Our First Bonding Trip, May - 2014

At the end of May after we finished up our mission trip in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, we were able to stay over three days and do some bonding with our boys.  We picked them up from their orphanage and took them to stay with us at an American hotel with swimming pool.  We had a blast.  We had Cherdinor's 7th birthday party and present for them both.  We had a great time.  The only thing that took from our stay was Christy being sick with stomach problem and Cherdinor just getting over Chikungunya.  He had just stopped running fever but his feet hurt him every night and he woke up crying.   The highlight of this trip was the flushing toilets.  They wanted to go to the bathroom all of the time to flush the toilets and wash there hands.  Afterward they would get a little bit of lotion and they loved this.  They had to be watched though because they kept flushing things down the toilet. My favorite thing to here them say was "pitsy, pitsy crem pou mwen?"

They had never been to a swimming pool so they were scared to death of the water.  My son and I could barely get them in the water but they did enjoy sitting around the pool and playing with the water.  They loved the bubbles and the balloons, too.  They were also afraid of the candles on the birthday cake, or it could have just been the fire, but we could not get them to blow the candles out.

We had a great time and I will put some pictures and video on this post to let you live some of our trip with us.

I did get Chikungunya when we got back to the US and had 101.0 or greater fever for 7 days and acute joint pain with a rash.  It was miserable and I understood why Cherdinor cried every night. 

 

Sorry, Madelyn, the only family member not present.

Cherdinor has fever over 100 in this picture.

 

Birthday bags with their presents that they carried around all three days.

 

My first Bible bedtime story in Haitian Creole. (My favorite picture)

 

New clothes - The best.

 

Pool time

 

I was getting a shampoo, but it was a spit shampoo.

 

 

We were playing with bubbles.

 

 

Davidson is settling down for nap time can't you tell.

 

 

 

 

Our First bonding trip was amazing and I would not change a thing except we would have liked to put them in our luggage and carry them home with us.  I wish Madelyn and Darby could have been with us, also.  This post is a little late but we had fun our trip in May, 2014.

 

Going to Haiti on a Medical Mission Trip

Well, it is time for us to make our annual Medical Mission Trip to Port-au-Prince and I am getting excited.  At the end of our clinics we plan to see and bond with our boys for 3-4 days and we can not wait.  I hope to have lots of good pictures. 

The silence on our paperwork is still deafening.  There is not much we can do on this as we wait for IBESR to finish our paperwork.  On facebook I see and hear the frustration of so many families who are waiting like us and I feel for them.  But in reality there is nothing we can do but wait.   This is one of those times that you give everything over to GOD and try not to worry over things that we have no control.  I did not realize how much a heart full of worry can almost make you crazy.

Jesus said, "Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?" Matthew 6:27

I can't make myself taller so why should I think I can move this paperwork.  We will continue to leave it in GOD's hands and pray every day.   During this time we will do our part.  We went for our re-fingerprinting in Memphis, TN and it was a beautiful spring day.  We have a routine now and went to Waffle House which is very close to this center.  Our home study will have to be re-done this summer and a new I-600A completed for September.  Onward we go.

This is us at the USCIS building in Memphis getting ready for fingerprinting.

 

 

The next time we post we will back from Haiti and I will have a lot of good pictures of our boys and I can't wait to share them with you.

 

Miskellys





 

 

Time keeps on Ticking, Ticking, Ticking... into the future

I did not realize how long it had been since our last post.   As the title of this post states, time just keeps on ticking.  It is time for us to update our fingerprints, get a new home study done, and we will update our I600A before September.   I was hoping we would be at the point of filing our I600 but we are not yet.  We are still in IBESR.  We did communicate with the director of our orphanage and she states that a transition team is working on several of the cases that are stuck and hopefully we can find out where we are and what is taking so long.   With the laws changing we are not sure if we will need dispensation still or if it will go straight to the court system once it exits.   We are one of those families who were in process when the country of Haiti converted to a Hague country, but we are going to be grandfathered in the process.  It is all very confusing.

We skyped with the boys last Sunday and as usual they were very busy during the session.  Davidson has a hard time sitting still and that is surprising sense he is the one not walking very well yet.   Cherdinor will wave, smile and talk with us but you can tell he is shy.   They love to see pictures of themselves, look at their bedroom and see the animals that we have.

I was watching a movie last night and it had this following quote in it from and unknown author.

"Childbirth is an act of nature, adoption is an act of God"  ---- author unknown.

This has deep meaning to my family in so many ways.   Right now it seems that God is going to have to take action just to get them over here. 

The good thing is that we plan to go down to Haiti in May to conduct a week long mobile medical clinic.   After we are finished with the clinic, we plan to spend three days with our boys.   Cherdinor is going have a Birthday during that time and we will have a party with them for their birthday, and it will be our first ever birthday party with them.  We have a hotel reserved that has a swimming pool so we can play and bond with them as much as we can for three days.  I will try to take lots of pictures to post.  Bonding is an important part of this process.


One of the children in our orphanage died last week and we feel for the family that was trying to adopt them.  We send them our prayers.  It brought back memories of when Paul David died when we were trying to adopt him.  There is always fear and sadness in this process.  We are ready to experience some of the joy!!  We keep on praying and the clock keeps on ticking.

I will leave you with recent updated pictures.

 

Cherdinor, March 2014

 

Davidson, March 2014

Just a Picture

We have still not heard anything about our paperwork.  An agonizing 17 months with our paperwork still in IBESR.  We are patient, but we long for them to be with us here curled up on the couch watching the Winter Olympics.  It won't be long.  Our friend Roberta Edwards who works at Sonlight Children's Home in Port-au-Prince went by to see our boys and took a picture of them for us.   She talked with our boys, and she told us they are growing and doing fine.  Thanks for the pictures.

Jesus Loves the Little Children

Time is passing so quickly but adoption time is going so slowly.   It has been 16 months that our paperwork has been in IBESR and it is hard not to be impatient.  WE know that everything is in God's hands and we pray to him daily for him to get the boys to us quickly.  Hopefully everything that stands between them and us will be parted like the Red Sea, and they can get to us before the end of this year.   We can only pray that we will have them by Christmas.

We did get to Skype today and we were showing them pictures of themselves that we are collecting in a photo album.  Cherdinor looked through them and told me who he was with in the pictures.  Every time he gets on camera he gives us that adorable smile and wave that would break any one's heart.  Davidson, like always, can't be still and keeps that thumb in his mouth.  He will talk with us, but he has that mischievous grin that lets you know he is a stinker and that he is thinking of messing with the computer.  They are going to be a lot of fun when we get them here.

Our oldest daughter, Darby, has started back to college and even though we see her occasionally because the college is close by, we still miss her being at home.  High school soccer is about to start for Wilson and our youngest daughter, Madelyn, is playing high school basketball right now.  There is always a ballgame going on somewhere.  Our gospel meeting started this week so that will keep us preoccupied this week.

I teach a 3rd and 4th grade Bible class on Wednesday night.   They are wonderful kids.  We have been working on teaching them a Haitian Creole song.   They have been working on it for about a month and I recorded them singing this song and posted it for a Missionary in Haiti we support.  Her name is Roberta Edwards and she runs Son Light Children's Home in Port-au-Prince.  I am going to post that song here for everyone who is following our adoption.  I think it is important for as many people to know a little bit about our boys' culture as they can before they get here to try to make the transition a little easier.  These children will be just a little older than our boys but they will still go to church with them.

Hopefully, the next time I post it will be about exiting IBESR or about signed dispensations so we can get into the court system.   That is what we are praying.

At the End of 2013

At the end of this year we want to be thankful for all the things that God has done for us.   We have had many changes in our life this year.  Our oldest child graduated from High School in May.   She moved out in the fall and started college in August.  My other two biological children are both in high school and you can imagine how busy it is. We also got to meet our two boys we are going to adopt for the first time.   This was absolutely amazing.   We were excited and we tried not to scare them but we may have been a little overwhelming.   By the end of our visit they were laughing and playing and melting our hearts.   At this end of 2013 we want to share that first meeting with our boys when we first got to hold them and touch them.  It is about 14 minutes if you have the time to watch.   For us, and for those two, we will always have this memory to share.

Our hopes and prayers are that by this time next year our boys will be home and our entire family will be together for the Christmas holidays.

Merry Christmas to all and have a happy new year.

Christmas 2013

Christmas is coming quickly and we finally have the house decorated for this joyful time.   The only thing missing are our two boys from Haiti to make our family complete.   We have hung their stockings at the fireplace so that Santa will know they are coming, but sadly they will not be with us on Christmas Morning to join in the festivities.   Our hope and prayer is that they will be with us next Christmas, and we will leave that in God's powerful hands.  I will put a picture of that fireplace and notice the CCM  stocking and DCM stocking on the end will make us a family of seven total.  Some people count our dog Lucy as eight, but she is not going to get into the official count in my book.

We also received two more pictures of the boys that were taken within the month.   These pictures are always awesome for us because we can keep their photo books up to date.   They are growing each day and it is hard for us to see them grow up without us, but we know we will make up for lost time when they get here and give them the love and attention that every child needs.  

Davidson (November 2013)

Cherdinor (November 2013)

On 12/15/13 it will make 15 months now that our paperwork has been in IBESR with no movement.  I do not know if we are in that department or waiting on the President's desk for dispensation but if we will get dispensation and out of IBESR at the first of this next year maybe they will get home by next Christmas.  This is our prayer every day.  It will be time once again at the beginning of next year to update our fingerprints and get our I-600A updated to stay current until we can go further in this process.  Everything on our end is completed and we just have to wait.

Thanks to everyone following our blog for the continued prayers and for the nice comments that you have sent our way.   We will do our best to keep you updated this next year as things develop.

Merry Christmas to all!!!!!!!!!!!