Thursday, June 28, 2007

June Pictures!

Samuel Eli

Noah Elise

Here are the pictures we got this week of our handsome boys. I'm so excited that they are both smiling! I've included their middle names for two reasons. First, they are answering to the exact opposite names that they were being called in July of last year. Samuel was always Elise to us, but he answers to Eli. And Noah was Eli, but he answers to Elise. Also, we learned of the correct spelling of their names. We were wrongly adding an "e" to each name. So, now that we got it all straightened out we thought we'd share it with you.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Be Still, My Soul

Be still, my soul. Those are the words God gave me yesterday when I got quiet. I've gone back to checking my email constantly in hopes of adoption news. It's quite neurotic. When I wake up in the morning, if I don't think to check my email immediately I'm surprised at myself. As I prayed for our dossier to move yesterday morning those words came to me, and they are such a comfort from God.

I'm babysitting for a friend this week. I'll have her 2 year old son for 4 days and 4 nights. Since I have cribs, I went ahead and really organized the boys' room today so that I can put Sawyer into one of the cribs. This meant putting lots of things away as well as sorting through the clothes that are now too small for the boys. I hate that. Giving away clothes they never got to wear. Clothes that I looked at months ago and imagined my boys in. I never actually cried as I was in there cleaning, but I sure felt like it. At one point I stopped so that I could get a CD player and some worship music to lift my spirits. It did help. Thanks, Matthew West!

Oh, be still, my soul. As I wait I will repeat these words. They help me to know Who is in charge. It's been a bummer of a day, but God is still in charge. And tomorrow I will be far too busy with a two year old to dwell on the fact that my boys are still in Haiti.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Twin Girls Update

I've posted about these twin girls in Haiti a few times. They were incredibly malnourished just a few months ago and they are getting bigger. Here are some comments from the missionaries providing formula for them:
The twins came for a weigh-in today. They are up over 7lbs now and starting to
have cheeks. We could not be more pleased with their progress and are so
thankful to God for protecting them during those scary first few weeks, when you
think about what sort of treatment a 3 or 4 lb baby would get in the USA and
what these twins ended up getting, you're even MORE aware of God's Hand and the
miracles that happen all the time here. Keep praying for growth and good health
for these lovely little ladies.

Thank you to those of you who prayed for these girls. They are still only the size of newborns, but they are gaining weight and getting good care.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Thoughts as I Wait

I believe in the power of prayer. I don't think God needs us to pray. But He wants us to pray. He knows all about what's going on before I ask. And He can act on things without me ever asking and sometimes, actually a lot of times, He does. But I really think at least a part of why He wants us to bring everything to Him in prayer is because He wants to be involved in every single part of our lives. And He is, but if we aren't asking Him to be a part of every single thing, we slip into forgetting that He's there. At least I do.

God knows all about our adoption. He knows more than anyone else. He knows that we spent an obscene amount of time in the Prosecutor's office and He allowed it. He considered it and He allowed it. He knows we are waiting to hear that we have Judgement and that the boys now have our last name. He knows we've been waiting 6 weeks to hear that. He also knows that I know that this is supposedly a 2-4 week step. God is in control of ALL things. Even when it doesn't seem like anyone is in control. God is in control. And sometimes He allows things that seem unfair to happen. But God deeply considers these things before He allows them. And He decided that the GOOD that He can do through and because of them is worth the grief of them. I believe that with all my heart. Our God is in control and is so completely good.

Do you know what else God knows? He knows the exact moment we will get Judgement. He also knows and looks forward to the moment that I'll open the email that says we have Judgment and have moved on to the next step. God can't wait to see my face as I open that email.

He also knows the exact day the boys will come home. I can wish and hope and pray, but God knows. And He's considered the wait. He considered it and came to the conclusion that He could do more good than Satan can do bad with our wait. Our God is an amazing God.

We were at the home of some old friends yesterday and our friend asked his 4 year old son what Jesus does. Colin quickly said, "He turns the bad guys into good guys." Yes, our God turns the bad guys into good guys. Our finite minds would have our super hero God overcome the bad guys. But no, our amazing God turns the bad guys into good guys. One bad guy at a time. He rejoiced the day he turned this bad guy (or gal) into a good guy. He rejoices for each bad guy turned good. And the angels in Heaven have a party on our behalf. Yes, our God is indeed amazing.

I have a choice as I wait for our boys to come home. I can wallow in self pity as I wait or I can get angry or I can decide God forgot about our adoption. Or I can praise the God who created those boys. The God who considers deeply the things that happen to us. The God who turns the bad guys into good guys. I don't always choose right, but today I choose to sing love songs to my Father in Heaven and thank Him and trust in Him and His perfect will for my life.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

More Pictures

Happy Samuel

Noah looking at our pictures.
We've left books with the boys to remind them of who we are.


Sweet Noah.


Mommy and Samuel on the first day we got there.


Daddy and Samuel.
The truck behind them is what we all cruised around in.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Sorry for the Delay...Pictures!

Our last night together

Noah

Samuel

Samuel with a swimmy on his head. I put it there.


Samuel with my dirty underwear on his head. He put them there.


I love this picture of Noah! He looks like such a flirt.


This is an awesome picture of Samuel smiling.


The boys LOVED tv. Chuck introduced them to it.
They would both beat their hands on the tv when it was off.


Samuel just couldn't hang.
He slept like this all through dinner.
Noah was wide eyed and loving all the attention he got.
At the kiddee pool.

Samuel in his pj's.

Friday, June 08, 2007

We are Home

We are home after traveling for over 24 hours. Somehow we missed our flight home last night even though we were right in the waiting area. So, we flew to Dallas, slept on the floor for 5 hours and got home today at 10:40 a.m. I will be contacting American Airlines to see if they would like to make things up to us. If not, we will be flying Spirit Airlines into Haiti from now on.

I've done nearly all our laundry and I have almost everything put away. Hopefully I'll get some time this weekend to go through the pictures and get more posted.

Saying goodbye is so hard. We opted this time for the drop and run method. The last two times we've taken pictures and cried. Not this time. We handed them to the nannies and left the room to sob.

Thank you for all your prayers. It was quite an eventful trip and we are very thankful to be home.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Hello from Miami

This is just a quick post to share that we are in Miami. We will get into Norfolk at 11 p.m. tonight. Thanks for all your prayers while we were in Haiti!

Monday, June 04, 2007

Pictures!



Trying to Post Pictures...

Our internet connection is not so good right now, so if I don't post pictures tonight, it's because I couldn't.

Paperwork is Filed and Answered Prayer

I've posted a few times asking for prayer for a man named Pierre. He is the manager at the orphanage as well as a pastor and is just a wonderful man of God. He loves all the kids as if they are his own. Last Tuesday he was arrested because of a problem with the security company that the orphanage uses. He was jailed because the owner of the company wouldn't present himself to the police. We've been praying and praying and praying for things to get worked out for Pierre. The jails are atrocious here and he was there for a crime that wasn't his own. Well, today we saw a party like no other when Pierre was released and came to the orphanage. We sang and danced and thanked God for His goodness. Thank you for the prayers you said on behalf of Pierre. He had a very rough week, but God saw him through it all. A friend of mine just shared with me that while Pierre was in jail he led 27 people to the Lord. I guess God had good reason to allow him to stay there for 6 long days.

Thank you all for your prayers for our paperwork. We were able to file our I-600 today in Port-au-Prince. It is such a relief to have that filed in Haiti rather than doing it in the US. Our trip went flawlessly and we didn't even have to wait the expected long wait time. We have been so blessed on this trip with safe transportation.

And thank you to those of you leaving comments. We look forward to reading them. It's beginning to feel like we've been gone a long time, so reading comments from friends and family makes it seem like we aren't so far away.

Tomorrow is an excursion day, so we don't have the boys tonight. It was hard to not bring them back here tonight, but we will get to enjoy some grown up time and we won't wake up in the middle of the night to crying or poop, so that will be nice! We're looking forward to being outside the confines of our hotel or the orphanage for the day. We love to see as much of the country as we can while we are here.

Since we don't have the boys tonight there's a good chance that we can post some pictures tonight. I'll try to get those up after dinner (in case you're wondering what time zone we are in, we are in Central because Haiti doesn't do daylight savings). We eat dinner usually between 6:30 and 8, so it might be late before I get those pictures up.

Thanks again for praying us through a safe day! Love, Chuck and Juli

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Hi From Haiti

Wow, time flies when you have twins! I'm sorry it's been 3 days since my last post. First, I want to thank everyone leaving comments. I don't have the time to answer them individually, but I have enjoyed reading them and I thank you all for your prayers.

Friday we worked at the orphanage and then brought the boys back to the hotel with us. Chuck has been placed in a leadership position with our team (are you surprised? I'm not!) that has pulled him away in many directions over the course of the last week. I ended up crying my eyes out Friday night about it because I felt like he wasn't getting time with the boys and I was overloaded with trying to lug two BIG boys up stairs for meals when Chuck was out doing team stuff. Plus, they wanted nothing to do with him if I was nearby. So, Saturday we stayed back at the hotel all day and hung out as a family. It was wonderful and Chuck got lots of good bonding time with the boys. We rested and played and just had fun. Today we went back to work at the orphanage. Chuck got the wonderful idea that he wanted to minister to the nannies and staff by washing their feet. So that's what he did today. It was incredible to watch. I'm just so proud of him. His back is sore, so please pray that he wakes up tomorrow rested. Speaking of tomorrow - we are again going to try to get to the Embassy to file some paperwork. A lot has to come together tomorrow for us to get there, so please pray that we can file that paperwork if it's God's will. Time on this trip is starting to run out and we really want to file this paperwork here in Haiti rather than in the US.

Finally, please continue to pray for Pierre. God knows his situation and tomorrow is supposed to be a good day for him. Please pray that it is.

We continue to be safe on this trip. God has been good to us. There is a lot of police and UN presence. We also have a number of ex military people with us who remain on guard.

I'm sorry I don't have pictures to post tonight. I forgot the camera in our room. It may not be until we're home that I'm able to post more pictures.

Thanks for all your love and prayers. I don't know how we are going to leave this country on Thursday without our boys. I just can't picture life without them.

We'll post again as soon as we can. Love, Chuck and Juli