New Picture!!!!

Look at all those teeth!! That was the first thing I thought when I saw this picture yesterday. My oh my they are growing up fast! They are also both smiling. Samuel is hiding his smile behind his hand, but it is there. Once again the nannies dressed them in the matching outfits we left them in back in July. That is so helpful as I pack clothes for them. Now I know what size they are wearing. I can't wait to go and see them. Next Tuesday I will be in Miami and then on Wednesday I will be snuggling them! I just can't wait.

Another Dossier Released

Hooray!! Another dossier (adoption paperwork) was released from IBESR (Haitian Social Services) this week! That means another little one is going home within the next 2-3 months! I've been praying for 2 dossiers to be released each week from our orphanage. I can't bring myself to ask God to float our dossier up to the top of the stack, so instead I'm asking Him to get through the stack quickly. So far, He's been doing just that.

As our trip draws closer (12 days!) my excitement level continues to climb. Some good friends of ours donated a bunch of formula to the orphanage yesterday. I thank God so much for them! I began taking my anti-malaria medicine this week, so I know the trip is close! I can't wait to squeeze our boys and see how much they've grown and developped. Even with the closeness of the trip and the reality setting in that I'm going soon, it's still quite surreal. I keep saying, "I had no intention of going on this trip. Isn't God funny? I say, 'no' and He says, 'oh, yes you will go and I'll make certain you do.'"

The last thing I'll talk about is compassion. This is something I lack. It is very easy for me to see something, process it, and move on. However, God has been adding it to me slowly. Each time I go to Haiti God grows my heart for people more. Mission trips always grow and stretch me, so I'm looking forward to how God will teach me on this trip. Okay, that's enough for now!

No News is Good News

I haven't posted anythng for a few days, but that is because there is no new news. We totally operate on the "no news is good news" program. Thankfully we know that our boys are in a great orphanage and they are dearly loved by their nannies. We also get pictures of them just about every month. But, what we've learned is that getting news beyond our monthly pictures (or if we ask specific questions) usually means bad news. Earlier this year the director emailed us about Samuel and it was because he had become dehydrated and was on an IV. So, ever since then we take comfort in getting no news about our boys. However, we do get tons of news about the orphanage and we hear when other people hit milestones like choosing a child, sending their dossier (adoption paperwork) to Haiti, being released from IBESR (Haitian Social Services), and when kids go home. The Yahoo group that I belong to for our adoptive parents is the most amazing and uplifting group of people. My favorite thing about it is that all the glory continuously goes to God.

Today marks two weeks until I begin travel to Haiti. I will fly to Miami on Tuesday, November 7th and then fly into Haiti on the 8th. On the 9th I will be with Noah and Samuel to celebrate their first birthday. I'll also be doing mission work at the orphanage and I'll travel home on the 12th. Quick trip, yes - but totally worth it because our boys will get to see pictures of their first birthday in the future. Plus, I'll get to love on them!

I do have a few prayer requests concerning this trip - Please pray that the cribs (see the post about our orphange in the news) make it safely to Haiti and also through customs so that they can be installed on this mission trip. Getting them through customs quickly is the hardest part, so please lift that up to our Heavenly Father. Thanks!! I also ask for safe travel for all of us going (and there are a bunch of us going). I used to not be so concerned about travel safety. I just always figured that if it was my time to go, then it was my time to go. When we took off from Haiti in July, I felt this fear in the pit of my stomach as the plane accelerated. I prayed, "Please God, don't let us crash. I have babies to take care of." I was jolted back to just a few hours earlier when I said to my boys as I put them in their crib, "We'll be back, if it's God's will, we'll be back." It was at that point that I new I had the "mom syndrome." Yes, I had cared for them for 6 days and loved on them and gave more of myself than humanly possible, but it was in that moment on the plane that I knew I was a mom.

If you made it this far through the post you are a trooper! Thanks for sharing in our journey.

Our Orphanage in the News

The director of our orphanage, Linda Kohn (who is truly one of the most amazing women I've ever met) was interviewed this week about a project that has been going on for a few months at her house. Her community has been involved in making double decker cribs for the baby room at the orphange. You can read the story or watch a video clip. Here's a link:
http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/4440711.html
To watch the video, click on the "Cribs for Haiti" link just under the title of the article. They are in need of shipping from Colorado Springs to Miami, so if you know of any way to get them shipped within the next week, please let me know.

One More Picture...

This is one of my favorite pictures of Noah. He worked hard to pull himself up like this because... he wanted to watch TV!! Whenever we had the TV on in our hotel room he was glued to it. Doesn't it look like he's really into the show?

Daddy and Samuel

Here is Chuck with Samuel. I love this picture! Chuck thinks that he looks psychotic (maybe a little), but I just love how Samuel's finger is on his Daddy's chin. Too sweet!!

IBESR News

I'm so excited to share that 2 more dossiers from our Orphanage were released from IBESR (Haitian Social Services) yesterday! This is great news. In the last 2 weeks we've seen 4 dossiers released. The new Director seems to be working away. She was installed at the beginning of the months and it seems that all my prayers that she would be motivated to push out dossiers have been answered!

The last Director seemed to sit on dossiers. I've heard that when IBESR is working efficiently they can process a dossier in 4-6 weeks. Most people have been waiting 6-8 months (or more). It is my prayer that the wait time is reduced drastically because of the new Director. I was just telling my mom today that hopefully people who send thier dossiers to Haiti within the next couple months will experience a much shorter wait time. And, if the wait time does get shorter, more and more families will want to adopt from Haiti because of a short wait. God, please keep moving!! These kids need to be home with their families!

I can now count the days to my next trip to Haiti on my hands and feet. In 20 days I will be with our boys. I can't wait to hold them and love on them. I will be rooming with a lady whose dossier was released from IBESR last week. She waited one year and 6 days for it to be released. I can't wait to here her share about all the growth that she experienced through it all.

I know our boys will be home in God's time and that it will be in His perfect timing. I don't know how I'd go through the roller coaster of emotions that adoption brings without faith in God. I give all kinds of praise to Him for how He moves and has taken care of Chuck and I through this process so far.

That's enough for now. Hopefully I'll continue to have great news of dossiers being released from IBESR and children coming home.

Family Photo

This is our first family photo!! Chuck and I spent six wonderful days in Haiti in early July. We were able to keep the boys with us the whole time. It was awesome to get to know our sons. Noah is very extroverted. He is quick to show emotion. He is also a wild man. Changing his diaper is a challenge and he's also a fast roller. Samuel is much more laid back. He is a calm, pensive baby. He's more slender than Noah, but the same length. It's a little harder to get him to smile, but so worth the work! Both of them suck a finger or thumb (or both!).

August Picture

We got this picture of the boys in August, a month after we were there to visit. The outfits that the boys are wearing are the outfits that we left them in the day we left Haiti. Since all clothing at the orphanage is shared, we realize that the nannies dressed them like this especially for us. So, not only do they love on our boys, they love on us too! Noah is on the left and Samuel is on the right. If you look closely you can tell that Samuel is smiling behind his hand. This is the first smile that was captured by a camera.

More Pictures!

Here is another picture of our guys. For the next few posts I'll share all of our photos. This was taken in September. They look so grown up here. We've been watching them grow up in pictures since they were just 10 weeks old.

Pictures!

This is the most recent picture of our boys. Noah is on the left and Samuel is on the right. We rarely get a picture with a smile, so we are thrilled to see Noah smiling here.

Welcome!

Welcome to our Blog! I have been meaning to set one of these fandangled things up for a while now so that we can share information about our adoption. So here's what's going on:

Background
Chuck and I accepted a referral for twin infant boys on January 19th, 2006. They currently reside at For HIS Glory Adoption Outreach Orphanage (www.forhisgloryao.org) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. They were born November 9, 2005. Thier Haitian names are Elie and Elisee. We are calling them Noah Elie and Samuel Elisee. We had the awesome opportunity to meet them and name them in July.

Our dossier (adoption paperwork) arrived in Haiti on May 15, 2006. We have been in IBESR (Haitian Social Services) since mid July.

Once our paperwork gets released from IBESR we can expect to have our boys home within 3 months. So...we wait!