We’re going to Haiti!

               We received our invitation from IBESR and we are going to Haiti!  They basically called with two specific weeks and we didn’t dare say no.  We instantly said Yes, Yes, Yes!!!  We spent the next few hours working on flights and other arrangements.  God’s word says He will give us the desires of our heart….that is so true!  He not only gave us relatively quick dates but He has worked the dates so that we can see the children at our church’s orphanage also!  We will arrive in Haiti two days early and spend time with them before going to meet our son!  Oh those words….going to meet our son! 

                We already have flights booked, hotels booked, chauffeurs arranged and we are starting to pack.  We are putting finishing touches on the arrangements for Ashley and Travis now.  You can begin praying for me now…..16 days away from my children!  GASP!   Slowly but surely God has prepared me for this moment.  Exactly 1 year ago I flew to California to meet Todd on a business trip.  It was my first time leaving the children and it was only for 3 days!  And this past fall we both went to Haiti on our first international trip.  We were slowly working our way into this trip. But, 16 days is a long time!  Whew!  I’ll need the prayers and Todd will need them because he will be dealing with me!  Haha!  (Not that daddy’s don’t love their children like mommy’s but since they travel so much for work I think the time away isn’t as hard for them.  They are used to it more than us mommy’s.) 

                So, in less than three weeks we will be meeting and holding our little boy!  We will begin to learn his personality and have a chance to love on him!  Now if I can contain my excitement and begin to put two thoughts together in a row I might stand a chance of getting everything done in time!  : ) 

                I added a new family picture (with our little man) on our page.  Here’s a big picture of our little guy!!!! (He was 12 months old in this picture and he is 15 months old now.)  

It’s a family thing…

                The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind in our home (as you can only imagine).  My mind has been going non-stop with planning, dreaming, wondering, questioning, imagining and praying about everything you can imagine and then praying for things that I haven’t thought of yet!!  I want this whole process to be covered in prayer!  But this process isn’t about me!  This journey is for our whole family and I thought I would share how our whole family is a part of this journey. 

                On the day we got the call, I immediately called Todd and then drove to the school to sign the kids out of school.  Is that crazy?  Yes!  Is this a life changing day?  Absolutely!!  I didn’t want to tell anyone without telling them first!  I told them we were coming home to have a ‘fun lunch’ and then told them when we got home.  Ashley burst into tears with the news and jumped into my lap and Travis just jumped all over the room!  He was so excited and didn’t know what to do with his energy!  He jumped and cried together!  We had such a fun time celebrating and praying together. 

                Within a few days we had pictures enlarged and placed around the house.  The kids have been a big part of helping us choose a name for our son.  We were not going to change the name of an older child but with him being younger it is something we are considering.  We all like the same name (yeah….it’s a God-thing!!)  We love the meaning and we think it is fitting for him.  It has been fun to have the kids be a part of this process. 

                Almost immediately, Travis announced that he was sharing a bedroom with his little brother!  We had talked prior to getting our referral that we were unsure about how to rearrange bedrooms.  We have an extra bedroom but thought that sharing might make the transition easier for a kiddo used to being around a lot of other little ones.  We wanted to find out their age/gender before making that decision.  As soon as we found out, Travis was determined they were sharing and is already talking about their new room.  It’s so sweet!  I’m so ready to start getting the room ready just because we are all so excited!! 

                Tonight just broke my heart…..I am on a facebook private group of people adopting from the same orphanage.  Someone posted a picture of our little guy from when they went to visit their son a couple of months ago.  When she tagged me in the picture other people started commenting also.  We were reading the comments at dinner tonight. The one comment said that even though we couldn’t see his shirt it actually said “I Love My Daddy”.  The one woman said that his eyes are very captivating and she loved looking at him each day.  It was at that point that little Travis started crying.  He sweetly said “I miss him and I want him home”.  It was a hard dinner tonight with all of us ending up in tears.  Ashley is as tender (if not more so) than Travis but often doesn’t share her thoughts as openly as Travis does.  She just quietly weeps when upset…..like tonight.  We talked about how amazing it is that God can knit hearts together when we haven’t even met yet. 

                Praying that God will continue to knit all of our hearts together and safeguard them through the rest of this process.  It isn’t easy on anyone….especially the little ones. 

                Thank you for your support through this journey, for loving us and for loving our children through this too!  So many people came to find us on Sunday to ‘meet’ our little guy (even coming to find me in the nursery)….it was awesome to feel so loved and supported!  The kids told us how many people spoke to them and gave them hugs too (even when we weren’t around)….Thank you!  

Here's a picture we took of the kids at their school Christmas program a couple of weeks ago.  Love them so!

"The Call"

                It happened….almost two weeks ago we received “the call” that changed our lives!  It started as a normal Tuesday morning with Todd in California and me sitting down to complete some adoption grant  paperwork after dropping the kids off at school.  I wondered who was calling so early in the morning and when I saw it was our agency I just knew.  As soon as I answered they asked if I was driving and told me to sit down…..I started crying.  (I didn’t stop for a week!)  It was then that I learned of our third child.  I heard a name, a gender and an age…..and love began!  It was instantly clear that God’s hand was already upon it all….it was my day off; Todd was still in his hotel so we could talk, cry and pray together for a long time; and His Hand has been upon everything since! 

                Our youngest is ….a little boy!  He just turned 14 months old on December 21^st!  He has the smoothest sweet skin and the darkest eyes that have a definite sparkle to them!  He has those sweet baby cheeks that you just can’t wait to kiss.  Oh my goodness I could just go on and on! 

                We have said we were open to a boy or a girl up to the age of 5 so we feel that God has hand-picked this little guy to be in our family and we are thrilled beyond measure.  If you see us we will be glad to show you a picture if you ask (and maybe even if you don’t) but we will keep that to private times for now. 

                For those of you following our journey here’s what happened:  you know that we have waited for this new law to be passed this entire year so that matching of families and children could begin.  We are the first family to receive a referral with our agency.  When we received the call we learned of his name and approximate age only.  I had found a picture of him on the orphanage website and in our newsletter (we are pretty familiar with the children at the orphanage after praying for them all this time) but it took almost 24 hours to get a picture of him from our agency.  We received the actual referral with personality and medical information 6 days later (everything was in Creole/French and had to be translated).   We had 15 days from the date we received the referral to give our decision in writing (official and notarized letter) which we did….of course!!  Unfortunately, our acceptance letter was rejected because it was written in English and not Creole.  No one (not even our agency) knew it needed to be written in Creole.  We had it translated, re-signed by all parties and resent as soon as possible.  Yesterday (New Year’s Eve) we received confirmation that they received and accepted our referral acceptance letter.  Those are fancy words for:  we are officially matched and he is soon to be ours!!! 

                What happens next?  Well, we expect we will travel to meet him sometime in January.  Can you believe it?? I am beside myself.  Will he be quiet, outgoing, shy, playful, mischevious, giggly, ticklish, snuggly, timid, sweet?  All those things we will find out in time!  Ok, back to the basics….we must be evaluated by the social worker to see how he bonds with us and vice versa.  We must stay for two weeks while they evaluate us (and no our children are not allowed to travel with us).  Assuming they approve us and our bonding, we return home and our paperwork then all goes to Court where he will become a SHEARER!!!  The court process can take anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months.  After court, they will print passports and visas which can take anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months.  Then we will return to Haiti and bring him home!!!! 

                In October I was dreaming of who our child would be and thinking it was going to be another 1-1.5 years before they would be home. Now we know who he is and we are looking at probably 6-9 months to have him home!  I am beside myself with excitement!!  The planning, dreaming and everything that is going on in my mind is unexplainable.  What IS explainable is how God has had His hand in everything! 

                Psalm 68:6 God sets the lonely in families.