Waiting...

I read so many blogs of people who are adopting from Haiti and waiting and waiting and waiting. We are in the same situation.

January '07 we heard a story of adoption from a friend of ours. She told of the difficult life these people endure in Haiti. Until then, I had not really thought much about Haiti. Honestly, if asked I probably could have told you very, very little about this little country. Our friend told the story of the children she hoped to adopt. We were so touched that S actually suggested we might want to consider adopting "that little girl" I still felt was supposed to be a part of our family. S is rarely impulsive so while he said that we spent another month praying and waiting for guidance.

February '07 we agreed that adoption was a good thing and that God had given us peace to move forward with this. I felt an urgency to get moving with all the paperwork. A beautiful little girl with a fiesty attitude and dark circles under her eyes was brought to the O.

March 1,'07 we committed to this little sweetheart. The urgency grew. We had our homestudy done and all the other paper work underway.

April '07 my friend told me she was planning to visit with many of the other adopting moms on our support group for Mother's Day. S asked if I wanted to go so reservations were made. I was pleasantly surprised when a good friend asked if she could go too.

May '07 We flew to Haiti and met some of the most interesting incredible women and our precious little Kaflaure. I felt an instant connection. I loved this child with a love that did not come from me but God. It was an emotional week-one that will live on in my heart and mind forever. I loved, hugged, kissed and prayed for that little girl. Then I told her goodbye. The urgency inside was even stronger.

June '07 our dossier finally was ready to go to Haiti. Now I had to do was wait for our little one to become ours and come home. Right?

July '07 news came that our little girl was Hep b positive. We were sad and concerned. We educated ourselves and requested more tests per our doctor's advice. The birth mom panicked upon finding out she herself might have Hep b and took our little girl away.

August - October '07 we went through the referrals of 2 more precious little ones. Each had severe medical issues and could not follow through with the adoption.

November '07 I received pictures of a beautiful little girl with such a lost expression in her eyes that I knew I had to try to make a difference in her life.

December '07- Feb '08 the O director and lawyers worked on our paperwork.

Feb '07 we entered IBESR. Many people had been stuck for long months in this "phase".
We exited in a day less than 4 months.What a blessing!

Communication is not easy so I am not sure when we moved into and out of the other legal phases. No dates of entry or exit. All I know is that we were recently told we are in MOI. We are in the latter part of our adoption. N is legally our daughter.

Well we are still waiting with reports that this phase is extremely long and frustrating. Honestly, it's been like that from the beginning of the process. Nineteen months later we are still waiting.

What happened to the urgency that was almost overwhelming? Somewhere along the way the feeling weakened. Maybe it happened when we kept losing referrals. Maybe our little girl coming home turned into more of a distant dream instead of reality. Maybe I built a wall around my heart and emotions. I've become numb. Maybe it's not as strong because I have never met this precious life who is now our daughter. She is still a picture on paper who I know so very little about.

I know that I know that I have given this adoption to my Lord and Savior. He knows N and our family. He knows exactly where our file is. His timing is not my timing.

The kids and I have been reading in our devotion about the Israelites after leaving Eygpt:
When Pharaoh let the people go, God led them not by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was nearer; for God said, Lest the people change their purpose when they see war and return to Egypt.
Exodus 13:17

The author of our devotion says this: "Sometimes God leads us the hard way instead of the easy way, because He is doing a work in us. How will we ever learn to lean on Him if everything in our lives is so easy that we can handle it by ourselves?

God led the children of Israel the long hard way because they were still cowards, and He had to do a work in them to prepare them for the battles they would face in the Promise Land.
Most people think that entering the Promised Land means no more battles......but they fought one battle after another. But they won all those battles fought in God's strength and under His direction."

Okay. This adoption has been a long hard journey. God - I will try not to complain and murmur. You know what strength we need to love and raise this child. Teach us what we need to know so that when we get to the promised land and N is home in our arms, we will be prepared to be the family she needs. Amen.

Fireproof

We just got home from seeing the movie - Fireproof. The theater was packed.

I understand it's by the same people that did Facing the Giants. I liked that movie but the acting wasn't quite as good as it could have been. The acting in this movie is much better with less weak supporting cast.

I always liked Kirk Cameron and recently read his autobiography. He is definitely a man of faith with strong convictions. He tells a little about this movie in his book. What impressed me most was his convictions about kissing another woman other that his wife in a movie.

This movie calls for an onscreen kiss. He told them if he had to do that he would not do the film so they put Chelsea, his wife, in a wig and subbed her in that scene. How's that for standing up for what you believe?

The storyline was great. Makes you stop and think about your own marriage. If it comes to your city then see it. It's worth it.

Loretta and Bubba

I was just catching up on one of my favorite blogs- Casa de King. She had a post about her husband calling her "Loretta". It was a cute post. It reminded me about my own hubby calling me Loretta and me calling him Bubba.
Something to know about S- he has a quirk where he never gets metaphors right.
Some things to know about me: when we started dating I was very shy and quiet and even now I do not like to be the center of attention in a crowd of people.
Here's our stories:
One day before S and I got married, I was teasing him about something and said "Well, hells bells Loretta....! It's a line in Coal Miner's Daughter (Loretta Lynn's life story). S was surprised that I would say that because he felt I was cursing and that's not something I usually do - not his sweet, innocent, young southern belle.
A few days later we were in line at Wal-mart. It was crowded and the lines were long. We were next in line when S told me he was going to slip out and buy a newspaper. I looked up in a minute and he was back standing by the register waiting. I commented that it didn't take him long. He got this mischievous glint in his eye, a grin on his face and said loudly with his best southern drawl, "Well, hell, Loretta the news stand is just outside!"
I so wanted to pretend I didn't know him.
Thank goodness I'm not quite so easily embarrassed as I've matured. I'm reminded of those days though every time I hear S call me " Hey, Loretta!"
#2 "Bubba"
When S and I first got married, our address was a rural route number and a box number instead of a road name. That's just how it was done in the country. That's how it was listed on our checks, too.
We went shopping one day. S writes a check. The young check out girl in between, popping her gum, looks over our info and asks S if he has a street name. He looks at her slightly offended and says " What do you mean - like "Bubba"?!

Adoption Update

We are in MOI!!!!! N is actually ours- legally adopted in Haiti to my understanding. I still don't look for her to come home for another 6 months but maybe I'll be surprised.

We're back! Actually we've been back for a week but we returned to computer problems. I'll give you one guess where we've been----

You're right - Disney! We had planned a trip for last year but decided to postpone and adopt from Haiti instead. We saved, got in on the free dining plan, stayed on property for the first time and tada!- a great trip was had.

We spent several days with family then 5 days in Disney. We've stayed that long before. While planning the trip that seems like the perfect amount of time. Then we arrive and hit the pavement at a brisk trot. We walk from one end to the other then move on to another park. After all, we've paid a lot and want to do everything. The kids are saying "Please, can we ride it just one more time? " or "Can we go to ---- so we can do ---? So off we would go...

It's truly an exhausting vacation. I felt as if I were the Tin man by day 4. My back was stiff and my legs felt as if I had been running a marathon.

The evening of Day 4 we had heavy rains and storms. We decided to go back to the room until it let up. In the back of my mind, I was thinking - once I get to that room, I am not moving!

Noah and I split off several times from the older three and S. They wanted to ride rides that did not appeal to Noah. We had a great time together. Dinosaur was one of our favorites. Here we are trekking back up the hill to ride it yet again. I told Noah to go stand where I could get a picture. About the time he got there with his back turned a duck came flying out of the fountain behind him. He yanked out his Pirate of the Carribean sword ready to do battle with the "dinosaur" attacking him.

We saw an amazing amount of natural wildlife in the parks this time. When we arrived we saw an armadillo in the parking lot. Alive! The kids and I got so excited. All the ones I have seen at home are dead on the side of the road.

One day at Magic Kingdom we passed by 2 guys sweeping the walkways. Right at their feet was a small 12 inch long snake. They just scooped it up and kept going!

We also saw lots of rabbits. I got a picture of this one eating his breakfast of marigolds.

The last day we did 3 of the 4 parks to do the favorites just one more time. We had our last free dining plan dinner in "Italy". It turned out to be mine and Lexi's favorite of the whole trip. We loved the atmosphere and the beautiful accents of the cute waiters. Lexi is all ready to move to Italy - for college she says.

Before we left Orlando, we had an opportunity to eat breakfast with another adopting Mom, Laura and her adorable son Trey. It was such a treat to sit and talk adoption and Haiti with someone who is as interested as I am. Thanks Laura!

A short break

I will not be blogging for the next couple of weeks. Hopefully, at the end of that time I will have updated adoption news to share.
Talk to you later!