheaper) than staying in a hotel.  I will always be so grateful for her grace and hospitality!

So Tuesday morning started our advocacy with our Senators.  We were in a group with 5 California moms and a sweet couple from Nebraska.  We went with them to meet with a staffer for a NE Senator, then went to meet with Senator Feinstein from California.


We were greeted by 3 of her staff members as we started our meeting.  Then 2 more joined us...all very interested in our problem.  Senator Feinstein was on the "floor" voting and finally was able to make it to the meeting after about an hour of a very engaged conversation with her staff.

When she arrived, she made it clear that she wanted to see this situation resolved.  To be honest, it left me with tears as soon as she started talking to us.  At that point, we had not heard anyone with her authority want to see our kids come home as much as she did.  

She requested more information of us and has a plan to follow up with us later and personally meet with the Congolese Ambassador (if he'll agree to it) and present to him our cases.  

She also wants legislation in place immediately that will put a plan in place to communicate with Congo and negotiate the release of the children who are adopted.

By the end of the meeting (longest meeting of the week), we were encouraged to say the LEAST.  I don't care what party she represents, if she helps get my son home, she's getting my ultimate gratitude and respect for life! (doesn't mean I'll vote for her, but she's getting a Christmas card!)

Tuesday we also met with a staffer from Barbara Boxer's office.  While he seemed very concerned about the children and sympathetic for us as parents, we didn't feel like anything would actually be DONE by their office for us.

After that meeting, we headed to meet with 5 staff members of the Foreign Affairs Committee.  These women showed great concern for the children and genuine sadness for what we were going through.  They had some ideas for us and also some explanations for why we might be having such a hard time with the State Department.

After the meetings were done, we got ready for the candlelight vigil on the lawn of the Capitol Building.  This proved to be as emotional as I expected it to be.

Looking around at the beautiful dark faces and white eyes of those that are stuck in Congo as well as those that have been lost during this wait was beyond moving. 

There was something special about being surrounded by parents who TRULY understand what we are going through...not from hearing facts or stories, but from experiencing the same frustration and sorrow that we are.

Parents held signs of their children and told some of their stories of loss, sadness, and hope.  

CNN was there covering the story of a couple adoptive families and Christian Post covered the vigil as well.

Here is CNN's story:




And here is The Christian Post's article.

Wednesday proved to be another great day, meeting with Congressmen/women.

We met briefly with a Wyoming Congresswoman's staffer, who represents another family, CA Congressman Campbell's staffer (NOT a good meeting), and Congressman McClintock himself.

Tom McClintock proved to really care about our situation and looked into the eyes of our children in the pictures we provided.  He made it clear that he would do what he could to bring our kids home.  He said he would be co-sponsoring the House Resolution 588 that was drafted by the Foreign Affairs Committee as well.

A very productive meeting was held with Congressman Costa's (CA) staffer as well.  He showed extensive knowledge of his congressman's involvement and interest in this situation and provided future resources for us if needed.

Another huge highlight of Wednesday was the last minute meeting that was arranged with Congressman Royce (CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.  He met with all the parents that weren't in other meetings and showed how much information he had regarding this situation.  He is heavily involved in Africa, has taken several trips there including multiple trips to Congo.  He has met personally with President Kabila and his father, former President Kabila.

He knows the context, the politics, and the culture of Congo well and offered tremendous support to us as parents.  He offered ideas and accepted comments and questions from us as well.

He informed us that the House Foreign Affairs Committee was going to be meeting the next day (Thursday) in a markup where they'd be discussing several House Resolutions on the block.  He invited us to attend and reserved seats for us.

We ended the day feeling extremely optimistic!

After all the Wednesday meetings, us California moms ran over to the Capitol to catch Congress in session!

There was a SUPER cool cop, Officer Steve that took our picture and gave us some preferential treatment in the Capitol...he took us to the back entrance of the House Gallery so we didn't have to wait in the long line!!

We witnessed the House of Representatives vote on an amendment....to some bill...LOL.  Can't remember what it was!

That night, we went to see the White House and saw the absolutely beautiful Eisenhower Executive Offices Building.

We then took the Metro and planned to walk several blocks to the Capitol Mall so we could see the monuments and memorials all lit up at night.  Well, our plans changed as we were waiting for a friend and were surprised by a sudden D.C. storm!!!

It went from dry ground to flooded in an instant and thunder and lightning followed quickly.  It really was beautiful and strange to me as a Californian...it was WARM!  Needless to say, our plans changed.  We decided to instead walk just a couple blocks to find a place that would allow us to dry off at 10pm at night!

It proved to be a very eventful and unforgettable WET last night in D.C!

Thursday was our final morning and we had to be at the Rayburn House Building at 9:00a.m.  So it was an early morning for us as we had to get ready and be completely packed in time to get on the Metro and ride it into the city.

We made it 5 minutes late but there were still just enough seats left for us in reserved seating.

The meeting was really interesting as we got to see members of Congress discuss several human rights issues presented in different foreign affairs House Resolutions.

When it came time for our bill to be discussed, we were surprised to hear Chairman Royce ask us to stand as he personally addressed us all.

Each time a Congressman gave his opinion on the resolution, he directly spoke to us as well.  And each time, it made me cry!  These men of Congress are ready and willing to fight for our children!  

Here are my favorite quotes from the committee that were made IN SESSION:

• "Thank you for what you're doing, this is God's work." - Rep. Poe (TX)

• "The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world." - Rep. Salmon (AZ)

• "We owe it to these children and their parents to bring this to a resolution." - Rep. Perry (PA)

• "The prophet Isaiah said...'Take up the cause of the orphan,' that's what you parents are doing." - Rep. Meadows (NC)

• "Congress has your back!" - Rep. Smith (NJ)

Needless to say, we felt overwhelmed with Congressional support from this group.  Our experience with Congress ended on a very high note to say the least!

Us with Chairman Royce

 You can see video of the committee meeting here.  Start the first video at the 2hr mark and you'll catch all these comments listed above and more.

I'm proud to say that Chairman Royce represents California and we look forward to seeing what changes will come about as a result of our efforts this week.

We are eternally grateful to Both Ends Burning (see their Congo page here) for helping us organize this trip and advocating for us and our children.  There is no way this would be possible without you guys!!!

They helped 60 families from 43 states gather to be our childrens' voices.  They helped us meet with 99 elected officials and their staff.  Those are 99 Senators and/or Congressmen that have constituents in their district with children stuck in congo.  And those officials now KNOW about our kids.  Their voices have been heard and now those that have much larger voices than ours can speak for us.

I said it in many of our meetings this week - We are PASSIONATE about bringing our kids home.  We are their voices, but ours are small voices that not many hear and we NEED others with loud voices to be passionate with us and FOR us, speaking on our behalf.  I believe we met many who are now passionate about these children and who will make their voices heard. 

Before I had to be at the airport on Thursday, we had a little time to spare and did make it to Capitol Mall to see the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial.

Seeing the Lincoln Memorial reminded me of how thankful we should be for the courageous men that did what was radical in order to give people with a different color to their skin the same rights that we have.  My son would not have been able to join our family unless he was a slave had we lived 175 years ago.

I'm very thankful for my time in D.C. and so thankful for those that made the trip possible.  

We are forever connected to these Congo parents, and especially the California mamas that I spent 2 1/2 days with.

 We pray that this trip will change the lives of our children very quickly by allowing them to come home to their families.

Thank you for continuing to pray for Tobias and for us here waiting for him.

Perhaps the wait won't be much longer....


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