Son's B-day and Update

Justus turned 5 on Nov. 16th and I found out that it looks like he did indeed have a B-day Party and maybe shared it with Lovelie who turns 7 next week. I wish I could have been there. It was hard not to be able to tell him Happy Birthday from mommy and daddy. :( I'm relieved to hear that it wasn't forgotten by his family in Haiti.

Update: The Director just got back from being out of the country that is why I was having a hard time reaching anyone. Lovelie is still not out of MOI so she has been in since July 09. They are still waiting on a document I think a judgment for her.

It sounds like Justus now has his passport and is in the Consulate. He still has not even had his requested DNA yet. It normally takes at least 30 days to get the results back so it looks grim for him being home by the end of the year.
The good news is that I hear Maki Sia (sp?) is getting ready to go home! :) CONGRATULATIONS TO HER PARENTS
We asked if she had any updates for any other parents and she said she contacted everyone last night that needed to be contacted.

Update

Got news... The good news: my kid's interviews went well, Praise God! The not so great news. Lovelie's is still in MOI and is still awaiting a Judgement (I think, I'm not sure what you call it) USCIS is asking for DNA tests so that will take time and I think more money, but I'm not sure how long or how much. Justus is either getting out tomorrow from MOI or he is just recently out.He has a chance of still coming home for Christmas but it looks like only a miracle will bring Lovelie home by then. :(

I was asked to pray about another step that they may ask for Justus, pray that they don't ask. It was a bad connection so I couldn't ask for clarification that is why I'm not to clear on exactly what's going on.

It's like one horribly long terrible labor experience! 

Back from Haiti

This trip went really well. There so much I'd like to write, but I'll have to do that later. There were plenty of sick children and praise God I didn't get sick because I'm pregnant right now.  This trip was really a blessing and we really got to bond with the kids. We are anxiously waiting for them to get out of MOI. If they got out soon it's a possibility they could be home by Christmas. However, as always that is a BIG maybe.  We will pray!

Passing out the goods....

Leaving to Haiti- It's not too Late to Donate!

I'm finishing up packing today. I would appreciate your prayers for my pregnancy that I wouldn't get any illnesses.

Here are some items I'm bringing to the village. Remember it's not too late to donate funds for the Haiti trip to bless the children of Haiti. I still need to go buy Formula for the babies and there are MANY. See the post below to Donate.

So far I have shoes, clothes for the kids and some for the nannies, toys for the creche where the infants are. Activity books for the older kids, and I will be buying formula this Saturday before we leave in California.

"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' Mathew 25:45

Every donation no matter how small is doing your part. :)

You can do your part this month for the children of Haiti!

Now is your opportunity to bless the children of Haiti! I leave 9/21 if you would like to contribute any funds this month SEPTEMBER it will go directly to purchase items to take to the children's village and creche (orphanage).

I will be shopping for baby formula to take to Haiti. Last time I arrived with 50lbs of mostly formula and when I got there they had maybe 3 cans left for a ton of babies! God's timing. It felt good to help out. I've bought as much I can with my own funds, but we can only do so much alone.

Will you consider even donating $5? A can of formula is around $11 a can.

Please don't forget to go to my site and learn about the Children of Haiti

Donated funds will not go towards any of our personal expenses, Thanks!

Another cool Haiti website

A facebook friend told me about her daughters blog.
Check it out! My Journey to Haiti
Stephanie she is holding your little guy in one of the photos :)

Be a VOICE!

If you are internationally adopting or if you have a heart for orphans abroad please read the following and follow the link to sign the petition.
Please take a moment to read this and sign the petition. Please ask your spouses and friends to do the same.
"The intercountry adoption process is a long, tedious process for American citizens seeking to adopt a foreign born child. Paperwork includes home studies, finger printing and criminal checks. The process can take up to three years to complete. At the completion of the adoption, the child must be approved for a U.S. immigrant visa in order to enter the U.S. and gain citizenship. The immigrant visa is required despite the fact that the "immigrant" is the child of a U.S. citizen. The U.S. is one of the few developed countries in the world that requires internationally adopted children of citizens to immigrate in order to join their new families. Please go to A Child's Voice International to read the rest of the article or go here to sign the petition.

Have everyone you know sign it. Thanks Vera for all of your hard work! :)

My kids are growing up without me!

I just got this picture today of my son and daugther and I can't believe how they are growing ! He came to the village when he was only 2 and now he will be 5 this November! Ugh.
We called the kids today and communicated the best we could with them and told them we LOVED them. They seemed to understand I love you, more than Mwen Remen ou. Probably because our Creole is so poor!

I got this message with the photos from Roseberlie's Mom (the girl I originally said yes to as my daughter, but then there was MIX UP and she really was already committed to some else- God knows and is in control :) ) The picture on the RIGHT is when he first came to the village.

More snags in the process!

My Homestudy lady told me today that my states laws have changed for international adoption. There are some extra steps to be taken since I have to renew my 171H fingerprints and 1600a. I will have to submit fingerprints to her agency now also, and I have to redo my criminal check with the new form and I have to redo our medical on top of resending all the other docs to USCIS. She also said this added step is taking 2-4 months to be processed! Well it's all in the Lord's hands. I'm trusting my kids will come to me when they are supposed to.

I600 Fingerprints for 171H Renewal

Ugh... Procrastination is NOT my friend! Thank the Lord for a friend calling me today to remind me about not letting that paper work get expired. When I checked my paper work I found out it expires in 3 weeks! Ugh.

The worst part is I found some info on another site that states I will have to resubmit and updated homestudy as well as personal docs all over again!
One site wrote:
I just sent our documents to USCIS for an extension last week. I was told to send everything we sent the first time - including a new I-600A. I sent a copy of our original home study and the new home study update, copies of birth certs, copy of marriage cert, and I sent a copy of our I-171H.

Now I'm going to be scrambling to get this all together and hopefully make contact with the USCIS office so I can find out exactly what they need. Who would have known this year would go by so quickly. You are allowed 1 free renewal for this form if you apply for it before the expiration. The race is on!

We are out of IBESR!

I'm so excited over our good news! After almost a year my kids are released from the 1st phase of their adoption IBESR. Yes, Haiti will let us adopt them! We've been in limbo for so long, not knowing if they would allow us to because we have biological children. We still have a wait, but join me and pray they will be home by Christmas! We have enough raised for only one of us to visit at the moment, but we are praying God will provide.

To all our donors thank you so much. We are still getting donations in after all this time. We are VERY grateful for your generosity.
----
I'm wondering if anyone else got out with us???

Almost a year in IBESR!

I can't help but pray Lord let my children be released, finally.

Yet, I know His timing is perfect. I told my husband we need to plan our next trip and he agreed this time he will go too. He hasn't seen them in a year.

These pictures were taken by another parent during their trip. I can' t remember who it was. If you are the photographer please leave a post! THANKS SO MUCH! Look at those faces what momma wouldn't love to look at those everyday! To stay updated with other family issues go to http://www.strongquiver.blogspot.com/

THANKS to our donors the past two months. Your donations will make it possible for us to visit our children this year.

The Days Grow Cold for International Adoption

It's a very sad time for International Adoptions. There used to be a time governments wanted to help their chilren stay alive and when other countries wanted to help save children...

http://childs-voice.blogspot.com/

And so the Plot thickens about Exited Dossiers

It may have been too soon to make that announcement of kids exiting IBESR see
http://achildsvoiceinternational.blogspot.com/2009/04/presidential-pardon-mystery.html

Great News! --- 50 Dossiers with Presidential Waivers!

To see more on this go to
http://achildsvoiceinternational.blogspot.com/2009/03/great-news-50-dossiers-with.html

if anyone finds the list please let me know. Or let me know if your kids were one of the 50

Well at least there is movement. I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but of course I'm hoping my children are in that group.

Family update: I'm currently around 5 weeks pregnant. We are very excited but after miscarrying in December I'm pretty protective with this pregnancy so I don't think I will be visiting my kids while I'm pregnant or anytime soon after that. :( If things stretch out too long my husband may have to go to keep the kids connected with us and to go love on them....

New IBESR Procedure

http://achildsvoiceinternational.blogspot.com/2009/03/presidential-waivers-update.html

Kreyol/ Creole Phrases

This is a list I found helpful in trying to learn the Haitian Language

http://www.kreyol.com/dictionary/creole-phrases.html

Tick Tock Tick Tock

It's amazing how quick time flies and still no word about my kids getting out of IBESR. It begins to feel like a dream sometimes. I wonder will they really come home???? I pray they do. I know it's in God's hands. I was a happy to catch a glimpse of Lovelie from Lynette's photos this week. It's these little crumbs that keep us connected to them. It seems like an eternity that they've been in IBESR.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!!

Can you feel my excitement???????? Someone just donated $500 to our adoption! Our adoption Account just hit ZERO for the first time since we've been saving for expenses! We have paid out around $22000.00 at this point to cover all adoption costs to this point, but we are not done yet. We just paid off our visit from last May, which is when we went to visit the kids for the first time. Praise GOD! Thank you to our Donor from the bottom of our heart! I'm feeling SO blessed right now. I just got back from an award banquet were I was awarded MAKING A DIFFERENCE FOR WOMEN 2009 by a local- International Organization. I feel on top of the world tonight. Glory to God in the Highest! :) Thank God He never leaves us in a valley too long...

New picture of my kids Feb 09

Just taken yesterday! What a great Valentine's Day Gift. They look happy.

I miss them!

In response to the earlier post: THE UPS & Downs of adoption

02/07/09 After time to soak the whole event in and truley seek God about the whole thing, I realize my statements may seem a bit off or cold or whatever. What I wrote is just how it happened. THere is a LOT more to this story that I do not have the liberty to write about that caused me to have my emotions. WHenever, I've told close friends the reasoning behind the words and thoughts they always say YES, it ALL makes sense now. All I want you to know it that I am committed to these children. I will see this adoption through and do everything in my power to bring my children home. Fear has left and is now replaced with peace. I know there are many challenges ahead but I will read every book I can get my hands on to be prepared to nurture and restore them. God is good and faithful to finish what He has started He has brought them together to be brother and sister. See the story my daughter is NOT my daughter on my post to understand that comment. I called them this week to tell them I love them and I'm definitely going to always be there mommy. I wish I could go back to the car that day I left and responded with the wrong words and instead say NO that's not true... I WILL DEFINITELY be adopting you no matter what. I can't go backwards, but I can live in the present. I love my kids and that's what I want you the reader to know. I do want them home. God will handle the rest.

Finally I'm out of the VALLEY!!!!

About 3 weeks after my miscarriage I experienced a HUGE hormonal shift that left me in an emotional slump. In my mind I had peace about everything, but my emotions were like a seperate entity within me causing me to cry at the drop of a hat, and be very moody. I'd look in the mirror and think, WHO ARE YOU and WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH EMMA?
Only 4 weeks after the miscarriage I found myself packing for Haiti. Well you all know what I experienced while I was down there...
It's true it all took me by surprise, but I woke up feeling like me again and ready to conquer the world with God's help. Praise God! I'm once again optimistic about the adoption, even though I know we have a rough journey ahead. It's OK I know we are doing what we are called to do. I know these kids need us and we want to do what we can for them.
I didn't start this adoption for the reason so many parents do: infertile, empty nest syndrome, needing to add a sibling, a desire for more children. All those reasons are valid, but that's not why I chose to adopt.
We chose to adopt to make an impact in children's lives, to give them a chance at living an abundant life if they so choose. We chose to sacrifice our lifestyle, so that some kids could have a chance at a life... period.
We can't turn back now. We are in this for the long haul.

January Trip

When our kids minister to us...

This morning I woke up and called Bijou into my bedroom. I asked her to pray for me. She said, "what's the matter?" I said, "I don't know... I'm not hearing from God, I'm feeling like He's far away." She went on to ask me, "are you and daddy seeking God together?" I said we are talking together, but not praying together enough about things that are going on. She said, "Maybe God is waiting tell you what you need to hear, but you are not listening." "Are you writing down your questions? Are you journaling, mommy?" No I haven't been. She said, maybe you should start again. She said, "Mommy I have a scripture I found the other day in Isaiah that said,

19 Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19

She recited it from memory....

I was so blessed. She said I think it's for you mommy, it reminds me of that vision you had last year about that desert road.

I said, "Bijou you have blessed me, thank you so much." She said, "Mommy you are the one that taught me... and God of course."

What a WORD He makes RIVERS in the Desert and Roads in the wilderness.

I've been to Jerusalem and everyone has heard that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, right? Well the wilderness is the DESERT in Jerusalem. It gets HOOOOOOOOOT out there, dusty, dry, dirt for miles and miles not too mention rocky. It's there Jesus makes a road and leads us through the desert, if we choose to follow, and now I know He also provides RIVERS there. Praise God for the words of my child.