Welcome Home Video

Here's a photo video that we put together of David's first weeks home. Enjoy!

Pictures posted

I posted some pictures from the first few days home. Here's the link.




















The first few days have flown by. We knew that life with 3 kids, 3 and under, would be fast-paced and that's certainly been true so far. We are soooo grateful to our church for providing dinner for us these first few nights and the next weeks - we likely would have been eating applesauce and bread & butter every night otherwise!

We are very grateful to have 3 kids who, as of now, take very good naps and sleep all night, because they definitely have been exhausting us! David and Josh are getting along very well together. There are some things (sharing in particular) that can use some work, but I'm guessing that might be an issue no matter what age of brothers. Speaking different languages hasn't slowed them down at all and they simply repeat what each other says and make up their own babbling language to fill in the gaps.

Anyway, I'll try to post more in the next few days. For now, I'll just let you scan through pictures!

Back home

We made it back home this afternoon and are settling in as a family of 5. The energy level in this house has been crazy as Josh & David ran from one thing to the next together! Hectic, but also easy for us to sit-back and smile while watching.

Here's a few pictures and then I'm off to bed to get some rest before the trio wakes up in the morning :-)

Jay and David walking to the plane as they left Port-a-Prince:














At the airport!














Laying on the floor, being goofy, before bed tonight:

Family of 5

They made it! Right now we're back at my parents and have 3 kiddos in bed :-)

I'll post pictures in the next few days.

For now, its time to send many, many praises up to God!

Last leg of the trip

I just got a call from Jay and they've boarded the plane and are waiting to take off from Miami for the last leg of the trip.

Immigration went fine, but took a loooooong time. Jay said that David did amazing during their hour and a half wait in the room at immigration. In fact, he said that David has been an amazing traveler in general. In order to make their next flight, Jay had to sprint across the Miami airport carrying David. He said that he'll be awfully sore tomorrow!

Ends up that there was a missions team staying at the guesthouse with Jay all weekend and coincidentally they also were heading back home today and had the exact same 2 flights that Jay & David have. It sounds like that has been a huge blessing to have the company and extra hands!

U.S. Citizen

Their plane landed in Miami. David is now a U.S. citizen!

In the air

Jay and David's flight from Port-a-Prince is in the air :-) Less than 8 hours until I pick them up from the airport!

Landed in Haiti

After a long day of traveling (he was at the airport at 4:30am), Jay's plane landed in Haiti late this afternoon. He headed straight to the orphanage to get David and then they made it to the guesthouse without any troubles. After some lego playing, David went back to the orphanage for his last time and will return to the guesthouse tomorrow for a full day of time with his daddy.

Josh, Brenna, and I are staying at my parents' house, since they live close to the airport, until Jay & David get back into town. What a crazy realization it was yesterday when the 4 of us left home, realizing that on our return there would be 5 of us!

Ready to come home

David's visa will be ready tomorrow afternoon! So, tickets are booked and Jay will be heading to Haiti this weekend to bring David home :-)

Praise God!!!!

God's Perfect Timing

3 years ago we felt God nudging us toward adoption, 2 years ago we first saw David's picture, and a week and a half from now we can bring him home!!!!

This morning, I got an e-mail from the US Embassy in Port-a-Prince saying that David's visa appointment is scheduled for next Thursday the 12th. That means that as long as there are no crazy unforeseen delays, Jay can travel as early as next Friday to pick him up! We'll likely wait to book tickets until next Friday when we hear that our orphanage director has the visa, just to be on the safe side. So 99% likely that Jay will be on a plane sometime next weekend!!!!

I'm excited and giddy. Yet, also nervous for the unknown. We'd appreciate lots of prayers for travel plans, preparing our house for a new child, and the transition for David and the rest of our family. Please be praying especially for David. We long for him to attach quickly with our family, but we also know that the road will likely be a long one with ups and downs.

"For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever."
Romans 11:36

Waiting on a Visa

We're getting so close - can you feel the excitement in the air?!

David's paperwork has all been turned into the US Embassy and he just needs this little slip of very important paper inside of his passport (aka his visa). Then Jay will get on an airplane and bring our little guy home! His bed, car seat, clothes, etc. and family are waiting and ready!

We could be waiting as little as a few days to a few weeks, but I definitely know what I'll be thankful for at Thanksgiving this year :-)

Passport in hand

Well, clearly David is not going to be home in time for Halloween. So his Halloween costume will remain in the closet :-(

I've been waiting to post until I got the official word that our orphanage director had his passport in her hand. We've noticed that 'next week' doesn't always mean 'next week', which was true again in this situation. There were a few delays, but I just received an e-mail letting me know that she DOES have his passport in her possession.

Next week she's supposed to be at the embassy to hand in the necessary documents for his visa. Once that's done, then we can start a countdown of 1-4 weeks until Jay will be on a plane to go pick him up.

I'll post again once I get word that all necessary paperwork is at the embassy. Cross your fingers that 'next week' really will mean 'this coming Monday'!

Passport?

I just got an e-mail saying that our orphanage director should have David's passport in hand next week!!!! Getting his visa should hopefully be a smooth, quick process because we were able to file our I-600 way back when he was still in IBESR thus most of the paper processing is already done.

So maybe, just maybe he'll be able to wear the Halloween costume that I have for him?

:-)

Fingerprints updated, again

Yesterday, we headed over to Indianapolis to be refingerprinted by the Dept of Homeland Security. According to the US govt, fingerprints expire every 15 months, so rather than being able to just send in money to have our fingerprints rerun to check that we're still crime-free, Jay took the day off of work, we packed up the kids and drove the drove 2 hours each way to be fingerprinted. We hit Dunkin Donuts on the way there and McDonalds on the way home as an attempt to make the car-trip more fun for Josh. Mix that with some books to look through and Josh was a happy little boy. Brenna slept most of the trip and then cooed at and watched Josh for the rest of the time. All in all, it was a pretty uneventful trip. At the fingerprinting office, there was a security guard who had to use the security wand on everyone entering. Josh has been excitedly talking nonstop about that every since :-P

In the past 4 years we have now been to 3 different Homeland Security offices (ranging from 2-3 hours from our home) and have been fingerprinted 5 different times. Hoping to not jinx anything, but we should now be through with our fingerprinting days because it will not be another 15 months before David is home.

The latest word is that we're in Immigration waiting for David's Haitian passport. Once that's done, then we're looking at a week or two until we can travel to pick him up.

Our big boy

Here's a new picture of David :-)

Craziness in the details

A few weeks back, I was reading a blog entry which listed updates on how the general adoption process in Haiti has been going. For MOI, it was mentioned that "the workers in MOI have been instructed to go through every document with a fine tooth comb". Well, the next day we experienced this first hand. I received an e-mail from our orphanage director who had just come from MOI and was told that there was a problem with one of our papers. Our papers were essentially stuck unless we got it fixed.

The big problem that could cause months of delay? On one of our papers, Jay's name was listed without his middle name. Now mind you, none of our papers, other than his birth certificate, include his middle name, but for some reason MOI decided that it was essential for this one page. Why? We have no idea.

In the big picture, this was at least a relatively easy thing to get corrected. Of course, nothing is ever simple either :-) It wasn't as straight-forward as just printing off a new page and sending it because everything has to be 'official.' Hence, we printed it off then had to get it notarized, authenticated by the secretary of state, stamped by the Haitian consulate, translated into french, and then quickly get to Haiti. All of these steps could have easily delayed everything a month! Luckily, I was already planning to be in the Chicago area that week, so rather than having to use the mail, I was able to personally go to the secretary of state and Haitian consulate. I then overnighted it to a family that was traveling to Haiti a few days later and they were able to hand-deliver it to our orphanage director who had it at MOI a week after the initial 'problem' was discovered. In the end, it only cost us about a week delay, about a day & a half of my time, and ~$75.

Ahh, bureaucracy.

Onto MOI we go!

Just got news that we're out of 2nd legal and, as of Monday, David's dossier is now at the Ministry of Interiors (MOI). This office seems to be taking ~5 months to get through, but clearly we've learned that estimates are pretty pointless when it comes to Haitian adoptions. So let's pray for quicker!

As soon as it gets out of the ministry, then we're onto visa processing with the US govt and then we get on a plane and go get our little man :-)

One more step to check off

We're out of parquet! We still have several, possibly long, stages left to go through, but we're getting closer :-)

Our initial news that we had left IBESR back in March had been incorrect. We found out a few weeks afterward that the last signature that our orphanage's attorney thought was on our dossier, actually wasn't there. So we didn't really leave IBESR until the beginning of May (frustrating, but at least we're out now!). Parquet went quickly and right now we're awaiting 2nd legal.

I reposted the remaining stages below and also included a cute picture from David's 2nd birthday party.

Remaining steps (taken from this website):

Civil Court Legalization (2-8 weeks)
The adoption is finalized. After this point, the children are legally yours. (2nd Legal)

Minister of Interior Affairs (MOI)/Haitian Immigration (2-14 weeks) - seems to be currently taking 5+ months.
The file is submitted into the passport process. The passports are printed in the adopting parents last name.

DHS Processing (U.S. Parents) (1-3 weeks) - We already filed this so hopefully our time with the visa should be quick!
I-600 is filed by adopting parents. File is reviewed and approved by DHS.

DNA Testing (0-6 weeks) - This has already been done for David.
May or may not be necessary. Depends on DHS' opinion.

Consulate/Visa Appointment (1 week lead time)
Child receives visa in preparation for travel to their new home

----------------------------
Total (Hopeful) Time Left: 6 weeks - 26 weeks (~2- 7 months)

Pictures

Here's a link to pictures from this trip. Enjoy!

Day 6 - Travel Day

And we're back in Illinois. Today was a long travel day - although not as long as originally anticipated. We were able to fly stand-by out of Miami, so rather than having a 6 hour layover, we only had about 1 1/2 hours. It was pretty smooth traveling. I got carsick on the drive down to Port-au-Prince, but only throwing up once was much better than the last time we traveled home from Haiti and I was sick the whole day. Customs through Miami was the quickest I've ever seen it and we even had time for a quick bite to eat before our plane took off.

We were on Haitian time this morning (meaning everything is slower and takes longer than planned), so we didn't get to see David today before having to leave for the airport. Luckily, we had a great time with him yesterday so I felt like we got to say our goodbyes then. Hopefully (keep praying!!!), it won't be long until we see him again and actually bring him home with us. Rachel talked to her attorney this morning and our papers are on their way to parquet this week. We were told that its possible to get our papers out of parquet in less than a week, which would be amazing! Of course, delays are typical so we'll see what happens.

I spent some time on the plane sorting through pictures, so once I'm done captioning them I'll post a link to picassa. Since, I still need to make the 3 hour drive home tomorrow it may take a few days for me to finish. I'll warn you now, there's a lot :-)

A side note - I brought our laptop and video along this time so that Jay & I could attempt to video chat. I wasn't sure how the upload speed would be at the guesthouse, but it ended up working great! Josh and David even played peek-a-boo together over the video - how cool is that?! I really feel like seeing David and I together in real time (rather than just in photos) is going to make David so much more comprehendable to Josh now. Plus, it was nice to get to see Jay & Josh while I was gone.

Day 5

Well, the Ra Ra parade didn't wake me up this morning, but David did at 5:45 am :-P Looks like we'll need to work to get this boy on Josh-time of waking up at 8 at the earliest! However, he does share the Josh trait of being extremely happy when he wakes up. I absolutely loved watching him 'talk' and play while we were still in our pjs.

We spent the morning at the guest house and then the afternoon at the orphanage. I really feel like I've gotten to know David better on this trip than any of the prior ones. Between spending a good deal of one-on-one time as well as being at the orphanage surrounded by his peers, so much of his personality came out.

Anyway, no specific stories or pictures to share from today. I'm trying to sort through the many pictures we took and will hopefully have them posted in the next few days.

Day 4

This morning we woke up early to the 'Ra Ra' parade that was walking the streets at 4:30am. Well, it kept Mom & Dad up. I was so tired from the day before, that I heard it, rolled back over, and went back to sleep till 7:00.

We went to church up at the Missions church. I missed part of the service due to David's leaking diaper (luckily, I had on a fast drying skirt and had packed some extra clothes for David!). The service is entirely in Creole, so I can't understand any of it, but the energy in the room is contagious. They sure know how to praise God! Willem called Dad up front toward the end of the service along with a missionary from the states to have a Dance Off.The missionary won as the best white man dancer :-P but Dad did awfully well to earn a second place finish.

At the end of service we headed back down the mountain. (Mom & I took the 4-wheeler down). And then we went out for lunch at a nice restaurant. Dad got to try goat, which was a hit.

David basically sat on my lap throughout this entire time (roughly 5 hours) and so he was getting awfully antsy by the time we made it back to the guesthouse for the afternoon. Mix that with a lack of nap and he was a crazy ball of energy that never stopped until he fell fast asleep early evening.
We got an unexpected surprise of a sleep over, because Rachel ended up getting stuck at a family event for the night. No complaints here :-) As I type this, David is sleeping beside me, curled up tight, with his bottom stuck straight up in the air. I’m going to miss this little boy so much when we leave!

Day 3

Wow! These Haitian days always manage to exhaust me. I'm ready again to go curl up into bed and fall fast asleep (before the roosters and dogs awaken me at 6am on the dot). It must be something about the sun mixed with the relatively laid back days and then cool weather nights that lull me to sleep.

We spent the morning at the guesthouse with David and attempted to set-up our own photo studio with a white bedsheet and a clothesline. Nothing too spectacular came out of it, so we'll give it another go tomorrow and see if we can get some more smiles and less wiggles :-)

Then this afternoon, we did a little sight-seeing and then spent several hours at the orphanage. Dad worked on a few odds and ends type jobs (such as installing a baby gate & some outlet covers), Mom read books with the older kids and then enjoyed holding and rocking some of the littlest ones, and I sort of roamed around playing, holding, feeding, etc whoever was the nearest. The kids were about the most well-behaved that I've ever seen them and it was a pretty enjoyable time. David showed some more 'true 2 yr oldness' by taking toys from other kids and pushing them. Nothing unusual for his age, but its a side of him that I don't see when one-on-one. The reality of soon having 2 bickering boys at home became more real while watching him :-P
Jay & I are going to attempt to video-phone tomorrow so that Josh and David can 'meet.' Cross your fingers that the connection is fast enough!

Day 2

We had a good, lazy day today around the guesthouse.

Here's a few pictures:

His grin was addicting!

Exploring with a flashlight.

Doing some coloring. We also played with stickers, which was a big hit.

He wasn't a huge fan of reading, but definitely enjoyed playing peek-a-boo with the books!

Dad took a walk up the mountain. There's a bunch of good stories that came from that. My favorite is of it starting to rain and him having to seek shelter under an overhang with 2 women and their 15 goats :-P

Tomorrow, we're planning to spend the day at the orphanage. I'll try to post again if the internet cooperates.

Day 1

I'm ready for bed (traveling can definitely do that to me!), but I wanted to post a quick update. No real excitement from traveling to report. We made it here fine and uneventfully.

From the airport, we were able to stop by the orphanage for a quick visit before heading to the guest house for the night. I am so totally in love with my little boy! David has grown taller, but his sweet personality remains the same :-) At this age, I wasn't sure how he would react to me or my mom and dad. Its been a few months since I have last seen him, and I didn't expect for him to remember me. Well, I don't know how it works, but I really do feel like he knows that I'm his mom (I'll definitely call that a God-thing). We only stayed for about 20 minutes, but when we went to leave he whimpered when I put him down and tried to climb back into my arms. My heart was/is totally melted!

The orphanage looks fantastic! A mission team was here a few weeks back and built some doorways, gates, and shelves. The place feels much more spacious now and feels very organized and clean. (Nice job Tracey!). The kids all looked great as well. Some of the little ones who were barely moving around back in October were walking around, smiling, playing, etc. It was a good feeling to see.

Anyway, off to bed I go. Tomorrow is a day at the guesthouse with David since Rachel has a bunch of important errands to run (a visa and passport to hopefully pick-up for 2 of the girls!). I'm really looking forward to the day with him.

I'll post more when I get a chance.

Heading out

I'm getting ready to head out soon for Haiti to visit David. I'm hoping to get to post pictures and stories while I'm there (internet speed dependent). If not, I'll definitely post when I'm back next week. So get ready for some cute 1 1/2 yr old photos coming this way soon!

We're Out of IBESR!!!

I left out an important detail in my last post that I hadn't realized until I heard back from my orphanage director this morning...

The presidential approval, for us, means that we are out of IBESR! Finally!!!!

So what's next? Well, more waiting, but at least there's one less thing to wait for now!

Here's a more detailed description of the remaining steps (taken from this website):

Parquet (2-12 weeks)
This step involves one person(?) releasing the child(ren)'s file(s). Parquet is the head commissioner. He is intertwined with court. He asks all of the birth parents to come for interviews to make sure that they understand that there children are being adopted. Apparently there was some fraudulent activity going on and he wants to protect the birth parents interests. i.e. make sure they are in agreement.

Civil Court Legalization (2-8 weeks)
The adoption is finalized. After this point, the children are legally yours. (2nd Legal)

Minister of Interior Affairs (MOI)/Haitian Immigration (2-14 weeks)
The file is submitted into the passport process. The passports are printed in the adopting parents last name.

DHS Processing (U.S. Parents) (1-3 weeks)
I-600 is filed by adopting parents. File is reviewed and approved by DHS.

DNA Testing (0-6 weeks)
May or may not be necessary. Depends on DHS' opinion.

Consulate/Visa Appointment (1 week lead time)
Child receives visa in preparation for travel to their new home

----------------------------
Total (Hopeful) Time Left: 8 weeks - 44 weeks (~2- 11 months)

Presidential Approval Given!

I just got an e-mail letting me know that we have received approval from the president of Haiti to adopt David!

Basically, that means that we received presidential dispensation due to having a biological child and our ages (that we had hoped we'd receive back in January), which means we are now very likely to be signed out of IBESR any day now (which we had hoped would have happened months ago).

We're slowly crossing stepping stones to bringing David home and that makes us very happy!

MP3 messages on orphans and adoption

I've been meaning for a while to try to upload some mp3s that have been meaningful/moving/inspirational/challenging/etc for us on the topic of orphans and adoption. Kind of as a way for me to go back and listen as well as a way for others who have an interest to listen. My initial thought was to include a link on the side of my blog, but I realized that the list would be huge and take up most of the page! So instead, I'm just going to link to them in this post. Listening to all of them would take a while (they're each between 20-45 min long), but I thought some of you might be interested in listening to some of them every once in a while. Prepare to be moved! They have truly challenged Jay & I in our worldview.

• Defending the Fatherless Through the Call of Adoption
• The Christian's Response to the Fatherless (Part 1 of 2)
• The Christian's Response to the Fatherless (Part 2 of 2)
• Dorie: The Girl Nobody Loved (Part 1 of 2)
• Dorie: The Girl Nobody Loved (Part 2 of 2)
• Cry of the Orphan - Hope for Orphans Goals (Part 1 of 5)
• Cry of the Orphan - Aiding the Orphan: Transforming a Culture (Part 2 of 5)
• Cry of the Orphan - Meeting the Needs of the Orphan (Part 3 of 5)
• Cry of the Orphan - Responding to the Cry of the Orphan (Part 4 of 5)
• Cry of the Orphan - In Defense of the Orphan (Part 5 of 5)
• A Biblical Mandate - Standing in the Gap for the Orphan (Part 1 of 2)
• A Biblical Mandate - Practical Care for the Orphan (Part 2 of 2)
  
• Discovering Adoption - Facing Infertility (Part 1 of 2)
• Discovering Adoption - Counting the Cost of Adoption (Part 2 of 2)
• Adoption Stories (Part 1 of 3)
• Adoption Stories (Part 2 of 3)
• Adoption Stories (Part 3 of 3)
• Adoption: Answers to Some of Your Questions (Part 1 of 2)
• Adoption: Answers to Some of Your Questions (Part 2 of 2)

March Visit

Just booked my tickets to go visit David mid-March. I sure wish it was to bring him home rather than just to visit, but right now just seeing the little guy sounds fantastic! A few other adopting families have recently visited, and hearing their stories have made me long to be there myself.

My parents are coming with me to Haiti while Jay, his parents, and Josh will stay in Illinois working on converting our office into a third bedroom and our basement into an office.

We're still in IBESR (that's beginning to be a dreaded word for me). I'm hoping that we may be able to do something while I'm down there to help move us along, but I'm pretty sure that waiting and praying are likely the most effective options. I got a really nice e-mail today from both our orphanage director & agency rep that helped to confirm for me that they are working very hard on our behalf. Since I'm not down there, it gets so easy for me to get skeptical, but whenever I hear from them or visit, I'm continually reminded that things are happening even though I may not be able to see them firsthand.

Anyway, time to get in travel mode! :-)

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him."
Psalm 37:7

Photo Blankets

I really want David to be somewhat familiar with Jay & I and our whiteness before he comes home with us. I've left photo books and other snugly items for him when we've visited before, but they never seem to be something he has constant access too. I know that part of this is simply due to the nannies not having the one-on-one time to consistently look through the book with him, and that in reality, personal property usually becomes communal property in an orphanage.

Well, a fellow adoptive parent whose blog I follow, gave me the idea to make a photo blanket for David. Its a very easily identified object that clearly belongs to David, something that he can hopefully attach to (its so soft!!!), and is a constant reminder of Jay & I. A local adoptive mom is heading down to our orphanage next week and will hand deliver it to David for us.

Here's some pics of the one I made for David and also 2 others that I made for the little girl and boy that the other family is adopting. I'm pretty happy with how they came out. The colors aren't necessarily my top choices (drat tiny JoAnn fabric stores!), but they came out really cozy feeling and the fabric pictures came out way better than I had anticipated.