Do You Ever?

Do you ever beg your email account for a specific email? Does that even make sense to you?

Let me explain.

When it comes to our adoption I get updates from a great gal named Cate. She's also an adoptive mom and I've met her on numerous mission trips to Haiti.

I find myself begging my email account for an email from Cate. Sometimes I beg God, too. I haven't actually begged Cate yet, but I might. On second thought, I think I did back when we were stuck in Parquet. I dream of seeing an email from her waiting in my inbox. It would say something like, "Great news, Chuck and Juli. Kiki finally got the document he needs from Archives and your files have been submitted to MOI. Your file numbers are #### and ####. You can go ahead and schedule your birth parent interview with USCIS."

Yeah, that would be great. It would be so great. What's not great is that our boys sit in an orphanage waiting. Their empty bedroom waits for them to fill it with noise and my empty arms wait, yearning to hold them.

Pregnant Hair, Maternity Clothes, and Sleep

I've read in some of my pregnancy books that your hair can take a beating while pregnant. That has not been the case for me. Yeah!! In fact, my hair is growing faster than ever (thank you expensive prenatal pills!), it has wonderful body, and get this - it no longer requires daily washing. Yes, you read that right. In my non-pregnant life I totally have to wash my hair every single day because of how oily it gets. I can go two full days now - yes, 48 OR MORE hours. I can't tell you how exciting that is after having washed it daily for nearly all my life.In other news... I've finally moved into maternity clothing. Shirts have become necessary, and it's not because of my belly. It is straight up scary to think that my chest will grow even more. God, help me! I can still wear some of my pants, but maternity pants are much more comfortable. I spent a small fortune at Motherhood Maternity on pants and a new bra. Finding petite pants in thrift shops is a challenge. Last week I hit the jackpot at Target and got three shirts on clearance. I guess they are trying to get rid of the long sleeved stuff since all the summer clothing is coming in. Unfortunately, Target doesn't sell petite length pants so I can really only buy tops and dresses there. I think after a few more trips to the thrift store and I'll be feeling like I have enough clothes to wear. At home sweatpants are my favorite thing to wear!Finally I'll mention sleep. If you know me, you know that I am a champion sleeper. I can sleep anywhere, anytime. Well, lately I've been having rough nights. There have been a few times where I've woken up and just could not fall back asleep. My mind wasn't racing or anything. I just couldn't sleep. That makes me angry! I've also been struggling to get and stay comfortable. I'm usually a stomach and side sleeper. I move around a lot, so I need a few positions to juggle throughout the night. Well, with tummy sleeping out I now can only sleep on my side. It is recommended that pregnant women sleep on their left side. That doesn't leave me much choice when I'm ready to move in the night. So, I've shifting from my left side to my right side and back again, and back again... You get the picture. This usually wakes me up and also wakes up Daddy Bear. Daddy Bear has always suffered with light sleeping and a hard time getting to sleep. So, when I wake him up in the middle of the night because I'm moving, I'm really hurting his sleep. Now add in at least two or three bathroom trips in the middle of the night and you'll see that the champion sleeper is not doing so well. And she's waking up her husband! Not good! And I'm told that this will only get worse, not better. And here's my favorite line, "It's preparing you for when the baby comes." Yeah, isn't that sweet. I'm about to become sleep deprived and rather than get plenty of rest before that happens I'm going to go into it sleep deprived. Whatever. If I was in charge it's not how I'd do it!Okay, that's a lot of random pregnant stuff. My next doctor's appointment is Friday, so I'll post again after that appointment.

February Pictures

Noah is on the left and Samuel is on the right. It's good to see them looking so happy.

Continued prayers for Samuel's birth certificate to be released from Archives would be appreciated. We've made absolutely no progress in over 2 months now and it is killing me.

Sink Into Me

At my church we have the privilege of having a very talented worship pastor on staff. Joe Heilman leads our campus in worship most Sundays with his own music. So many of his songs have ministered to me right where I'm at. Sunday was no different. Joe wrote a new song and I want to share the lyrics with you:

Sink Into Me
Mountainside see you glorifed
Glowing on my face
But it never lasts it's going fast
Gotta come again today

Sink into me your sweet indian summer
Sink into me a love like no other
Sink into me yesterday is slowly fading
Sink into me, sink into me

In the morning mirror it's coming clearer
I'm not ok
These tired eyes emptied of surprise
Gotta make my gettaway

Sink into me your sweet indian summer
Sink into me a love like no other
Sink into me yesterday is slowly fading
Sink into me, sink into me

Love tattoo my eyes so I only match them with you
Love tattoo my eyes so I only match them with you, so I only match them with you

Sink into me your sweet indian summer
Sink into me a love like no other
Sink into me yesterday is slowly fading
Sink into me, sink into me

Sink into me your sweet indian summer
Sink into me a love like no other
Sink into me yesterday is slowly fading
Sink into me, sink into me

To me, these are such beautiful lyrics that totally describe why I need to sit before God's throne each morning. I need God to sink into me. I need it daily. The glow wears off quickly. I want to see the world through love tattooed eyes.

But I struggle with this. I get wrapped up in chores around the house, email, phone calls, and a number of other excuses. And that's all they are - excuses. Each morning I have a choice and I can selfishly start my day with a number of tasks that make me feel good in accomplishing them OR I can humbly come before the Lord so that He can sink into me.

So now, even though I've looked at email and blogs already, I'm going to stop and ask God to sink into me. Later.

Explanation

Lately Chuck and I have had a lot of questions about our progress in Haiti. Some people, it seems, are expecting our boys to come home any day now. We are not. And we're sorry that we've communicated our progress so poorly that some would think we are that close to bringing them home.

Right now we are basically stuck in a step that we didn't know existed. We are waiting for a place called "Archives" to release an updated copy of Samuel's birth certificate (this is to the best of my understanding). Once this document is released two important things can happen.

The first is that we can schedule the birth parent interview. USCIS will interview the boys' birth father to confirm that he does indeed want them to be adopted and that he has an understanding of what that all means. They can also order DNA testing if they question whether or not he truly is their birth father. Once this interview takes place, our I-600 file (US adoption paperwork) will be approved pending the boys' passports being issued.

The second thing that can take place is that our files can be submitted to the Ministry of the Interior - aka MOI. MOI basically reviews the files and approves for passports to be issued. Last year this step was a mess. People waited 6 or more months to get through this step. Our orphanage is saying that the current wait in this office is around 4 months. I know some who've taken longer and some who've taken shorter than that. However, I recently read the following:

MOI is much faster now, but only if all your paperwork is in order. They go over the paperwork with a fine tooth comb and if they find as much as a typo, they will ask for a new document. Having to get the new document can delay the file for months. If there is no mistake at all on the paperwork, then as long as the orphanage gets the information interview (some call it the "long form") done in MOI, the file gets signed out within 2 weeks.

This information comes from a wonderful woman named Vera. She has a blog with great information about adoption process at: http://www.adoptivemomhaiti.blogspot.com/.

So, this leaves me with some prayer requests:

1) That the birth certificate from Archives gets released TODAY.
2) That our birth parent interview take place soon and that it goes well.
3) That our file has absolutely no mistakes or typos. Depending on the mistake or typo, it can add MONTHS to the wait. I'm going to be really honest and share that I assume there are errors in our file. Our wait time in nearly every office has been substantially longer than it should have been and this has led me to believe (for quite some time now) that there are problems or errors within our file. God can correct these things, though.
4) That the processor at our orphanage would be proactive about getting the interview (aka the long form) done and would consistently check on the status of our files.

After we get through MOI we have to wait for passports to be printed. And once the passports are printed we apply for Visas for the boys.

So, we are still quite a ways off from bringing the boys home. We are basically at a standstill until the birth certificate is released from Archives.

Please join us in prayer for the above mentioned items. It would mean the world to us. Wouldn't it just be marvelous if we were among the people who make it through MOI in a matter of weeks??!!

Prayers, Please

I know many of you come to this blog to find updates on our adoption. I have no update, but I have a friend who really needs prayer. Please take a moment to lift up my friend and her family for peace and comfort. I can't share details, but God knows. Please lift them up in prayer. Thanks.

Popcorn, Pickles, and Banana Peppers

These are currently my favorite foods. It all began with dill pickles. I was walking through Walmart and happened to be in the condiment aisle, which is also where they have the industrial sized foods. I saw a huge jar of pickles and had to have them. On my way home I busted into the pickle jar, got pickle juice all over the car upholstery and myself, and had a most delicious treat. I had no idea that I loved pickles until that day.On Christmas night we went to the movies. I do not usually get snacks at the movies. Maybe a soda. But that night the popcorn smelled fabulous. I had to have some. So, we got a medium and went in to see our movie. I pounded the popcorn. Daddy Bear didn't even have a chance. And it was wonderful. I have since found that you can get movie popcorn at Target. That is great. I have had evenings of great fatigue, yet a burning desire to go to the movies (which I know I won't stay awake through) just so that I can get some popcorn. I even dreamt about popcorn. In my dream I was at Walmart in the middle of the night. Now in my dream, Walmart had a concession area like Target where I could get some popcorn. But, since it was the middle of the night it was closed. So, I was searching around Walmart looking for the trash from the concession area because I just knew that they must have thrown popcorn away. Now that is insane! Oh, and microwave popcorn just doesn't cut it. I has to be popped like at the movies.And finally, my most recent food addiction is banana peppers. Last weekend Daddy Bear got us subs for dinner. He called to see what I wanted on mine, and I told him I wanted some banana peppers. They didn't have them, though. So, Monday I got a salad from a salad bar and added banana peppers to it, which I never do. They were AWESOME. I bought a jar of them today and I've been eating them. These types of food cravings have never happened to me before. The urgency I sometimes feel to eat pickles is crazy. When I was nauseous and burpy, I preferred to eat only pickles because the pickle burps weren't so bad.So, there's just a glimpse into my pregnancy craziness.