The calls,
emails, messages and cards we are receiving is so touching! Amazing actually! We cannot begin to say thank you and we
cannot begin to answer all the questions so I thought I would begin here with
the most commonly asked. Ready?
How are we doing? Obviously, we are a range of emotions from
beyond excited and somewhat apprehensive, to “just want to get down there
already!” It depends greatly on the
moment, how prayed up we feel and who you are asking! J
How are we preparing? Differently! For sure! I think I began
preparing, packing and nesting the moment we received our referral. Todd has yet to start packing. Seriously! It could be that he is a guy and
he believes all things are ‘good’ and we have ‘plenty of time’ or it could be
that he is working a ton of time trying to make up for being off of work for
two weeks. Most of the time when you
travel you are able to be reached by phone and email right? Well, we don’t know how much phone/email
access we will have. That is not
comforting to his company that is in a major crunch time right now. Being inaccessible for two weeks is hard and
he is working hard to get as much done as he can before he leaves. Last night he worked on his computer while I
make packing lists, folded laundry, and worked all around him. I’m sure it was a perfect working condition
full of encouragement and support. :
) But, for me….I just am a ball of nerves
that his suitcase is still empty! I give
it another day and it will be full of my stuff or more ‘necessities’ and you
will see Todd wearing the same outfit every single day because we ‘just didn’t
have room’. Sorry honey!
What is the most emotional? Determining how to shut off my brain, so to
speak. I want to be a good mommy and I
want to do things the right way (as everyone does). I have read the books, done the studies,
taken the seminars and prayed about what I should do when we meet….yet
HOW? How do I walk into a room and tell
this little boy that I am his mommy?
What IS a mommy to him? That word
holds no meaning. How do I show that in mere hours a day? What will set me apart from the other
volunteers that have worked with him every other week since coming to the
orphanage? At this point, I need to put
the books and classes aside and be in the moment. Only GOD can bring our hearts together! Only God can open his heart to see our love
and begin to accept us. Only God can
work those miracles. We put him in God’s
hands a long time ago and we need to trust Him now. The bonding and attachment process will take
way longer than these two weeks but this will give us the opportunity to
interact and begin to form those bonds.
How will we ever say goodbye at the end of
two weeks? I haven’t really figured
out how we’re going to say Hello so I haven’t begun to think about saying
goodbye. I do know that I have a
gracious and loving Father that will carry me.
And I also know that this is not forever. It may feel like forever and it may be the
hardest thing I will ever do but I will not be alone. Nor will Oberson. God knew him before he was born, knows the
hairs on his head and will protect and care for him until we return for him.
What is causing you the most stress about
your trip? If you are looking for a spiritual answer here…just skip this
one and keep going to the next one. Or
maybe find another blog because I’m not a great example! My major stressor…..I heard a rumor that I
cannot use my hair dryer for the whole two weeks we are at our orphanage! Seriously people! All these pictures of our sweet boy, daddy
and the ‘crazy hair lady’. Not
kidding! I’m not talking the second day
hair look but two whole weeks! Wow! I could go without my curling iron but I’m a
child of the 80’s and I can make a whole lot of junk with my hair dryer. It’s pretty much a must in my life. For those of you that think it isn’t a big
deal….more power to ya! Wow! I wish I was like you! My husband wishes I was like you! I’ll just tell ya now….it’s not going to be
pretty. Haiti, hot, humid…..ok I need to
stop or I will become stressed.. Deep
breaths. Whew.
What kind of stuff are you packing
(everyone is curious about an international trip to a place like Haiti)? Well, I will say that I am packing a hair
dryer just in case (I am married to an engineer and the place runs off a
generator. I figure he’s bound to figure something out right? Oh the stories we might tell! )
Other than that, we are packing our clothes of course and a small amount
of food. Our orphanage has a guest house
that we will stay at for our visit. They
have hosts at the guest home that cook the meals and provide the linens so we
just provide personal items. We are
taking some snacks for the evenings or between meals. I am taking medicines (i.e. malaria
prevention and other meds in case we would get sick….it’s a long trip). We have packed a bunch of donations for the
orphanage such as baby items for the nursery and some office supplies.
Lastly we are
taking some special things for our little man.
The kids have each picked out some clothes. We hope to wear them on him while we are
there but they will be donated of course for everyone. We are taking toys to play with while there
but again they will be for everyone to enjoy.
We have balls, cars, blocks as well as some old fashioned toys. We wanted to have an array of toys with us to
see what he might like so we know what to have here at home for him. We have 4 personal items for him that will
remain with him only.
1) A blanket that has his name on it.
2) A blue teddy bear that we all picked out as a
family. (Ashley and Travis have each had a teddy since they were young).
·
We hope to have some cuddle time with the
blanket and teddy bear while we are there and he will then enjoy them with us,
have them while we are gone, and then bring them home with him…all to help with
the transition and help bring it all together.
·
Ashley and Travis have been sleeping with the
teddy bear and blanket to help them smell like our house. : )
3) A recordable storybook with all of our voices so
that he can hear and remember our voices as well as be introduced to Ashley and
Travis.
4 4) A printed board book with pictures. We had this printed so he can hold it and see
our pictures. Very simple but has 1
picture per page that says something like:
daddy loves Oberson and has a picture of Todd. Includes pictures of: daddy, mommy, Ashley, Travis, Oreo (our cat),
Our Home, Our family holding his picture.
What are you the most excited about? Everything! I just can’t wait to get there and hug
him!
How long will you be gone? We will
leave early March 1st and return in the evening of March 17th.
How are Ashley and Travis taking all of
this? God has blessed us with amazing children that are so accepting (so
far) of our adoption! We recognize it
will get hard but they are so excited.
Travis (6) is tender just like Ashley (9) but he just sees the end
date. He just wants him home. Every day we aren’t in Haiti means one more
day later that he is coming home. Ashley
is sad that she isn’t going. She wants
to go to Haiti in the worst way. She
really wants to see where he lives and wants to see Haiti. Knowing she will go ‘someday’ isn’t
helping. She wants it to be now. Travis thinks he might have to eat something
besides Pb&J so he isn’t ready to go just yet. J
He’ll wait for him here.
What can we do to help? We greatly
appreciate all of the offers to help! We have been blessed with an amazing
opportunity and I’ll be blogging about it tomorrow since this is long
today. Thanks for being so invested in
the life of our family!
 |
| Here are some of the personal items for Oberson: his teddybear, his boardbook and his blanket. |
