Phase 6-- Tuesday, 4/29

Yours truly has a lot of software project management experience, but not much with politics. But fortunately, you guys are more savvy than me. There have been some outstanding suggestions, and if you are able to help us try them tomorrow (or tonight) that would be great!

1. Bombard the White House fax line. 202-456-2461. Can use today's message as a cover sheet, and the letter from the president as the second page. Faxes are much harder to ignore than emails. You guys know that I am a big advocate of recycling and hate wastefulness, going back to my days as a garbageman for Harford Sanitation Services. But what if they ran out of paper in the fax machines tomorrow? If that happens, somebody is bound to notice! And we can plant a tree later. Sooner or later, somebody from the White House is going to call us back. Hopefully. Maybe.
   
   
2. Email First Lady Laura Bush. first.lady@whitehouse.gov. Subject: Kenya adoption crisis. Let’s keep it real, fellas. Women have a much better track record for nurturing kids than we do. It’s not that we don’t care, as much as that we don’t always think through things when we are busy. (Oh, sorry Kim, I didn’t realize it was mid-night; maybe the kids should go to bed. We were just having such a good time pillow-fighting!) It would be good to cc: Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. But if you only have time for one email, let’s place our bets on the First Lady!
   
   
3. Put posts on MySpace and/or Facebook for the Bush, Obama, Clinton, or McCain groups. If you want to do this, we need to stick close to the standard text so it doesn’t make Kenya look bad or confuse what the issue is-- but change it slightly so Facebook won't think that you are spamming. (we want to avoid stuff like "give them their kids", etc) We have not been asked for a bribe, and the judge is making requests that are lawful given the extenuating circumstances. Bottom line is that it is uncommon for young, otherwise childless couples to come to Kenya to adopt. And maybe some day young couples will be lining up to love these babies and this will actually seem normal. In the meantime, we just need our government to comply with the request of the courts, and re-assure them of the safety of their children by acknowledging that the Smiths have been approved by the US government for international adoption.
   
   For a personal touch, you could just put brief statements of affirmation out there…such as “I know Jeromy and Kim. If Jeromy stuck with the Detroit Lions through all those miserable years, he has the persistence to make it through parenting” or “If Kim can put up with Jeromy for 4 years of marriage, she can handle two kids!” You get the idea. If you don’t know how to set up a Facebook account, ask somebody younger than Jeromy and they can help you.
   
   Bottom line is that we just need to complete the impossible task of receiving the Attorney General and Presidential letters by Thursday. And let’s face it, Jeromy looks more like Stone Cold Steve Austin than Mr. Clever; I might not trust myself with kids either! Just joking; sorry, 17 days of minimal sleep are catching up with me. In all seriousness, Kenyans have a sincere concern for the safety of their children. Let’s give all Kenyans the assurance they need that ALL of their children that cross our borders are safe and loved here.

Rumor has it that a few friends are going to take the Marc train down to visit Washington DC this weekend if we don’t get the letter. Sounds like fun to me !!!!! We will let you know more details if this actually materializes. Maybe a game of ultimate Frisbee with a “we love Kenya!” theme?

Thanks for everything.

Serving the God of the impossible,
Baba Sundi