To Clarify...

First of all, I want to thank those of you who left comments on the "True Colors" post. I've decided not to publish any comments on that post. I should have turned off comments to begin with; I apologize.

In regard to the Yahoo group - I've learned that all families with children home outside of staff are removed from the group. That is not how the group has always worked and that is why I was so surprised to be removed. Apparently the group is now for families in process only. So, again, I'd love to hear from families once your kids come home. I've met many of you on trips or on the group and I'd love to know that your kids are finally home.

In regard to hiding my pregnancy. Chuck and I made the decision not to share that I was pregnant for a few reasons, however we did update our homestudy stateside and have it submitted to USCIS. We decided to keep it quiet from FHG and anyone in Haiti. The reason we didn't post it on the blog is because our blog has our last name in it and anyone in Haiti who signed off on our adoption could very easily look us up on the internet, and of course, anyone from FHG could have read about it, too. Our adoption was complete in Haiti when we learned I was pregnant. All that was left was passports and visas. We were concerned, however, that someone in Haiti might abuse their power in issuing our passports. This type of thing happens in Haiti all the time. Ridiculous requests for additional information have been made by power hungy Haitian officials. We chose not to share with FHG that I was pregnat because, well, we didn't trust them. I don't like saying that publicly like this, but based on some communication I've received I feel like I need to be honest about that. We were in a position with FHG that we didn't feel like the best interest of our children or ourselves would be upheld. In addition, because our adoption decrees had been issued, we didn't think it was necessary to disclose my pregnancy to FHG. The adoption was complete, it was just a matter of getting passports and visas issued.

And finally, on the topic of not recommending FHG I have a few additional comments. How long we waited is not the driving force of my lack of recommendation. It should be taken into serious condideration, though, if you are a family looking to adopt from Haiti. Wait times are long in general right now. Ours was even longer than long, though. There are many other concerns that keep us from recommending FHG and it just doesn't seem appropriate today to list those concerns here.