A Job....

                What is a job? Your job? Do you like your job? How far would you be willing to go for your job? How long are your hours at your job?  Is it vitally important to others?  Good questions?  Let me introduce you to someone…..Madam “M” (for privacy sake)….let me tell you about her job and you can compare it to yours.

                She is a wife and mother to two children (her son is 14 and her daughter is 16).  She leaves home early in the morning to walk and catch a tap-tap.  A tap-tap is a Haitian form of taxi.  It is a truck with a cap on back and many people ride in the back.  You jump in the back and then tap when you are ready to get off and pay according to how far you went.  She rides many tap taps to get through the city and then up the mountain taking over two hours if not more with traffic.  Then she will walk the last way on foot to get to work.  Just to begin her day.  BUT, unlike us, her workday doesn’t end a few hours later.  She will work for the next 96 hours. (That’s 4 days y’all!!!)

                If you haven’t guessed by now Madam M is one of the nannies for our sweet boy!  Just ONE of the nannies.  Toby Oberson has two nannies that care for him specifically and many that oversee his general care.  Each nanny has a certain number of children in their care yet care for all the children.  They work 4 days on and 3 days off and overlap so they always are there for their children (in other words our little guy will always have one of his primary nannies).  They live in the room with the children, sleep there and do everything right there with the children.  It is A.MA.ZING!!!  

                This, of course, doesn’t count for the medical, housekeeping, cooking or administration staff.  We appreciate them so much.  This month our update included pictures of our little guy with his nannies, and told us a little bit about each of them.  We were blessed to meet these women in March so to see them again in a picture with Oberson is wonderful.  He looks happy and healthy and we greatly appreciate all that they do while we cannot. 

                (Did anyone else grasp that reality?  4 days in the same room with all the children! All.the.children. They sleep and eat there too!  How many times have I enjoyed putting my kids to bed and going to my own bedroom…..and shutting the door!  Don’t judge me!  I bet many of you have done it too!!  These women are amazing to me!! Leaving their own families to care for others!  It shows how much they care….and it shows how much a job means to a Haitian!)

Here’s Oberson with his nannies. Haitians do not like their pictures taken so I am not including their pictures since I do not have their permission to share publically.

Happy Father's Day

                If you know Todd, then you know he is a patient and loving man and that was no exception when getting to know our sweet Oberson while in Haiti.  The children are around women more than men so it often takes them longer to open up to men.  Todd was very patient and it didn’t take long for them to become playmates and then cuddlemates.  It seemed only fitting that one of Oberson’s first words was Da-Da. (Like all children we have no idea if he knows what he is really saying...but we'll take it just the same!)  : )

                These three kiddos are blessed to call this man daddy! 

Here’s a video of Oberson saying Da-da for the first time.

                The top floor of the orphanage is the balcony play area for the children, volunteers and parents.  They have swings hanging high in the air so that the other children playing can just walk right underneath.  Oberson seemed most comfortable and spoke the most while in the swing.  The floor brought toys, children and stimulation where the swing was quiet and had eye to eye contact.  It was here that we heard his first words…and became just like every other new parent….crazy!  I was grabbing the camera in between my screams and tears while the other volunteers just laughed at us.  We didn’t care.  It was awesome! It still is! 

Happy Father’s Day!

Closer...

                Three months ago, Todd and I were standing with two other American’s outside the US Embassy in Port au Prince, Haiti on this very day requesting our adoption status be changed and requesting permission to adopt Oberson.  After standing outside for hours, inside for what seemed like forever, answering questions and turning in our paperwork we were then given a document allowing us to continue to the next step.  It gave us three months to complete it.  We left with those precious documents in our folder and as we traveled back to hold our little guy our hearts soared!  The hope of new laws and approved paperwork had us dreaming of bringing him home within months.  Maybe he read our moods, maybe he actually missed us from not being there that morning or it was just a coincidence but he was one happy boy that afternoon which just made the day that much sweeter!  It was a wonderful day

                Fast forward to today:  June 10^th.  It is now three months later and we now have our extension until September 15^th.  (We are being told to expect at least one more extension prior to bringing him home.)  My first reaction is to be like David and to cry, scream and plead with God. (Notice I did not say AT God I said with God.  God knows my heart already. I am not screaming with God in the sense that I am mad at him but I am mad at the system that allows such a slow process.  It is with God because I believe God joins me in crying.  His heart does not like to see families separated.) 

                If I hadn’t stood outside that Embassy three months ago, we wouldn’t be here today.  And if I wasn’t in this particular spot today, then we won’t get to the point to ever bring him home.  Each step leads to the next. 

My motto:  Every day is a day closer to bringing him home! 

                Today I have the memories of where we were three months ago…in Haiti. Today we are three months closer!  I must praise Him in that! 

                Funny story from our Embassy trip:  We had NO idea what to expect at the Embassy but we (being the rule followers that we are) did everything they said.  You cannot take anything with you except the paperwork needed.  No purse, Kleenex, water, phone etc. You are allowed one manila envelope with paperwork inside and no additional paperwork (so pray you have the right stuff).  The driver stayed with all of our personal belongings in the van and our Haitian representative from our orphanage went with us.  At first I wasn’t too concerned….I mean really this is the US Embassy after all right?  If there’s anywhere in the country I should be able to read signs and get around it would be there right? Um, no!

                As the driver pulls over we see people lining the streets and realize we are there!  We climb out only to be pushed to the front of the line.  Ok, I get it...we are the only American’s so since this is the American Embassy we have our own line and we get in first. Ok.  Um…No.  The four of us stood there for probably 2.5 hours while every other Haitian (seemingly) walked past us and we continued to wait our turn.  Our representative went inside to speak for us and came back only when we were allowed to enter.  It appears that Haitians can come and go but Americans cannot.  Odd isn’t it!  It was an odd feeling to be there without any possessions as well as any form of communication and only trust that someone would come back for us at some point.  Ha! 

                Well, our orphanage takes great care of us and our representative came back to usher us in for our appointment.  Past security we all go (it’s pretty easy when you have nothing but a manila envelope).  Oh, did I mention that we were the only rule followers in the group.  Everyone else had purses, snacks, waters, etc? Oh yay! Anyway, we enter the US Embassy to find that all announcements are made in Creole!  Yep!  As we sat there I giggled (probably too loudly) but all I could do was giggle.  The accent was so strong that I didn’t even think I would recognize my own name!  Even if I did recognize it then they tell you what counter to go to (1-30) and I only know Creole # 1-10.  Oh good grief!  Our poor representative couldn’t leave us at all for fear we couldn’t recognize our own names!  Bless her heart! 

                Well, we made it through the wait, the giggles (to which Todd didn’t find funny at all), being told it was our turn (nope didn’t hear our names at all) and answered all of the questions!  Yay!  With help from our representative we were able to get the paperwork, understand it all and then leave with our precious envelope just a little fuller than when we entered.  Whew! 

                That was a tidbit of our Embassy experience.

Changes...

                It has been almost a month since my last post and yet on the official side of things nothing has changed. We still wait for ‘approval’ and for our paperwork to move to the next step.  Yet, we recently received our monthly update picture and one thing is certain….our little guy is changing!  Our paperwork isn’t changing but he is!  He is growing and changing and he is doing it all without us! He needs to come home! 

                Another thing changing would be our house.  We have spent recent days and weeks moving rooms and moving things around to get ready for our little guy to come home.  Travis wants to share a bedroom with Oberson so our largest bedroom will be the boys’ room (which we began working on recently and was formerly our playroom/office/catch-all room).  Travis’s room will become our guest room and the guest room has become our playroom.  Whew!  Did you get all of that?  Right now it equals chaos but we hope it comes together soon.  It was fun for everyone to participate in the work. The kids enjoyed painting and helping get ready.  It is a tangible part that they can do and it feels good to do something plus it will allow them to see something completed. Travis has been chatting about things they will do in the room, Christmas together and other stories of them together in there. 

                We feel time (and possibly 2014) is slipping away…..we are asking for you to join us in prayer!  The process, once we receive our approval, takes approximately 6 months to bring him home….we have yet to receive our approval.  With this being June we are (most likely), losing sight of him coming home in 2014 with each day that passes.  It is a harsh reality that is hitting me hard.  We know that God is in control!  (Psalm 68:6 “God places the lonely in families”) And We know that God’s ways and timing is the best (Ecclesiates 8:6 For there is a time and a way for everything). We also know there is power in prayer!  We are praying him home and would ask you to join us!!  We are praying that any stongholds be broken and that the right person would see our file so that the process can begin to bring him home! (2 Corinithians 10:4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.)

                As always, we love you all and thank you for your support.  We appreciate your prayers more than we can ever convey!