Quick Update

Sorry it's been a few days since we've posted, but two babies make it hard to get online! We only get internet in the restaurant of the hotel and two babies in a restaurant equals lots of work. We left them in the orphanage tonight because I may have strep throat and we want to give the antibiotics a chance to get working before bringing them back to the hotel.

We have not gone to the Embassy yet to file our paperwork. There was a change in plans the day we were to go and I'm not sure what day we will go.

I need to ask for prayer and I can't give a lot of details because this blog is open to the public. We are safe, but I need you to pray for safety for our team. We believe strongly in spiritual warfare, and I guess we are doing some good work for God down here because there's been a lot of spiritual attack. I repeat - we are safe, so please don't worry about us. Please pray, especially for a man named Pierre. God knows his situation, so please lift him up to the Lord. We'll post again when we can.

Lots of love, Chuck and Juli

Our Family

They are so big! Initially they wanted NOTHING to do with us when we arrived at the orphanage. They cried and cried and cried. This is a good thing, though. It means that they won't go to any old stranger, which means that they don't have severe bonding issues. If they did they would go to anyone who reached for them. So, we had a rough start but we won them over with food and toys. They are SO SMART. Both of them are mimicing everything we do and say. They have successfully said Mama, Daddy, and Duck and knew what they were saying. They slept all through the night last night, and so did Chuck. I did not. I heard every move they made in their sleep. They didn't wake up until after 6 a.m. Today we met with their birth father. He ended our time together by sharing that we are like family to him. That was special. We did lots of work at the orphanage today. I left early and brought an older child, Monicia, back to the hotel to swim. We don't have our boys with us tonight because we are going to the Embassy tomorrow to file some paperwork. Prayers for safety while we are out in town tomorrow would be appreciated. We'll post more when we can. Thanks for praying for us!

Luggage for Haiti

Here's a picture of our luggage for Haiti. We DID NOT have to pay for extra weight, praise the Lord! And better yet, every piece made it undamaged. Yeah God!!

On Our Way...

Well, in 10 and 1/2 hours we will be in Miami, half way to Haiti. Well, more than half way, but half way through our flights. We will spend the day in Miami, hopefully sleeping since we won't be doing much of that tonight. Please pray that the hotel lets us check in early. That would be such a blessing. While you're praying, could you also pray that none of our luggage is overweight. It's all right at 50lbs on our home scale. We just need the home scale and the airport luggage scales to match. Our flight Sunday morning leaves at 10:25 a.m. and we get into Haiti at 11:20 a.m. We are so close to being with our boys we can barely stand it!!

We will post as often as we can while in Haiti. If we can upload pictures we will. We covet your prayers while we're there.

There's really no way the boys are coming home on this trip unless God does a great big miracle. I'm not even asking Him to because our house is a wreck right now and in no condition for the boys. Their cribs are full of stuff and our bathroom renovations (yes, they are still happening) will be ongoing while we are out of town, so all the bathroom stuff is in the boys' room. So, please don't expect them to come home on this trip. We are OK with that. We've waited this long, and we're getting kind of good at it, so we can wait a few more months. Well, probably 4 more months. And that's just a guess. An informed guess, but definitely a guess.

Okay, that's all for now. Hopefully the next post you read will be from Haiti!!

Big Love, Chuck and Juli

Down to One Hand

Yes, that is correct. We will be in Haiti in 5 days. We will leave here in 4. I'm pretty much packed, just last minute things at this point. If you see me over the next 4 days and wonder why I keep wearing the same things over and over it's because everything else is packed. I'm praying, and you can join me, that our luggage all stays within the weight limits. We are right on the edge right now. Also, please pray for Chuck. He's got a lot to take care of at work before he goes on vacation. That's all for now.

Twin Girls Update

Aren't they precious! I read an update on the twin girls in Haiti this morning and some of you have asked about them, so here is a picture and what the missionaries had to say:

The twins came on Saturday. They are steadily gaining. One of them gained 13 ounces in five days. :) Thanks for praying for them.

Thank you to all who have been praying for them. It really is a miracle that they are still alive. If ever you want to read a fun, interesting blog about Americans living and serving in Haiti, check out http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/. It's one of my favorite blogs out there.

May Pictures

I just realized that I never posted this picture! We got it May 9th. I have never seen Noah look like this before - he looks pretty ticked off and if you click on the picture to enlarge it you will see that his eyes are glassy like he's about to cry. My guess is that he didn't want to sit down to have this picture taken. The last few months of pictures has been individual shots of the boys and I'd been thinking that maybe they couldn't get them to sit still together. Oh gosh, I can't wait to see them. They will be in our arms in 6 short days!!

Updates

Well, I went back to the Dr. yesterday because I was on my last antibiotic pill and I was concerned my infection in my thumb wasn't gone. The Dr. looked at the wound and said it looked really good. She had it x-rayed and did bloodwork (I think just to reassure me). My bloodwork came back fine and the x-ray showed no foreign bodies or inflamed joints. So, I will continue with Neosporin twice a day and pray for it to heal up by Sunday. She even told me to have fun in Haiti, so in case you're wondering, I DO have the Dr.'s blessing to go. Oh, yeah, and she didn't yell at me for my self surgery.

I will be bagging up formula from the formula drive and should have a total of how much was collected by Thursday at the latest.

Our first mission group flies into Haiti this afternoon! There are 9 adults and 10 kids traveling today. If you are reading this on Monday, please say a quick prayer for them - especially for safety. At least one of the adults is terrified of flying, so please say a special prayer for her. Thanks!

9 Days!

Well, it is 9 days until we will be in Haiti with our boys. I began packing yesterday. So far I have 20 lbs of formula packed and this Sunday I should receive more both at church and from an adoption ministry group that we belong to.

I'm a little worried about packing because I'm afraid that I want to bring FAR more than I can. I even bought plastic bins to pack in because they weigh less than suitcases. Please pray with me that God works out all the packing so that I can bring everything we need. We'll be in Haiti for 12 days, so I need a lot of stuff.

I also need to ask for prayers for my right thumb. Last year when we went to Haiti to meet our boys I got a really nasty, weird infection in my right thumb 10 days before traveling. Out of nowhere an abcess formed at the base of my nail bed. Thankfully it cleared up in time to travel to Haiti. Well, last week I got the SAME infection in the SAME thumb. This time I had 16 days before Haiti. Which is more than enough time for an antibiotic to work, right? I'm not so sure. I did surgery and broke the skin on the abcess and removed it so now I have this gross, painful open wound on my thumb. Before you yell at me I must remind you that the skin was dead and needed to come off. Since I am a control freak I decided to do surgery instead of having a Dr. do it for me. When I was 12 I successfully removed two warts from my feet, so I'm kind of good at self surgery. Anyway, I'm digressing. The problem is not only the open wound. I still have pain throughout my thumb, including my joint at my hand. I'm not convinced that 7 days of antibiotics have made much difference. I finish them up on Sunday, so if I'm still in the same shape I will go back to the Dr. on Monday; hopefully for some IV antibiotics. Anyway, long story short, please pray that my thumb gets better. It would be unwise to travel to Haiti with this.

The first group from our mission team begins to travel this Sunday. They will arrive in Haiti Monday afternoon. If you'd like to pray for our group, please send me an email at ittybitties@msn.com. We have an hourly prayer calendar that spans 5/20 - 6/8. If you'd like to sign up for any hour time slots, just email me the dates and times you'd like to pray for our team. There are currently over 100 people traveling to Haiti on our team within that range of dates. Chuck and I fly to Miami on the 26th and arrive in Haiti on the 27th.

That's all for now.

Praise the Lord!!

I received an email this morning telling me that our dossier (adoption paperwork) has the Prosecutor's approval! Woohoo! That is wonderful news. Our dossier has been stuck there for 3 1/2 months. I was truly beginning to go crazy, but God has answered my prayers. Yeah God!

Twin Girls Update

The twins from the last post have really made a huge impression on me. I emailed the nurse for an update on them, but then found an update on another blog (a family doing mission work in Haiti). I learned the following by reading a post from April 19th:

These twins were born about twelve days ago. They were brought here by two of their aunts. Their mother was sick during the pregnancy and too weak to come down from their home in the mountains. Someone was supposed to bring her down on horseback today to find help and go to a medical clinic. According to the family, they don't think she will live. The twins are named Micailine and Micailda.

There was a new post on their blog today:

The twins were here yesterday. They were in a hospital for 11 days. They do not weigh any more than the first time Troy saw them. I am concerned, I don't see how they can make it without round the clock professional care. Troy did what he could, but we're discouraged that the hospital did not keep them longer. The family keeps telling us the mom is not all there (mentally ill) and that they plan to raise the twins. They don't seem to get how fragile the situation is. They came without any bottles and were unprepared to deal with the babies when they started crying. I have no idea how to convince them that if they want these babies to live they need to take it all more seriously. Keep these tiny little girls in your prayers.

These two little girls just break my heart. I'm sure it is because we are adopting twins. I was just telling someone recently how God breaks peoples' hearts over different things. He has definitely broken my heart over starving babies in Haiti. I just find it so hard to believe that I can live in this country of plenty, dieting because I get too much to eat, and these babies and millions more around the world die each year from starvation. It makes no sense to me.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. We've had no new news to share about the adoption. We do, however, arrive in Haiti in 24 days. It's just about time to bust out the suitcases!