Our Adoption Story

Positives in the aftermath?

2010-01-18T14:21:00.008-06:00

So are there any positives in all of this? Some more thoughts -

Awareness - Haiti is so close to the US and yet most people knew little to nothing about it (we were the same 3 yrs ago - couldn't have told you where Haiti was on a map). Checking out facebook the day after the earthquake, you found that people suddenly were involved with & praying for this county. A little, too late? Perhaps, but its something and that something can be used! So, don't feel guilty if you didn't know anything about Haiti before, instead use this new awareness as a way to be involved and praying for people who need you.

God's power clearly acknowledged - The stories that have and will come from this, will clearly point to God's miraculous power. Man alone is not going to be able to overcome the destruction that has occurred in Port-a-Prince and the surrounding areas, but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).

A renewed feeling of gratefulness that David came home to us when he did - I can not even imagine the pain of not being with my little boy in this type of situation. Jay and I are so grateful to be able to see this face every day!

What can we do?

2010-01-17T21:36:00.004-06:00

So, I guess the question is, what can we do? Here's some of my thoughts -

Pray!!! - Seriously, people, right now without God's intervention and miraculous hand, I don't see how the amount of hurt and damage there can even be dented. Read first hand reports and look at photos and you'll see what I mean.

Give - Pretty much any site that you click on will tell you that money is the most helpful thing (besides prayer) that you can do. Give $ to those who know what needs to get done and how to go about doing it. There are many reputable places; I personally recommend here. Maybe set up an auto-check to be sent over the next few months so that giving continues even when this is no longer all over the news and fresh in our minds?

Call and write - Everyone is looking for something to physically do, congressman included. So why not give them some ideas of how they can help? Contacting your congressmen is easy to do & can be done in a matter of minutes. Here's a website to get their info (if you call, you'll likely talk to an intern or secretary. Or you can drop a quick e-mail to their e-mail address or through a web contact form). Below are two requests to be made:
Hundreds of children are in orphanages who have already been placed with adoptive families, many already legally a part of those families according to Haitian law, and have just been waiting for paperwork processing. Well, that paperwork processing is going to be at a halt, perhaps indefinitely. Government buildings housing adoption papers have been destroyed, many workers killed or missing, and an adoption system which was already drawn out and complicated has now been completely crippled. There are many, many high priorities in Haiti right now, but getting these children with their adoptive families is not only good for these children, but also frees up food, resources, and orphanage space for other children. So contact your congressmen and ask them to have the department of state issue humanitarian parole to all children who had been referred to adoptive families prior to the earthquake. Update: So humanitarian parole has been issued (yea!!!), but the practicals of getting it working is a big mess. Orphanages have to get the kids there with all necessary paperwork (which they may or may not have) and find an escort to take the kids out. Sounds easy enough, but with the roads a mess, gas limited, and tons of people at the embassy - this is not a smooth process. So the US govt needs to get moving and help!!! Want to contact congressmen again? Ask them to make the Dept of State aware that practicals need to be set in place as well (such as having Americans ready to help escort rather than leaving that up to orphanages) and helping arrange for pick-up of children.
Beth at MTM, also urged us to contact our congressmen and urge them to have Craig Fugate at FEMA get involved to help Haiti.

Earthquake Map

2010-01-15T15:56:00.005-06:00

I've been trying to figure out what to post about the earthquake in Haiti. Our family now has a deep connection to this country, which was home to David for his first 2 1/2 years of life and is still home to his birthmother and 3 of his birth-siblings. Had this earthquake happened just 2 months ago, David would still be there and be in the midst of it... the thought of that... whooh.

The news coming from Haiti is heart-wrenching and unfathomable to me. David's orphanage, Rivers of Hope, is about 15 miles outside of Port-a-Prince. Their town was struck hard by the earthquake, but praise God, everyone at the orphanage & the missionary family that we always stayed with was unharmed in the earthquake. However, the future there is so uncertain right now, with possible structural damage, food/gas shortages, civil unrest, etc. The first-hand person accounts that I've read describe things as your worst nightmare gone bad and things don't look to improve anytime soon...

We have not heard any news about David's birthmother and siblings, but due to communication delays in Haiti, I don't anticipate receiving any word for at least a few weeks. My guess is they are far enough away that they will have survived, but their future survival... well, that's always an unknown.

I'll try to post some of my other thoughts in a future post. For now, here's a map Jay put together which shows the location of the earthquake epicenter, Port-a-Prince, the orphanage, Willem & Beth's (Mountaintop Ministries), the village of David's birthmother (Gerda), and the airport. It really helped me to see things in perspective to one another. Click for a larger image.

Welcome Home Video

2009-12-03T19:51:00.005-06:00

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

Pictures posted

2009-11-19T21:30:00.003-06:00

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

2009-11-17T20:48:00.003-06:00

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

2009-11-16T22:42:00.002-06:00

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

2009-11-16T17:10:00.003-06:00

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

2009-11-16T14:21:00.002-06:00

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

In the air

2009-11-16T12:19:00.001-06:00

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

2009-11-14T21:34:00.002-06:00

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

2009-11-12T19:48:00.002-06:00

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

2009-11-04T16:23:00.002-06:00

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

2009-11-03T14:56:00.003-06:00

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

2009-10-30T16:59:00.002-05:00

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?

2009-10-16T16:19:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-15T09:43:00.003-05:00

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

2009-08-25T16:33:00.002-05:00

Here's a new picture of David :-)

Craziness in the details

2009-08-25T15:48:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-06-24T15:28:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-19T14:59:00.004-05:00

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

2009-03-25T21:41:00.001-05:00

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

Day 6 - Travel Day

2009-03-24T23:03:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-23T21:03:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-22T21:20:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-21T20:24:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-20T21:09:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-19T21:12:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-18T08:11:00.002-05:00

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!!!

2009-03-12T08:35:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-03-11T14:07:00.003-05:00

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

2009-03-02T16:47:00.003-06:00

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.

March Visit

2009-02-18T08:07:00.003-06:00

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

2009-01-16T12:07:00.002-06:00

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.

A glimmer of good news

2008-12-01T16:20:00.003-06:00

Another orphanage recently posted this tidbit of news on their blog:

27 November 2008

Today is American Thanksgiving and we celebrated in many ways here in Haiti. One big way was when we received the news that IBESR and Parquet had their meeting today and decided that they would honor a moratorium on all dossiers that go into IBESR by January 7, 2009. IBESR has agreed to ask for dispensation for all dossiers not fitting the law of 1974 if in IBESR before this date. With them doing this, it should go quicker than if each orphanage asked for dispensation dossier by dossier. IBESR will ask for dispensation in batches.

So tomorrow morning, we will send all dossiers that were returned by Parquet to IBESR and they will apply for the dispensation. This is wonderful news and makes today a GREAT Thanksgiving Day for us and all adoptive parents!

While this doesn't directly apply to our situation, our agency said this is still very good news for us because our case is one that involves dispensation/an exception. So maybe, just maybe, we'll at least be out of IBESR by the end of the year? Let's keep praying!

I keep having to update our 'hopeful' dates on our adoption timeline that is at the bottom of this page. One of these days, I'd really like for our anticipated come-home date to be correct!

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God."
Philippians 4:6

Our week in review

2008-10-14T14:36:00.004-05:00

Its a long summary, but I wanted to make sure to get in lots of details :-)

Monday:
This was a travel day for us. We left my parents' house bright and early at 4am to make it to the airport, in order to then sit for the mandatory 2 hrs before an international flight. Jay and I are both reading through a good book series, so it didn't bother us at all. In fact, the flights went by extremelly quickly and smoothly. Our American Airlines frequent flier miles made for a very inexpensive flight (we just had to pay taxes), but it did force us to add an extra layover in Atlanta. We kind of liked doing it that way because it split the trip up, gave us less of a layover in Miama, and still got us into Port-au-Prince at the same time.

Once in Port-au-Prince, we got our luggage, and met up with Rachel (the orphanage director). Having visited a few times now, the intensiveness of not knowing what to expect is gone and it feels more of like a reunion. We got into her new truck (no more stalling while going up the side of a mountain!) and headed to the baby house to go see David.

When we got to the baby house, it was getting dark (sunlight in Haiti is from 6am-6pm) and since the hurricanes, they haven't had any electricity so we only got to stop by for a few minutes. All of the kids were sitting quietly in the front room waiting for dinner, except for David who was climbing down ready to toddle out to Rachel's truck. He adores Rachel and usually comes out to greet her. He was all smiles, but understandably more reserved when Jay or I held him.

After saying goodbye to David until tomorrow, Rachel took us to Beth & Willem's house where we immediately felt at home (Beth is incredible at making you feel welcome). We turned in for bed around 9pm. In fact, every night we were there we did the same - it felt awesome to get a true night's sleep each night!

Tuesday:
Tuesday morning started out as a typical Haitian morning with the roosters crowing, dogs barking, & neighborhood donkey braying bright and early at 6am. We got up, Jay got his coffee, and we sat reading on the balcony.

What a beautiful way to start the day!

Rachel met us at the house and had David with her. From there we went to the older kids orphanage house. David's older sisters constantly wanted to hold and take care of him - its very sweet.

We stayed there through lunch time. And then Jay, David, Rachel, a driver, and I headed out to visit David's birthmother at her home. This was our first time to go to her house and Jay & I are really glad that we had the opportunity to go. It was about a 2 hour drive and David just sat on my lap for the whole time, occasionally napping. He's an amazing traveler!

When we got there, his birthmom, his 2 siblings that live with his mom, and a bunch of aunts were there as well as a lot of the neighbors. David hasn't been there since he left for the orphanage at 4 months old, and his birthmom had a good time showing him to everyone. We were welcomed with the traditional kiss on the cheek and smiles from most everyone - that definitely helped to make us feel welcome.

The neighborhood kids were all over us and got a huge kick out of the digital camera. Its clear that life there is not easy. His mom was telling Rachel that it had been more than a day since they had eaten. Yet, people are still people - there were smiles and hugs and life there. We hope to someday bring David back to visit again when he's older.

Wednesday:
Today was US Embassy day.

There are several stages that our paperwork still needs to go through before David is home with us. The last thing to do is file an I-600 form with the USCIS and then they'll issue a visa for David to enter the states. After the I-600 is filed, it can still be several weeks (to unfortunately months) before a visa is issued because the US Embassy wants to ensure that everything is a-okay with the adoption (ie, they'll interview the birthparent, do DNA testing to ensure David is actually her biological child, check all of the paperwork with a fine tooth comb, etc). We are still a ways away from being able to file our I-600, but there is a pilot program in Haiti in which adoptive parents can start the process while still in IBESR (the first stage). The hope is that this way the birth parent interview, paper checking, etc can be done earlier rather than later, hence speeding things up at the end. We had heard that things tend to go much smoother if filed at the US Embassy in Haiti rather than sending it to our local embassy in the States, so that's what we did.

The only hiccup was that our appointment at the Embassy was for 10am and they didn't call our names until noon. Otherwise, everything went smooth as could be. The woman helping us was very friendly. It felt so good to get that taken care of. Even though it doesn't move anything along quicker right now, it was nice to be able to do something at all, rather than continue to sit back and wait.

David sat on my lap for the entire time we were at the embassy, no toys or anything. Haitian children have incredible patience! We have trouble having Josh sit though an hour long church service, and yet David (actually every Haitian child we've seen) can sit for hours without making a sound. There are definitely a lot of cultural differences in raising children, (some better/worse than others) but this is one area where I can't help but wonder if Haitian parents have things figured out a bit more than US parents.

After the embassy, we ran some errands with Rachel and then went to the baby house for the rest of the afternoon. David had done really well with us the past few days, but was always a bit shy. Well, once he was in his own environment, boy, did he come out of his shell! He was running all over, smiling, laughing, blowing kisses, etc. Jay and I loved getting to watch him!

We spent the time there changing babies, feeding kids, holding them, and playing with them. Rachel and the nannies do a really good job with all of the tasks that need to be done there, but that many kids in such a small place makes for an endless amount of things that need to be done. Jay and I were glad to be able to spend some time just playing and holding the kids because we know that that's not something easy for the nannies to find the time to do.

As it started to get dark, they lit 2 pillar candles - 1 for each of the main rooms- and placed them in the center of the rooms. That was all of the light that was in the entire house. Rachel is hoping that eventually the city will get to their area of town to fix the electricity, but until then bedtime will continue to be at 6:00, because there aren't a whole lot of other options.

Thursday:
Definitely my favorite day! David got to spend the entire day at the house with us. No agenda, no to-dos - it was simply a day to bond.

We napped, read books, played, and just had a good time together.

Jay hung a white sheet from the clothes line out on the balcony and we took our own 'professional' pictures of David. I think they came out really well!

Here's a video of David and I:

And here's another shaky, sideways one of him running around:

Two other adoptive families flew into Haiti this day and so we had a chance to meet them that night. The adoptive dad of one of David's sisters was there and it was really good to get to meet him. They live within 1 1/2 hour driving distance of us, so our hope is that the kids will get to see each other throughout the years.

This was our last day with David since we needed to leave for the airport relatively early the next morning. It was hard to say goodbye and we're hoping that the next time we see him, he'll be coming home with us rather than us having to say goodbye again.

Friday:
Travel day again. I woke up about 2am with a horrendous stomach bug, which had me vomiting about once an hour until our plane touched down that night in Chicago. Talk about a lousy way to travel! If anyone walking through the Ft Laurderdale airport thought they saw a walking zombie, that would have been me. Luckily, by Monday morning the stomach bug had completely dissappeared. And in all honesty, I'm glad that it hit while we were traveling rather than on a day that we were with David.

We missed Josh a lot while we were gone and so it was good to get back to him. As usual, he had a great time with his grandparents. We spent the weekend up at my parents seeing friends and family, and we got back home to 'normal' life mode on Sunday night.

Wheew, there you have it!

October visit

2008-10-13T15:35:00.003-05:00

We're back in the States. We flew back from Port-au-Prince on Friday after having had several wonderful days with David! Stories to come, but for now here's a link to pictures, since I know that's what most of you are waiting for anyway :-)

Our next visit planned

2008-09-11T22:00:00.002-05:00

Jay & I are heading back to visit David for a week in early October. We can't wait to see the little guy!

Hurricanes

2008-09-11T21:32:00.002-05:00

Several of you have asked how David is doing and how the orphanage in general has held up throughout the recent hurricanes.

David and all of the other children are safe. The town where the orphanage is located is pretty well protected from the elements. It sounds like they got very strong winds which have caused damage (power lines & trees down, etc), but nothing like what many other parts of the country has experienced. Reading about the destruction in other areas is extremelly sad. I'll warn you that once you start reading, you won't be able to go to sleep in your own bed without saying many thanks for the comforts that we have. I've specifically been following this blog from a rescue center that is located in one of the harder-hit areas.

One of the next best things to being with him

2008-08-26T22:03:00.002-05:00

One of the couples that went to Haiti this past weekend, live just a few miles from us. They stopped by tonight and dropped off some pictures they took of David. (Thanks again!!!) Jay, Josh, and I have already looked through them about 50 times! We just can't get enough of seeing him.

Here are some of my favorites. I thought you'd want to share in the adorableness too :-)

Long time no post

2008-08-26T20:55:00.001-05:00

So I know that its been a crazy long time since we've last posted.  Basically there just hasn't been much news to report.  I know, no excuses :-P

Our papers are still waiting to be signed out of IBESR - the stage that we've been in since October.  Our ages appear to be the issue.  When we first started the adoption process, Haiti didn't seem to be enforcing their age restriction that adoptive parents need to be 35 or older.  Well, now they're enforcing it, or at least enforcing that adoptive parents need to be at least 30. We're close to that mark, but not that close.

The good news though is that our papers haven't been denied (unfortunately, until we're through the next few stages that's still a possibility).  The bad news is that our papers aren't moving anywhere, and so we have no idea when David will be home with us.  It could still be by the end of this year; it could be another year or two (crazy to even think about, yet also possible).  We definitely haven't lost hope though.  As we continue to remember, God has brought us this far and whatever comes next is totally in his hands!  Haiti is such a relational country and who you're connected with seems to carry a lot of weight.  The connections that our orphanage have seem to be very strong and I know that people down there are advocating for us.  So for now, we just continue to wait, sigh.  

On happier notes, I do have some fun David updates to share.

David is walking! In fact, it sounds like he's all over the place. :-)
Our orphanage director told us that he's always smiling and laughing and "looks like somebody discovering the world for the first time." Oh, how that makes me wish I could be there with him to watch!
Another couple just got back from visiting their son and told us that David is definitely a little jokester.

Jay and I are planning to go back down later this fall to visit. Jay hasn't been there since January and he's pretty anxious to get to see David (as am I!). We're just waiting to get the go ahead on dates from the people we stay with in Haiti and then we'll book our airplane tickets. Thanks to our many frequent flier miles we've been able to earn we should be able to fly for free, which makes traveling even sweeter.

"You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you" Isaiah 26:3

Pictures

2008-05-11T14:34:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the delay in getting pictures up. Picassa has been giving me a hard time with uploading this past week.

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

Back home

2008-05-02T12:00:00.004-05:00

It was a fantastic visit! Our plane got into Chicago late Wednesday night (we missed our original connecting flight out of Miami due to the loooong line in customs so we caught the next flight out) and then I drove back home Thursday afternoon. I'm working on sorting through the many pictures we took - about 1000 pictures total over 5 days, that must be a record or something, don't you think? For all of the other adopting parents from our orphanage, I have a bunch of pictures of the kids that I'll send your way sometime next week.

Today I'm just enjoying spending time with Jay & Josh after being away from them for the past week. I promise to get pictures and stories posted soon though!

Here's a picture from Sunday of David waiting to dive into his birthday cake. He turns 1 today!

We're here!

2008-04-27T16:24:00.002-05:00

We made it here on Friday afternoon with no troubles. We spent yesterday at the two orphanages and then today David came to the house and is actually upstairs napping right now. I'll type more when we're back at home, but for now here are some photos from our first few days.

At the baby orphanage:

Playing:

Eating:

Going for a walk:

Ready for a nap:

Getting dressed for church:

Mom & Dad making friends at church:

Staring down his stuffed giraffe (he has a bit of a love/hate relationship with it):

Opening birthday gifts:

Enjoying the swing;

Off to Haiti

2008-04-24T21:10:00.002-05:00

In less than 24 hours, I'll be in Haiti. My parents and I are all packed and ready to go. I'll update with pictures as soon as we're back next Thursday!

Some unrest in Haiti

2008-04-11T20:30:00.000-05:00

Some of you may have heard about the recent protests that took place in Haiti this past week. I've been pretty glued to the internet news and various Haitian blogs, trying to get whatever updates are posted.

The basic gist of what's going on is that people all over the world are starving. As food prices continue to rise, what little food they were once able to afford is now too expensive. This has resulted in people taking to the streets and demonstrating. Some of these protests in Haiti became violent this week, leading to a lot of destruction and some deaths throughout the country. Even the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince closed down -- not exactly what I wanted to hear before getting ready to soon travel there!

To put the food crisis into perspective, you have to realize that food in Haiti costs MORE than it does here in the United States; yet, much of their population makes less than $2 a day -- that's less than $800 a year. Unlike in the U.S., Haitians don't have the option to start clipping coupons or shopping at Aldi if food prices get higher. So, when you can't afford food, you and your family don't eat.

The following is a quote from another blogger. It was written by a Haitian who has been through this type of unrest numerous times. I thought it was well-written and seemed to go along with what we'd been told and seen while we were there in January:

"There are several different things going on. First, many, many people are really suffering. They are hungry and they see no future for themselves or their children. People like that demonstrate peacefully - as is their right - and express their legitimate frustration and despair. But there are also people who are taking advantage of the situation to loot and steal. These people I saw today were not Jean Valjeans stealing a loaf of bread because they were hungry. They were taking 5 gallon water bottles and emptying them out, taking ice from the machine and throwing it in the road. They were going from one store to another and breaking all the windows. They were carrying away furniture and even the fire extinguishers. I don't know what all their motives were for this but clearly the motive wasn't to make food prices go down.Without exception, the people from this country with whom I have talked have expressed their disgust with those who are doing these things. They aren't improving the situation of high food prices and a difficult life - they are making the situation worse. Most people here are ashamed that the world is seeing these actions and associating this country with violence and destruction. This is not a violent country. Looters and destroyers do not represent this country any more than serial killers represent the United States."

Right now things appear to have calm ed down, and as long as the roads to and from the airport are clear, we should be set for our trip in 2 weeks. The orphanage is far enough away from the capital, that I'm not worried about our safety once we get there. (By the way, I heard from our agency and everyone at the orphanage is doing just fine.)

So unless we hear otherwise from the people we're staying with, my parents and I are still planning on traveling to Haiti at the end of the month. Well, that is if our airplane gets there :-P

More Pictures

2008-04-04T06:43:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Laura, here are some more David pics.
3 more weeks till I'm there snapping pictures of my own :-)

Missions trip to Honduras

2008-03-29T08:02:00.005-05:00

This isn't an adoption related post, but it is related to kids worldwide so I figured I'd post about it anyway.

As some of you know I was in Honduras on a mission's trip last week. Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere and the parts that we visited were some of the poorest of the poor. It was really educational for me and I came back feeling like I have at least a little bit better understanding of that part of the world; we were able to see firsthand the plights people are going through there as well as some of the amazing work God is doing. And as is true everywhere, kids are kids and they were goofy and fun to be around :-)

Below is a photo-video that we showed to our church when we got back. Enjoy!
(Sorry that it's blurry, but that's the only way I could post it without it taking a million years to load)

Getting so big!

2008-03-27T07:11:00.003-05:00

Another adopting couple is visiting the orphanage right now and posted some pictures of David. He's getting so big!!!!

I barely recognized him with his newly shaved hairdo, teeth, and slimmer face. His big eyes, dimples, and thumb sucking were a sure give-away though :-)

Laura's comments (the mom who took the photos) made me smile too:
"I had a hard time recognizing him myself. He looks like a little man. My goodness is he precious. His smile makes me melt."

Its hard to watch him change so much while we're not there with him. I'm so looking forward to seeing him in less than a month.

Laura, thanks so much for the pictures!

Next trip planned

2008-02-29T23:05:00.005-06:00

I just bought plane tickets for my next trip to visit David! I'm going to go down for about a week at the end up April. Due to some practicals (cost, watching Josh, taking time off of work, etc), Jay isn't going to be going this time. But, my parents are planning to come with me. I'm really excited for them to get to meet David and to see Haiti and the orphanage firsthand. We'll be going right around David's 1st birthday too (May 2), which makes me glad that we'll be there to celebrate with him.

So the countdown has begun, less than 2 months until I get to be with David again!

Mud cookies and cakes

2008-02-02T08:11:00.004-06:00

Here's an article from the associated press about how many Haitians find themselves eating dirt in order to fill their bellies. The other adoptive families that had previously visited David's birth family's village had mentioned to us that families there were making pancakes out of dirt.

Link to ABC news article

Our trip

2008-01-29T15:50:00.000-06:00

What an amazing past week! Here's the short version - although, I guess it doesn't seem that short now that I typed it :-)

We couldn't have asked for better in terms of air travel. We were pretty freaked out by the stories we'd heard of the Port-au-Prince airport, but the airport was awfully tame - the Miami airport was probably scarier! It definitely helped that we were met in the baggage claim by Willem, the head of Mountaintop Ministries. Willem seems to know everyone, and was able to speed us through customs, etc. We stayed at the Mountaintop Ministries guest house (our orphanage is loosely associated with this ministry), which was about 13 miles from the airport. Well, 13 miles through the mountains equals over an hour and a half of driving! So, unfortunately, it was too late by the time we got there to go and see David that day. Instead, we got a chance to talk to Willem and Rachel (the director of the orphanage) about the adoption process and Haiti in general. It was so eyeopening!

After talking with them, all of our fears of the adoption possibly falling through, were completely erased. Since our paperwork got filed with the Haitian govt. in October 2007, their assumption is that David will be able to come home with us in October 2008. Of course, nothing is definite, and it may go longer than that too. Our prayers though are still that David comes home this summer (nothing is impossible for God!). Rachel & Willem have a lot of contacts in the various offices that our paperwork will go through, and they appear to be well known and respected by the people who work there. Connections seem to be so important in Haiti and our hope is that their connections will keep things moving along smoothly. Rachel actually took us to IBESR, the place where our papers are at currently, and introduced us to the director who will eventually sign off on our papers. Our assumption is that not every adoptive couple gets to meet the director, so we were pretty amazed to do so.

Coincidentally, another adoptive couple was also visiting the orphanage at the same time as us. David has 3 older sisters also in the orphanage and this couple is adopting 2 of the girls. We were very excited to get to meet them as we'd all like to stay in contact as they kids grow up. The other sister is placed with a family in Indiana that are not too far from us. We're hoping that we'll get to meet them one of these days too.

Thursday morning we woke up and headed for the orphanage! David is adorable!!! All smiles and a very happy little guy. One of the coolest parts of this week was how easy it was for Jay and I to truly feel like he's our son. All of the kids at the orphanage referred to us as Davidson's mama and papa, and it just fit - not awkward in the least. We were able to spend all of Thursday, Friday, and then Saturday morning with him. Rachel took us all around the Port-au-Prince area and David would come with us. For an 8-month old, I have never seen such contentment just sitting in a lap or being carried around for such long periods. The entire time we were there he cried for 2 times (once when he bumped his head and once when we had to pause him during lunch). The rest of the time he was so smiley. He's able to scoot around quite well, although the tiled floors cause him to slip around. :-) For the most part, he's quiet, but still does his fair share of babbling and other baby noises. Developmentally and health wise, he seems to be right where he should be.

On Friday Willem took Jay and I to the village that Mountaintop Ministries works with. The work that they do there is incredible, and it was awesome to hear and see the drastic change that has come to the village through Mountaintop's involvement. They now have clean water, which has removed so many sicknesses and enabled farming, all of the kids have the chance to go to school, there's an available medical clinic, and the 5 voodoo temples that used to reside there have all left. It was clear that the people of the village deeply respected Willem. Basically they went from being a poverty-stricken village to one of the wealthiest villages in Haiti.

Also on Friday, we met David's birth mother. I had foreshadowed this being awkward, but it wasn't. Although I definitely wished we spoke creole so that we could have spoken to her directly rather than through Rachel translating. Rachel & Willem had told us what a good woman she is, and we were able to see that first hand. We got to hear a lot of her story, and share with her about who we are. David is the youngest of 6 children. The two oldest live with their mom and the 4 youngest are at Rachel's orphanage. From the U.S. perspective, it seems like this is such a sad situation, but that's not how its viewed in Haiti. His mom was very happy to have the chance to have her children adopted. Rachel told us that no one cries about adoption (the birthmoms or the kids); instead, they see this as a positive thing. That was and still is very difficult for me to grasp, and I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to meet her and take many pictures and videos of her and David together.

On Saturday we got to spend the morning with David and then left for the airport around noon. It was tough leaving him, but at the same time seeing the orphanage and how much love and care is there, makes having him there much easier than what I had felt over the past few months. Right now the thought is that I may go down with some of the other adoptive mom's sometime in April or May. Jay and I know that there's no way we're going to make it until October without seeing David!

Click here for pictures from our visit and travels around Haiti.

Back home

2008-01-27T19:33:00.000-06:00

Just a quick update that we made it back home today. We had a fantastic trip! I'll post more soon, but we're exhausted!

So for now here's some pics to hold you over :-)

We're on our way to meet David

2008-01-22T12:50:00.000-06:00

In less than 36 hours, we'll have David in our arms. My emotions are all over the place! What will it be like to meet our son who according to the law is not yet our son? What will it be like to leave after having spent several days with him, not knowing when we'll see him next? Will there be an immediate connection? Will David have any understanding of who we are? What will this little boy who we've been praying for for months be like? Are we going to get lost in what we've heard is a chaotic Port-au-Prince airport?! I'm so curious to see the orphanage, meet the missionaries and workers, experience Haiti, etc. I guess my feelings can best be summed up as lots of excitement mixed with a whole bunch of nervousness.

Our bags are pretty much packed and when Jay gets home from work today we're heading off. Josh is staying with Jay's parents, so we'll head there first. This will be the longest we've ever been away from him -- lots of firsts for all of us this week! Then off to my parent's house where they'll drive us to the airport early tomorrow morning.

We'll be back in a few days with pictures and stories!

First Visit

2007-12-17T14:46:00.000-06:00

Our tickets are booked and plans are set to go to Haiti in the middle of January for about 3 days. We'll get a chance to meet David!, see the orphanage, and have a mini-tour of the area.

David update

2007-11-19T16:46:00.000-06:00

We just got an e-mail letting us know that as of this week, David can now stand up by himself in the crib. Woo hoo, way to go David!

I love hearing snippets of information like this. But it also makes it a lot harder not to be there with him. We're planning a trip for mid-January to go to Haiti and meet him. We wish we could go there tomorrow, but practically we know that it makes more sense to wait. We're definitely looking forward to planning the trip!

We have entered IBESR

2007-11-17T07:28:00.000-06:00

Our dossier is now in the hands of IBESR.

Here's a more detailed description of the steps to come (taken from this website). We're through the first two parts and are onto the third part.

Minister of Foreign Affairs (MFA) (2-4 weeks)
First Legalization (1st Legal). This is where all of the papers are authenticated.

File prepared for IBESR (Concurrent with MFA) (1-4 weeks)
When the paperwork is at Foreign Affairs, your lawyer must prepare your file for IBESR. IBESR requires that the paperwork be in a certain order. The social history and psychological examination required by IBESR for your child must be made during this period. It involves putting the child's social information into a home study format with your home study information.

IBESR (2-6 months)
Your child's paperwork is put together with your documents and the file is then presented to IBESR (Haiti's Social Service Department) where a social worker will look over all of your documents and decide whether to approve your adoption request.The director of IBESR, the IBESR lawyer, the head of adoption services at IBESR, and the IBESR social worker must all sign off on your dossier. This is four stages of approval.

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

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Total Time: 19 week - 76 weeks (~5- 19 months)

Cry of the Orphans Week

2007-11-12T08:18:00.001-06:00

A year ago, Jay and I tuned into some radio broadcasts during 'Cry of the Orphan' week. What a life-changing week that was for us! From those broadcasts, Jay and I first began to seriously discuss adoption as a possibility in our lives.

Well, its that time of year again and Family Life Ministries has teamed up with some other organizations to dedicate this week of broadcasts to the Cry of the Orphan. If you want to listen to these broadcasts, they will be on the radio, downloadable from online, or available as Podcasts. Here's a link for more info.

-----------
Here's a copy of the e-mail I received last week:

Today there are more than 143 million orphans in the world. That's approximately one-half of the population of the U.S.! Most of these children live in poverty, are malnourished and experience daily rejection.

For this reason, FamilyLife™, Focus on the Family®, and Shaohannah's Hope along with Crown Financial Ministries are joining hands and voices with more than 75 orphan care providers, church-based orphan ministries, and adoption agencies to plead the cause of orphans in need. But we can't do it alone.

No matter who you are, where you live or what you do, you can make a difference. From praying for orphans, to going on mission trips, from mentoring a child, to adopting one (or more), there is a place for everyone because you are God's plan for the orphan.

To learn more, listen to the special radio broadcasts during "Cry of the Orphan" week on “FamilyLife Today," “Focus on the Family," and "Money Matters" Nov. 12-16, and visit cryoftheorphan.org. Join us as we boldly endeavor to answer God's call.

Introducing....

2007-10-28T12:28:00.000-05:00

The referral came (and has been accepted!).

We'd like to introduce you to David!

Our caseworker called us Thursday night to let us know that she had received some pictures and David's medical record. She dropped them off to us on Friday. The medical record was still in French (the English version is coming next week), but thanks to numerous online translators we were able to figure most of it out.

David is 6 months old (born May 2, 2007) and is a healthy little guy who at 4 months olds weighed 14 pounds (more than Josh was at that age) and was 25 inches.

We accepted the referral and now wait some more. This time we're waiting on the Haitian government. Depending on how quickly their adoption offices are moving, David could be here with us anywhere from a few months from now to a year or more. Prayers are greatly appreciated! Our hope is to visit David in Haiti within the next few weeks, but we're waiting to hear back from our agency and the orphanage to see if they'd rather we get through the first few government steps before visiting.

Here are some more pictures. These are from the end of August, so he's about 4 months old at the time. The woman in the pictures is David's birth mom, Gerda. Jay and I were pretty choked up looking at her and realizing how difficult this whole situation is. There are definitely a lot of emotions involved from every angle. We also know that these pictures are going to be like gold to David as he grows up.

We'll keep you updated as we find out more.

Grants

2007-09-19T13:51:00.000-05:00

Several months ago, Jay and I got into grant application mode. Basically, we researched adoption grants and then applied for everything and anything we found that seemed to even remotely apply to us.

We're happy to announce that a few weeks ago we received a $3000 grant and today we got a phone call that we received a $2500 matching grant. Woohoo!!

News from the agency's Haitian visit

2007-09-12T14:32:00.000-05:00

Lots more info! The people from our agency who visited Haiti and the orphanage 2 weeks ago are back and gave us some updates. Every little bit of info we receive about Haiti, the orphanage, etc. makes the finalized adoption just seem closer.

Some cool news:

According to the orphanage's attorney, our dossier is in perfect order (Definitely nice to hear after the work that went into it!)
Talks and processes for our adoption have been going on the past few months even though we haven't been aware of it :-)
There is a little boy that had bloodwork done two weeks ago. The assumption is that he'll be referred to us :-) We've been told not to be in 'expectation mode' yet for this specific child, because there are always lots of unknowns, but it sure is nice to have an idea that he could be the one.

Here are some quotes from the e-mail we received. Its eye-opening to the differences of life here versus there.

"On our way to the hotel they gave us a little sight seeing tour around downtown PAP. People are always outside socializing, selling, and buying. There is virtually no infrastructure in Haiti - most have no power at all and those who do may only get it for an hour or two a week unless you have a $10,000 generator/inverter set-up (only the wealthy have this.) There is also no public water so everyone has to get it from streams (dirty) or buy it from the water truck."

"The orphanage is a small house with a foyer which is the play room, a dining area with a child sized table and two long benches, a bedroom with a row of bunks and a couple of cribs, a store room, bathroom, and kitchen. There is no power or running water. The food is cooked on a camp style stove and water is purchased in big "culligan man" style bottles. A refrigerator and stove were donated but there is not power to operate them. We will be doing a fundraising effort to help purchase a generator (~$7,000). Nothing is cheaper in Haiti - almost nothing is made there so things are imported from the US or other countries. Land is expensive, food is expensive, gas is expensive, everything is expensive. I think this is shocking to most people as we tend to assume the US dollar would go far in a poor country - not so here. "

"The children were all delightful each with their own personalities and senses of humor. At first they just took us in but when the playtime started (Rachel can start an instant party by pulling out the plastic sunglasses) they were such a hoot. They wanted us to hold them and play games with them and loved seeing their faces in the digital camera. There are three caretakers for the children who do all the cooking, cleaning, laundry by hand, and child minding. We dined with the children and were amazed at how good rice and beans (and I think eggplant) could be and at how much the children eat. Little ones eat a big plateful and they don't leave a morsel on their plates."

"The office [I'm assuming government office] is hard to describe - hotter than heck, people everywhere, people behind old desks with manual typewriters, and yes, a storage closet full of dossiers. I did see one man on a lap top though. It appears that they [the heads of the orphanage] have good relationships with the officials but everything seems to take a long time here - nothing is logistically easy."

"On our last day we returned to [the orphanage] where [the director] was already there visiting with birth parents. We sat around on little toddler chairs and talked about their lives - and family planning. It is hard to put yourself in other people's shoes. It was very hard for me to accept the reality that these children have families who love them but who are so desperate that they want to relinquish them in the hopes that they will have a better life and that it will lessen their burden such that they too may have a better life. You can't help but want to scream at the injustice of their lives."

Almost but not meant to be referral

2007-09-07T14:19:00.000-05:00

We got an e-mail last night letting us know that there was a little girl they were considering for us. However, they found that she has active syphilis and thus is 'unadoptable'. We don't know anything more about her or her situation, but we're assuming that her chances of survival are very low. Our prayers are with this little girl.

Another update on the referral wait

2007-08-30T13:06:00.000-05:00

Its been a while since we last updated, so I thought I'd let everyone know that the wait for a referral continues.

I talked to our case worker a few days ago and she's not quite sure what is causing the wait either. She works through the Haitian adoption coordinator who works directly with the orphanage -- I know, a lot of third parties! It was great talking to her though, because it was clear that she's doing everything she can to find more information for us. Communication is just slow.

This past Sunday the coordinator went to Haiti to visit the orphanage, so our hope is that they will come back with some information (and hopefully a referral!!!).

"What I've said, that will I bring about; what I planned, that will I do." Isaiah 46:11

Still waiting

2007-07-23T16:07:00.000-05:00

Well, not much news to report yet. But I thought I'd at least report the lack of news :-P

Right now we're just waiting for the referral to tell us all about our child. We did find out that they're running lab work on some babies right now (they have to be tested for HIV), and we're hoping that once that's done then the referral will come.

Up-to-date on travel immunizations

2007-06-27T13:35:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we went to the travel clinic here in town and got all of the shots necessary for traveling to Haiti (in anticipation of us going in the next few months). We ended up with 2 shots, 1 in each arm, and were then in pain for about the next 24 hrs! A heads up to anyone getting the typhoid vaccine: get it in your non-dominant arm because it'll be sore. We also have a prescription for malaria pills just waiting for us when we have an actual departure date.

Orphanage FAQs

2007-06-25T15:16:00.000-05:00

After watching the videos from the last post, I realized how little I knew about the orphanage itself so I e-mailed my agency some questions. Here are their responses :-)

Where is Rivers of Hope located?

It is about a 30 minute car ride from Port au Prince.

How was it started?

A missionary family in Haiti (Willem and Beth seen in the Sofia film) has an orphanage/school/clinics and was approached by visiting missionaries to assist with adoptions. They did for a few but knew the need was greater than they could handle given their other mission responsibilities. They had a friend of many years from church, Rachel (also in the film), who operated a preschool in Haiti who was asked to assist. Rachel started coordinating these adoptions but knew there were more children who needed families. Through church contacts we were linked. After meeting with us and knowing our commitment to place children she used her own finances to open the orphanage in February 2007.

How many children are at the orphanage?

10. The age range is infant up to about 4 years old.

How/why do most of the children come to be in the orphanage?

For the most part, their parents are located near by and simply cannot provide for them due to various factors.

How many workers work there?

Rachel is there often but does not stay overnight. There are 2 nannies who care for the children in the home.

How is the orphanage funded?

Rachel used her own finances to start the facility. She has received donations as well. Part of the adoption fees will go to care for the children and support the mission and care of more children.

Bringing Home Sophia Video

2007-06-25T15:15:00.000-05:00

Our agency recently posted a link to a video another couple made about their adoption story:

They are adopting from the same orphanage (Rivers of Hope), as us, so it was awesome to get to see on this video the orphanage, the people who we'll meet, and the kids! It gives us a much better idea of what is to come in the future. Total the videos are about 18 minutes long, and I posted them because I thought some of you might to watch too.

I'm pretty sure that in this video, the couple is meeting their new daughter, Sophia, for the first time, but their paperwork is still being processed by the Haitian government. Hence, they will not be able to take her back to the States with them until a later date. Our hope is to make a similar trip to Haiti in the next few months in order to get to visit our child!

Dossier Heading to Haiti!

2007-06-15T11:30:00.000-05:00

I dropped off our completed dossier to our agency this morning! It should be in Haiti by the end of next week :-)

Chicago Trip went smoothly

2007-06-01T07:47:00.000-05:00

My trip to Chicago on Thursday went very smoothly. After getting to the Secretary of State's office I was in and out with my authenticated documents within 15 minutes. I'm really glad that I went (rather than sending things through the mail), because there was 1 document that had been notarized incorrectly and so they would have had to send it back to me to fix if I hadn't been there. Instead, I was able to take care of it right then and there. The Haitian Consulate was about a 2 minute walk down State Street from the Sec of State, and I was in and out of there in about 5 minutes. Quick and easy! One day trip to Chicago saved us a few weeks of mail going back and forth. If only there hadn't been traffic on the Dan Ryan and parking costs weren't atrocious! :-P

I-171H Approval?

2007-05-27T20:36:00.000-05:00

All of our dossier paperwork is about ready to go to Haiti. I'm going to head up to Chicago this week and go to the Secretary of State's Office, to the Haitian Consulate, and then hand them off to the French Translators. It sounds like all of this can be done in about an hour and a half. Luckily they're all within a few blocks of each other! A week later, I'll have them back and then off they go to Haiti.

Only problem is that we're not quite sure if we need to have heard back from the US Citizenship & Immigration (CIS) office yet with our I-171H approval. From what I've been reading it seems unnecessary to have at this time, but if the word comes back from our agency that it is mandatory now then we'll have another 6-8 weeks to wait before sending the dossier, sigh.

Speaking of possible slowdowns, it looks as through the adoption process in Haiti is taking a loooong time. So, instead of the 6 months or so that we were hoping our paperwork would be in the Haitian adoption system, it looks more like 12 months. Hence, after we receive a referral for our child it'll likely be another year until they are in the States (Summer '08). Yet, its all in God's hands, and He knows what He's doing so we're feeling alright with it. But I'm still keeping my fingers crossed the Haitian adoption system gets moving!

Home Study Complete

2007-05-16T10:14:00.000-05:00

Our Home Study is now complete. One more thing checked off the list!

Home Study Finishing Up

2007-04-12T10:22:00.000-05:00

Last night, we had the 'home' study portion of the Home Study. Meaning, our social worker, Diane, actually came to the house to check and make sure that our living conditions are acceptable. In preparation, I spent the day cleaning and scrubbing the house so it looked in pristine condition. I have to admit I'm a little disappointed she didn't actually inspect our toilets to see how clean they were! (Because, you know, clean toilets are definitely a sign of good parenting!) Mainly, she just walked around the house and made sure we knew to keep poisonous items out of a child's reach, had working smoke detectors, and a basic plan on where the new baby will sleep. She also met Josh, who was very ready for bed by that point, but was in a great mood. He definitely made us look good.

Last week, Jay and I each met with her for our individual interview portion of the Home Study. Diane is so easy to talk with, and so the interviews were far from nerve-wrenching. She asked questions which easily led into other questions, and before I knew it, the interview was done. I've really been happy working with her so far. We feel very comfortable asking her questions, and she's amazing at addressing concerns that we have.

Our fingerprint clearances just came in the mail, so now all that is left for the Home Study is for Diane to type it up. She'll then send the Home Study to CIS (Citizenship & Immigration Services) in order to complete our I-600A Orphan Application. Once that is completed we'll:

Send everything (aka. the Dossier) to Springfield in order to have our notarized documents authenticated.
Send these authenticated documents to Chicago to be translated into French.
Send these French, authenticated documents to the Haitian Consulate in Chicago to be authenticated one last time.
Send these re-authenticated, French, authenticated documents to Haiti where they'll then match us with a child!

More donation options

2007-04-11T11:07:00.000-05:00

Wow, the response from our 'Orphanage Baby Shower' post has been incredible. Thanks to everyone who has wanted to be a part of helping out the orphanage in this way :-)

A friend recently e-mailed me and asked if there was any other way to donate besides through the registries. Yes! If you'd rather you can just go straight to the source. The Florida-based agency is delivering all donations to the Haitian orphanage.

Here's the address where donations of any kind can be sent:
Lifelink c/o First Congregational Church UCC
1031 S. Euclid Ave.
Sarasota, FL 34237

And here are some specifics that they requested:
"Health and hygiene items (tooth brushes, hair items, diaper cream, Tylenol/digital thermometers); Children's clothing and shoes (short and long sleeves, sandals & sneakers, underclothes, sleepwear, jackets/sweaters, cloth diapers and plastic pants); Linens (bath towels and wash cloths, towels for kitchen, sheet sets for single beds, crib sheets, mattress pads/protectors, blankets, pillows); Toys (educational toys, stuffed animals, decorations for room walls, simple furniture (bean bag chairs, juvenile shelving for toys and storage, etc.). Contributions to help with the costs of shipping and to purchase larger items will also be gleefully received."

If you have any 'used, but in good condition' items that are listed above, and have been looking for a place to donate them, they'd love them!

An Orphanage Baby Shower

2007-04-04T16:30:00.000-05:00

I recently got an e-mail from our adoption agency asking for people to donate various items to the orphanage we're working with in Haiti. I thought I'd pass it along, in case anyone is interested.

Here's some of the e-mail:

"Our Haiti partner has recently secured a building for the orphans to call home while they are awaiting their adoptive families. The orphanage will need many things from mattresses to bottles, diaper creme to tennis shoes, thermometers to a refrigerator. Haiti is not a manufacturing country and therefore must import most all of it's goods. So many Lifelink families and friends have asked to be a part of a hands-on project that we through some of you might like to participate in this worthwhile cause for children. Lifelink's Florida office will collect items and arrange for transport to Haiti. To make the process a bit easier, Lifelink has "registered" with Target.com and Babiesrus.com. At the sites, you can see the needed items, purchase, and have your item(s) shipped directly to Lifelink's Florida office. All donations are tax deductible! Lifelink is very excited about the opportunity to care for children in Haiti! Your care and support is greatly apprecitated!

If you're interested here are the links to the orphanage's registries. Basically, you can just order from there and have it sent to the agency's Florida office where they will then deliver the items to Haiti.

Target Registry

Babies 'R 'Us Registry

Also an FYI: there are some Target.com discount codes here.

Went Public

2007-04-02T12:30:00.000-05:00

We sent out a mass e-mail this past week, and its now 'public news' that we're adopting. We have gotten so many e-mails filled with support, encouragment, excitement, etc. Thanks so much!!!

I thought I'd write a post addressing some questions that people asked:

Can we share your blog with other people?

Yes! We're hoping that our blog will not only keep our family and friends up-to-date with our adoptions, but also that it will be helpful to other people who are thinking about adopting. Plus, we can use all of the prayers and good wishes available :-)

Are you adopting a boy or a girl?

We don't know... we can state a preference but we're not sure if we are going to do that or not. Basically, we'd love to have another baby boy or have a baby girl!

When will the baby be home with you?

Hopefully by January 2008, but that's really in the hands of the U.S. & Haitian government. Everything is waiting on how long it takes for them to process paperwork.

How old will your new baby be?

Our preference is for young-as-possible. In Haiti, the youngest child available for international adoption is 6 months old. Of course, that means 6 months old at time of referral, so we're assuming that the baby will be anywhere from 10-14 months when he/she arrives in the United States. So, Josh and the new baby will likely be within a year of each other age wise.

Is there anything we can do?

As of now, it would be awesome if anyone interested would check out the book, Cross Cultural Adoption, from the library and read through it sometime before next January. Its a simple read and addresses popular questions about international adoptions. Its aimed at answering children's (who aren't adopted) questions about their adopted friends. Yet, I thought it was also a great way for everyone to understand how questions and comments they say in front of an adopted child can impact them. I'll let you know as I find other books that would be helpful too. For now, that's the shortest, easiest to read book I've found that gives good suggestions!

Checked off the list

2007-03-26T16:00:00.000-05:00

Jay's Spring Break was this past week, and we had the chance to get lots of adoption related items checked off our list.

1) Health Physicals and Blood Tests. The numerous forms that the doctor needed to fill out for foster care licensing and for our dossier are now signed and notarized.

2) Psychological Evaluation. Jay and I are pleased to announce that we're both in fine mental health, and most importantly its in writing, signed, and notarized.

3) Local Background Checks: We now have documented by the local police station that we have no criminal records. Unfortunately, this paperwork still needs to be notarized. The police station's secretary has less than a year left on her notarization stamp, and for the dossier, a notary has to have at least a year left on their stamp. (We have no idea why). So we're waiting a few weeks until she gets her new stamp.

4) Fingerprinting: Once taken digitally for Foster Care, once taken with ink for the FBI by our local police station, and once taken for INS on this really high tech looking machine. Funny story: the INS only has a few sites throughout the U.S. in which to get fingerprinted. The closest site to our house is in Hammond, Indiana. So we drove the 2+ hours north to Hammond and found the site in an abandoned strip mall located behind an abandoned K-Mart. Not exactly the place we'd expected government offices to be located! We found it humorous so decided to take some pictures:

We're almost done with the paperwork on our end. That's a nice feeling! We're approaching a waiting period while papers get processed here and there.

The Paper Pregnancy

2007-03-08T10:06:00.000-06:00

We met with our Social Worker, Diane, last night and found out some more details. We also learned why adoption is often nicknamed a 'paper pregnancy.' The amount of paper shuffling that will go on over the next few months is ridiculous! For example, we have to get certified copies of our birth certificates (makes sense). Then we have to send those to Springfield, where they will staple a piece of paper to the top stating that it is definitely a certified copy. Next it goes to Chicago to be translated into French by the 'official' translators. From there is goes to the Haitian Consulate where it will be further authenticated, before we send it to Haiti. And if at any point anyone removes a staple from it, its considered invalid and we have to start all over.

We also have realized that a large amount of the fees for an adoption are spent simply because government agencies don't communicate with one another very well. For example, the 3 different sets of fingerprints we have to have taken at 3 different locations (one place that is 3 hours away from us), because you know, our fingerprints may change each time :-P Or how when we return from Haiti, the Department of Immigration will already have issued a certificate of citizenship. However, the Social Security Office doesn't recognize their fellow government dept's certificate, and thus we'll have to go through the courts and ~$1000 to get a different certificate stating that the child is indeed a US citizen. Lots of hoops to jump through! Honestly, we all were giggling a bit at some of the steps that have to take place!

Diane is amazing and we're really excited to get to work with her. She seems like she's going to try to make the entire paperwork process as smooth as she can for us. Time line wise we're hoping to have all of our paperwork (Dossier) sent off to Haiti by the end of the summer. Once the Dossier is in Haiti we should receive a child referral very quickly. Once we accept a referral we then play the waiting game with the courts in Haiti.

I'm excited to get started on all of this paperwork in front of me. Organizing and filling out forms are actually some of my favorite type of tasks so that's a definite positive! I'll add more details in a later post.

Starting Paperwork

2007-02-12T12:41:00.000-06:00

We're now in the beginning stages of the Home Study process. Every type of adoption requires a Home Study. As quoted from Wikipedia, "a home study is a lengthy document prepared by a social worker who meets with the family and inspects the dwelling to verify that the family would make suitable adoptive parents. " Before we can send any paperwork to Haiti (aka, the dossier), this first needs to be completed. We've been told that it typically takes 3-4 months through our agency and during that time we'll also be filling out the dossier.

This weekend, we spent several hours answering numerous questions for the Self-study essay. 17 typed pages and, in our opinion, one well written paper later we finished that part. Basically, the questions covered most everything in our lives :-P From reading this our social worker will now know details ranging from our childhood favorite sports to disciplining strategies to our pet-peeves and lots of misc info. in between!

We have our first meeting with our Social Worker, Diane, in early March.

Why Haiti?

2007-02-06T00:00:00.000-06:00

Most of the time when people adopt internationally they start by choosing a country and then finding an agency that specializes in adoptions from that country. We went about it backwards; we didn't have a country preference so we started by choosing an agency and then choosing from the countries that they worked with.

We decided that ideally we'd like to work with a local agency. I found some agency names and started calling around. Eventually we ended up at an agency about a mile from our home. We had heard their name mentioned before and had heard only positives. Their references and history were impressive, and the representative we met with was very willing to work with us. It was a good fit!

The agency gave us a list of the countries that they worked with (~10). All along we have felt that God wanted us to adopt from a country with high need. Each of those 10 countries obviously had a need but two countries in particular stood out to us: Haiti and the Philippines. The agency representative we talked with thought these would be a good match for us due to many reasons, and we decided to focus on them. (If you'd like to know more about why the other 8 countries weren't ones we looked into, just ask)

There was a slight problem though. Out of the 10 countries, those 2 and China were the only ones that had specific requirements that we don't meet. (For Philippines both spouses must be >27 yrs. old: For Haiti both spouses must be >30 yrs. old and married for >10 yrs.) So we had to get special permission from the countries. Our agency was optimistic though (hence, why they suggested them in the first place). But we couldn't move forward until we knew for certain.

Within the week we heard that their Haiti contact and Philippines contact did not think it would be a problem but they needed to check with their higher-ups.
Another week later we heard that the Philippines higher-up said our ages would not be a problem (yea!) but they needed to double-check with their higher-up (we've heard that this trail of waiting is pretty typical with all international adoptions).
Our wait continues. A hurricane in the Philippines delayed communication and the meeting in Haiti was pushed back. More waiting.
We receive news that Haiti has accepted us! We're excited, yet now are faced with 'how will we decide between the two countries?' It sounds like we are able to adopt from either one so we have a challenging decision to make.
The following week we hear the final word on the Philippines: Josh's age has to be 2 yrs. older than our adopted child, meaning we'd have to wait at least 3 more years before the Philippines will okay us. The decision is easily made -

We're adopting from Haiti!

"We will go and ransom our child" Reworded from Isaiah 50:2

Why International?

2007-01-03T00:00:00.000-06:00

When we first started thinking about adoption we really didn't know much. We soon learned that there are three general kinds of adoption: domestic infant, domestic foster care or international. All three are great ways to adopt, and each needs families to adopt from them! Our decision to go with international in no way diminishes the other two types. Rather as we've researched and talked to agencies, we're realized that for our particular situation, international just is the best fit.

Domestic Infant:
This type of adoption is done when a pregnant birthmom here in the United States decides to give her child up for adoption. Typically, the birthmom and adoptive parents work together through an agency/lawyer. Adoptive parents put together a profile of themselves, and the birthmom looks through these profiles and decides on the adoptive parents. The adoptive parents usually meet the birthmom, may even be present for the birth, and often stay in contact for years after. Within a few days of the birth, the child is given to the adoptive parents.

As we talked to various agencies and lawyers that focus on domestic infant adoption we learned that there are a lot of adoptive parents hoping to adopt this way. In fact, in many instances there is a waiting list that can range from several months to years for adoptive parents to wait for a match. Biologically we can still have children, and we felt that if we were going to adopt we'd like to go with children who had more 'high need.' Children in this situation will very likely be adopted into loving homes, so we decided to look other places.

Foster Care:
Each state has its own foster care system. Most children who reside in foster care were placed there because their birthparents were considered deemed unfit by the state. The goal of foster care is to eventually reunite children with their birthparents, and so children stay with a foster family until the state either decides that their birthparents are fit to be guardians again or the child is placed for adoption.

This appealed to us greatly. However, each state's system is different and in the State of Illinois, while there are many children waiting to be adopted, the vast majority of these children are over the age of 6. We were told on several occasions by different state sources that our chances of adopting a child under the age of 6 in Illinois are little to none. We're not at a place in our lives where a child 6 or over really makes sense, so foster care was ruled out.

International:
International adoption is exactly how it sounds: you adopt from a country other than the U.S. Each country differs in terms of requirements to adopt from there, age of children available for adoption, cost, etc. Typically though, you can adopt a child 6 months or older. The reasons that countries offer international adoption also vary. Usually it is because the country has an overwhelmingly large #of orphans, and due to extreme poverty or country regulations (such as China's one-child policy) people within their own country are not able to adopt many of these children. The statistics are staggering for orphans overseas and many will likely live in orphanages throughout their entire childhood and in some situations not survive until adulthood if not adopted internationally.

Being able to adopt a child younger than Josh (we'd like for him to remain the oldest) and adopting from a place with obvious need makes international adoption the clear choice for us.

Next up, determining which country...

“For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” Jeremiah 29:11

Why Adoption?

2007-01-02T00:00:00.001-06:00

So how did we even start thinking about adoption?

Ever since Molly first watched Anne of Green Gables, adoption has always been something she has thought about :-) But, when we got married the topic just seemed to get buried in the back of her mind-- it just seemed 'natural' to have biological children unless there was some sort of problem. In September 2006, our church had a speaker come and talk at a retreat. His talk had nothing to do with adoption, but we had a chance to chat with him over lunch one day and learned that he and his wife were in the process of adopting 2 children from Africa. Listening to his heart for adoption and hearing about the many orphans who are in need of families, Molly's heart was moved. She could see adoption as something that may lie in our future. Yet, at that time Josh was only 4 months old, and so the thought got put to the side.

In November 2006, the topic came up again. This time prompting both of us to say that it was something we needed to look more into. Family Life Ministries and Focus on the Family (2 radio broadcasts that we occasionally listen to) had teamed up during National Adoption Month to air programing specifically related to orphans. As we listened to these messages we felt we were being spoken to directly. At this point we started doing some research, and prayed a lot. As the weeks went by, adoption started popping up in numerous areas of our day-to-day lives. Our hearts continued to be moved. We talked with pastors, watched documentaries, read books, listened to sermons, etc. Each time, the message was the same, we should adopt! (Here's a link to these and other mp3 messages)

We are at the point now where we know that we want to have more children, and it does not matter to us if they come biologically or through adoption. At this time, we feel that God is calling us to add to our family through adoption. We know that there are children who need families, and we want to be that family for one of them!

“Behold, I will do something new” Isaiah 43:19

About Us

2007-01-01T00:00:00.000-06:00

For our first post, it seems fitting to start by describing us.

We met in college, started dating our freshman year, and got married 4 years later (July 2003). We moved into our first apartment, and Molly began teaching middle school math while Jay started graduate school. In May 2006, we had Josh. He's 9 months old now, and is crawling, pulling himself up, and has a killer smile (dimples and all!). Molly now is a stay-at-home mom and loves it, and Jay is teaching high school math and physics. The three of us and our cat, Milo, live in a small, cozy house in a neighborhood that we love.