Two Week Update

In the last two weeks we have finished gathering our paperwork, sent it to Helena to be authenticated, sent it to the French translator and submitted our follow up information for the Shaohannah's Hope grant. We got our authentication packet back and found 9 of the 12 Notary's had not done it right. We are now in the process of giving letters back to the friends and professionals who wrote them so they can get them fixed. Arhh. I hate this part because it causes an inconvenience for other people.

Our expenses have been $375 for translation, $200 for authentication, $244 for blood tests for HIV etc.

Next week the girls and Mommy are going to the farm to see all the baby cows while Joel works on the bathroom and basement remodeling projects. Anna's dance recital is Monday night so we will leave Tuesday morning. We are looking forward to fun time with Grandma and Grandpa, Kelly and Suzie and the animals.

Not for Us

We got a phone call Friday telling us that the Hatian government has determined that Wandley and his half brother (with whom he lived until 2yrs old when they both entered the orphanage) would not be split up. This was, in our opinion, great news for Wandley. We want him to be with his brother and discovered that a confusing mix-up when interring the orphanage is the reason they were not together. The end of the foggy and long story is that our referral was revoked and we will not be adopting Wandley.
Strange that it feels like a sad loss when we are so happy for him. It is our desire that siblings stay together and now they get to. We would have done everything we could to help the boys have a relationship, but now they will be true brothers for life. I just wish we could give him a hug and bless him on his way to his new family. Maybe he will still be there when we go to visit.
As for the process for us, we will hear in 3 or 4 weeks about new kids entering the orphanage. We know God already knows our kids and is caring for them and for us.

This Week's Update

Here is an exciting story: One of our family members, who lives in Alaska, was shopping in a JC Penney store and met a man working there who was from Haiti. He shared with them the state of the nation of Haiti and the next time they went to their mail box they found our letter telling of our adoption from Haiti. Cool.

Well, this week we were approved for the local grant we applied for last week. They are sending $1000 to Faithful Charities Foundation in our name. We also received $200 in the mail. That is a weekly total of $1200. That makes our total thus far $2320. We have also put in a request to send our $16,000 in two payments. That would give us an extra month or so. We are excited each day to see what God is doing!

Beth Had a Birthday

I can not believe it has already been a year. Beth was 4 days old when we brought her home from the hospital: healthy and beautiful.

And look at her now! Still healthy and more beautiful.

No one is selling children

Let's be very clear. The Haitian people are not selling their children. This is illegal, immoral and highly appalling! The in-country fees that must be paid are legitimate expenses. Part of the fees are to cover the legal costs of adoption, such as courts, lawyers, birthparents’ travel to court and paper processing. The packet we send to Haiti will contain almost 200 pages of info., most of it repeated and translated, but it must still be read and analyzed. The rest of the fees are to cover some of the care and medical expenses for the children. Most of Haiti has no clean drinking water, therefore the orphanage must have a way of providing its own clean water. Also, the orphanage provides medical care to the children. Most of the kids who enter the orphanage were born at home and have never seen a medical professional before. Also, most of their parents have never had medical care.

In Haiti, like here, parent's love their children. They want to raise them, but often due to very poor conditions, parents can not provide enough for their kids to keep them alive. This is why we are on this journey!

For an eye opening glimpse into they real lives of Haitian farmers, check out this video.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7807530395118316902

Progress

These pictures are the referral pictures we received of our little guy. His Haitian name is Wandley Isaak. He is 2 1/2 years old. His birthday is April 7, 2005. The first picture was taken in May (we think) and the second at the end of June.

In the last two days or so, we have mailed two grant applications and $1120 has been given toward our in country fees! Our dossier will be ready to send in as soon as we get the letters from our doctor and one more employer letter. We will send our papers to Helena to have all the notarizations authenticated. When we did this for Anna's dossier we had 22 documents and 11 of them were rejected and had to be reprinted and re notarized. We are praying they are all perfect this time.

And so it begins...

We know this process will have many ups and downs and will never be predictable. Today was the beginning of the unexpected. While we were fixing lunch today we got a pone call notifying us that our unconfirmed referral for our baby, born on my 35th birthday, was revoked. We have been unable to confirm our referral for this "big baby boy" for the past 2 weeks. It turns out they were waiting for a second set of test results to come back negative (a good thing). The results came back positive and our baby was suddenly unavailable for referral. "Our baby" is testing positive for HIV. Our agency does not refer children with HIV. By supper time we just had to know what this would mean for him. A quick response to our inquiry brought some peace and hope to our hearts. Our agency will request that a different agency that works with parents approved by the CDC to adopt children with HIV, place him in a loving home. Now we pray for God's perfect plan to be fulfilled in this little boy's life. He is the Father to the fatherless and the defender of the defenseless.

Adopting Again: Why?

In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps Proverbs 16:9

Our plan for our family has always been to have two children and to serve the Lord with gladness. Anna was placed into our family September 20, 2004. She was the most wonderful little girl we had ever seen. Next, in February ’07, we welcomed into our lives and home Beth Alexandra, a perfect and beautiful baby girl. We were also welcomed into the life of a beautiful teenaged birthmother. Walla! Mission accomplished. Our family was now complete and we were excited to move on to the next phase of adoption support and advocacy.

It was while preparing for adoption promotion in November that our belief about our family being complete was challenged by the still small voice of the Lord. We believe the Lord has challenged us to expand our family again through adoption: To make the sacrifice of our plans, our level of comfort and our known future. It is the call to the fatherless, by the Father himself, which has caused us to build our family through the miracle of adoption. So with fear and faith we have started down the road to adopting two siblings from Haiti. We have no idea how the Lord will do it, but we know that “He is able” and that He has called us to it and will provide for His children. Jesus knows our new kids and loves them more than we know. We are privileged to participate in the care and provision of the orphan in such a tangible and rewarding way. We get to raise them, watch them grow and turn them loose to change the world as He directs them.

Here is the crazy part. The adoption process in Haiti takes “approximately 1 ½ - 2 years” and costs around $30,000 when adopting two children. After the homestudy is approved (ours is), we then have to do the “paper chase”. This is where we and nearly everyone we know fill out and sign documents verifying every aspect of our lives. We have to have info from our Doctor, psychologist, pastor, police department, employers, several trusted friends, and the FBI. Once all of this is gathered it goes to the state for authentication, then to the Haitian embassy for certification, then to the translator to be turned into French, then to Haiti along with $16,000 to pay for all that must be done there: courts, lawyers, birthparents’ travel to court, support to the orphanage where the children are living, and humanitarian aide to mothers still trying to keep their families together. We are less than 60 days away from sending our papers to Haiti. That means we are 60 days from needing $16,000. We are applying for grants, making our need known and trusting God our provider. We know that the Lord has asked us to do this. We know that He makes each person’s heart beat for different things and for some it is to care for orphans. Some people adopt, some people sponsor a child and some people make it possible for others to adopt. If you know of grants available, please let us know. If you have great fund raising ideas, please help. If you have a heart to give, or know others who do, we would be blessed. If you would like to sponsor a child or are interested in adoption, we would love to talk to you! Thank you for hearing our hearts and for holding us up in prayer.