Adoption Christmas Song

Below is a video I saw on a friend's blog (thanks Jodie!)... and I had to put it on mine too! It is a song that says so much about what we all feel during this time as we wait for our precious children to come home...



Lyrics:Merry Christmas - Third Day

There's a little girl trembling on a cold December morn
Crying for momma's arms
At an orphanage just outside a little China town
There the forgotten are

But half a world away I hang the stockings by the fire
And dream about the day when I can finally call you mine

It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

As I hang the tinsel on the tree and watch the twinkling lights
I'm warmed by the fire's glow
Outside the children tumble in a wonderland of white,
Make angels in the snow

But half a world away you try your best to fight the tears
And hope that heaven's angels come to carry you here

It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

Christmas is a time to celebrate the Holy Child
And we celebrate his perfect gift of love
He came to earth to give his life
To prepare a place for us
So we could have a home with Him above

It's Christmas time again and now you're home
Your family is here so you will never be alone
So tonight before you go to sleep, I'll hold you in my arms
And I'll tell you from my heart, and I'll you from my heart
I wish you Merry Christmas

Aliyah... 3 years old

Aliyah turned three on Friday. We first met her when she was 18-months old. Never did I imagine then, that her life would have doubled and we would only still be in the first real step of the process to bringing her home... and not even able to start yet with her sister, Christela. I don't write much on this blog, because honestly, this whole process is just too painful right now. To my girls, I love you both so much - and can't wait to bring you home... praying for a miracle for... next Christmas.

Aliyah receiving a gift we sent down for her with some friends.

Christela receiving her gift we sent down.

Aliyah playing in the "toddler room." Apprently in the second one she is ducking because she just threw a block at another little boy... and is waiting for it to come back! :)

Aliyah (center) looking through the "gate" of the outside courtyard...

Christela in bed - This must have been when she was sick because of the IV in her right arm...

Youtube Video

Last weekend I created a video with pictures of Haiti and the orphanage. I put it to a song on Steven Curtis Chapman's new album... The song was so perfect for Haiti in general, the children in the orphanage and those of us in this LONG process... There are several pictures of Aliyah and Christela in it as well.



The costs of food, medicine, clean drinking water, etc. are extremly high in Haiti. It costs about $250/child/month to keep the orphanage open. Currently the orphanage is home for about 125 children, who otherwise would likely be living on the streets or working as child slaves, maybe getting only one meal a day... and becoming a part of the sad statistics for children in Haiti. The orphanage is asking the Lord to open the floodgates of His blessing to provide and care for these beautiful children. They are seeking partners to join them with helping to sponsor a child in the orphanage at $30 a month. If you are interested in helping, please see their website and sign up to become a monthly sponsor. Thanks!

New Pictures... No News...

Well, we've received some new pictures of the girls... they appear very healthy and growing! No new news yet about our process, so we assume we are still waiting for the birth certificate for Christela and are still in IBESR with Aliyah... Our agency was in Haiti last week at the orphanage, so I assume we will hear something from them soon. We have a new program coordinator there, so it will take her a little bit of time to just get her feet under her... hopefully we can hear something this next week or so.

Several families from our church were also there this past week to appear before the judge - a new step in the process. Some of these pictures were taken by them, (thanks Alison!) and some by our agency (thanks Sue and Tammy!). Neither of the girls look too happy in the pictures... they are in a room with two strangers and not real sure what to do with this... and then in the other ones, I think Christela is afraid her nanny is going to hand her to these white people! She was fine until the nanny walked her over to the door for them to get a better picture. :)

Precious girls - can't wait until you are both home with us so we can love on you. :) Your brothers pray for your every night as we pray together - and I can't wait until you are home to join us in bedtime prayer!

Please join us in praying for our process and the orphanage:

• Please pray for each of our girls... that the Lord would comfort them, protect them and bring them joy - and that they would know they are loved and precious!
  
• Pray we will receive IBESR approval for Aliyah very soon.
  
• Pray that the abandonment process for Christela will be completed, her birth certificate issued and the mayor will sign off on allowing her to be adopted - soon
  
• The ministry that partners with the orphanage, For His Glory, is going through a transition in leadership. Please pray for the board as it makes this transition. You can also pray for the financial needs of the orphanage - that God would provide...

The Mayor Came Out!!

Ok... so, we've been waiting since December for the Mayor (Mayor/Judge... I guess the title is interchangable... :)??? to come out to see Christéla in the orphanage so that her abandonment process can start. We've been very discouraged because eight months have gone by with no sign of him - and our adoption of her can't start until she is officially declared abandoned. Well.... HE CAME OUT!!!! Apparently, he came out about two weeks ago! THANK YOU JESUS!

We don't know exactly what this means as far as timeline to complete the abandonment and get into IBESR. Does it take a few months??? Does it take a year??? We don't know... but, AT LEAST THIS IS ONE STEP IN IT COMPLETED! Our agency representative is going to be talking to the orphanage director soon, and will let us know how the rest of this process works. (She has worked though abandonments before, but in a different area of Haiti - and it may work a little differently there...)

Here are a few pictures we've received of our girls that were taken this summer. The top four are Christéla. One with Marla, another little girl from the orphanage that is being adopted by a family at our church. The other three are with a girl that was on a missions trip to the orphanage this summer that Christéla really took to. The bottom five are Aliyah. You can see her in the turquoise shirt in the toddler room. In one she is showing us her tummy... in two of them she is getting onto her nanny's lap, one is the room where the toddlers eat (she is in the very far right back corner) and the last one is the update picture we got from the orphanage this month.

FACE Act!

I had heard about the FACE Act through an adoption yahoo group I'm a part of... and knew it would eliminate the need for a visa for our girls if passed... BUT, tonight I just learned more and am SOOOOO excited about this! The coordinator for our agency had a chat tonight and was telling us more about how this would affect our adoptions if passed. Currently, once we get through step 6 on our "Steps in a Haitian Adoption", 2nd Legal, our girls will legally be ours - the adoption will be final... but, we will still have 4 more steps to go through before we can bring them home. This can take MONTHS (and sometimes close to or over a year) longer. If the FACE Act passes and becomes law, then our girls will be American Citizens once we get through 2nd Legal... AND THEY CAN COME HOME!!! They would be issued an AMERICAN passport and come home! This could cut months off the wait for bringing both our girls home... SO!! We are PRAYING that this legislation will pass - allowing ALL internationally adopted children to come home to their forever families that much sooner!

Please pray with us!!! And, if you are at all willing to, please contact your Congressmen and Senators and ask them to support this when it comes up for vote! (There is a link above with more information on this if you are interested...)

Birth Parent Interview

We learned a couple of days ago that the birth parent interview for Aliyah happened! This doesn't really mean a step closer to bringing her home as far as timeline... (this is part of the American side of the process - which is happening simultaneously with the Haitian side, so we don't really move closer to bringing her home until we get word we are moving forward on the Haitian side of things...) but, it is great to know that it is done! They have requested DNA testing of Aliyah and her birth mom (to be sure she is really her birth mom...) at the tune of $550 - but, at least it's done!

A team from our church just went to the orphanage in Haiti... one of our friends took these portraits for us! Neither of our girls were too excited about having their pictures taken :)

Life for a child

We have recently learned that our orphanage is in a financial crisis - one that may mean closing if funds do not come in soon. When you adopt a child from most orphanages in Haiti, you pay a $9,000 country fee/child. This $9,000 is split, with about half of it going to pay the lawyer in Haiti, the processor, various government fees, etc. The other half goes to the orphanage to pay for the care of the child. In the past, when adoptions took 5-9 months to complete, that $4,500 the orphanage received to pay for the child's care went a long way. However, since the process has slowed to taking between 2-3 years for most adoptions, that $4,500 no longer covers what it costs to care for the child during that time. (Due to the high food costs, etc. in Haiti, it costs about $225/month/child to run the orphanage. This includes material costs (food, medicine, etc.) and staff (nannies, cooks, those that do laundry by hand all day, security, etc.).

For His Glory has seen over 700 children be given a chance at a life of hope! Many of these children have been orphaned due to extreme poverty and have had to eat "dirt biscuits" just to have something in their tummies. The orphanage offers a safe place, three meals a day, clean drinking water and medical services. In addition, the older children are provided with an opportunity to go to school and to learn English. This ministry is also consistently reaching out to the unreached around them sharing the gospel of Christ.

Due to the economy in the US, and the dramatic slow down of the adoption process in Haiti, several orphanages in Haiti have closed, and our orphanage does not have the funds needed to finish this year. Would you prayerfully consider helping? The orphanage currently has two ways you can help:
1. Sign up to be a monthly sponsor for $30/month. You can choose the child you sponsor and receive quarterly updates on them.
2. Give a one-time gift of $50 or more to help meet the critical short-fall for this year's budget. (Click on the link below).


Here is a quote from the orphanage director:

The orphanage continues to provide 3 meals a day, clean water, formula for regular feedings of the babies, diapers, baths, the home, security, childcare and supervision, medical care including medicines when the children are sick, education, etc.

However, the orphanage is in a position that if funding does not improve in the next two months, children who do not have families will have to begin to be sent home. After that, programs will be cut. Following that, we don’t want to think about.

We know that God, in His sovereignty, will provide. He always does. We implore you to open yourselves up to be the tool that He uses FOR HIS GLORY.

Thank you for considering making a difference in the lives of these children!

In IBESR

We received the GREAT news that we are now in IBESR with Aliyah! The process for her has now begun... it will still likely be 18-months to two years or more before she is home... but we are praying that it is much sooner! At least the process is started now.

Here's the update photo we also received tonight of Aliyah! What a HUGE, BEAUTIFUL smile! I so love this little girl. (We didn't get one of Christéla... anxious to see our other beautiful girl! Hoping we'll get something soon.)

I Don't Understand... hopefully someday I will!

On Monday we received news that we are definitly not in IBESR yet with Aliyah... this definite answer was devestating. On January 23 we were told we would be entering IBESR (the first real step in a Haitian adoption) the week of January 26... but we waited... and waited... and waited... and no one could ever tell us if we had indeed entered IBESR. Keith, being a little more aware of international cultures - especially Haitian culture... took this to mean that we were NOT in IBESR. I continued to hope. I knew in my head he could be right... most likely was right... but my heart couldn't help but hope.


A Haitian adoption typically takes about 2 years as it is... our dossier has been in Haiti for 6 months now... and neither of our adoptions have really started. It breaks my heart to think of my girls growing up in an orphanage one day longer than they need to when they have a family that loves them and wants to share our lives with them. The care at FHG is good, but no matter how good the care is there, it is still an orphanage and there is no way the wonderful nannys there can give our girls the same amount of affection, love and nurturing that we could give them... so, I find myself in tears... trying to understand what God is doing.


Others, who are going through the same, extremly long process we are, but are farther along in it, have told us they can see how much the Lord has worked in their lives during the wait... and while it is difficult, they know God was redeeming that time. I know they are sincere... and I know they are right... but, I find myself wondering, what is so important that He needs to work out in me (us, our boys, our girls... ???) that it has to take THIS long??? And, what about all those who adopt from Ethiopia... where it takes about 9 months to bring home your child... are they all that much closer to what God wants for them... and all of us adopting from Haiti have so much "work" to do first?? I'm just not sure I understand.


I wish I had a better perspective on this... I wish I was able to just say, "in His time..." and rest completly in that... I wish I could honestly have the perfect Christian perspective on this... but right now, I just hurt. I want my girls home... but they can't come home until their process is complete... and it can't be complete until it starts - and probably about 2 years after it starts!!!! I know my God is still on the throne... and I still love and adore Him... I just wish right now I could understand what it is He is doing.


I know in reality, none of this is about us... it is all about Him and His glory... so ultimatly, all I can do is trust in Him... and I do... I just look forward to the day I can look back at this wait (while enjoying my girls in my arms) and see what it was that He was doing during it!

If you want to pray for us, here's how you can pray:

• That whatever Aliyah's file still needs to enter IBESR would be completed and we would get news that we have entered IBESR soon.


• That the judge would decide to go ahead and come out to the orphanage to declare Christela abandoned so that her process can start.


• Christela will be starting a medical treatment on May 1 that will likely make her very sick before it makes her better... please pray God will sustain her and make the side effects minimal.


• That He will wrap His arms around both of our girls while we can't... that they will get all the love and affection they need right now from their nannys until we are able to give it to them.


• That He will comfort our hearts as we long to bring home our girls.

Thanks!




(Here's more cute pictures of our girls from when we were there last month...)

My Savior Lives

Earlier today a good friend asked me how I'm doing. She knows that leaving our girls in Haiti was extremly hard... and that for a while I was so emotional I couldn't even pray - I would just cry.

Well, when she asked that, she got a LONG email back... :) I basically have been in a funk since returning... feeling like we would NEVER get our girls home... feeling like it is hopeless. Feeling like, with the new proceedure for getting Presidential Dispensation (that we need b/c we have bio kids) will take us forever and our girls will be in school before they come home...

This afternoon I decided I HAD to do something to start getting out of this funk... it is OK to want our girls home... it is OK to be sad at times... but, at some point I needed to do something to start pulling myself back up so that I can be a good mommy to my boys too! I decided to go get on the treadmill and listen to the worship music I have downloaded... This song (which is probably playing right now) came on... and it hit me - MY SAVIOR LIVES!!! ...Our God will reign forever... darkness trembles at His name... victory forever is the song of the redeemed... I know that is what I have to stand on. Jesus loves my girls, Aliyah and Christéla, so much more than I can even try. So, I choose to stand on the fact that Jesus is in control - and He will somehow make a way. I'm praying for a miracle! Right now it seems to be taking about 2+ years to complete an adoption in Haiti... and from what we are hearing it may take a year or two to even get the abandonment decree to start the process for Christéla... but, MY SAVIOR LIVES - and darkness trembles at HIS name. I pray that the forces of darkness that would want to keep my girls in Haiti will have no control over our process but that Christ will make a way for them in HIS time (still hoping HIS time is sooner rather than later though! :))

Verse1:

Our God wil reign forever

And all the world will know His name

Everyone together sing the song of the redeemed

Chorus:

I know that my redeemer lives

And now I stand on what He did

My Saviour, my Saviour lives

Every day a brand new chance to say

"Jesus, You are the only way"

My Saviour, my Saviour lives

Verse2:

The King has come from Heaven

And darkness trembles at His name

Victory forever is the song of the redeemed

Chorus:

I know that my redeemer lives

And now I stand on what He did

My Saviour, my Saviour lives

Every day a brand new chance to say

"Jesus, You are the only way"

My Saviour, my Saviour lives

Bridge:

My Saviour lives, My Saviour lives, My Saviour lives

My Saviour lives, My Saviour lives, My Saviour lives

Trip to Haiti

We just returned from visiting our girls in Haiti. It was an incredible trip, and we had a great time getting to know them and hold them both. Leaving was painful...

The video below is photos of our trip.

(If this doesn't work, here is a link to view it in YouTube)

Please pray:

• We learned on this trip that some have waited for 1.5 - 2 years to receive an abandonment decree to even start the process... please pray that the judge/mayor would do what is necessary SOON to allow us to start the adoption process of Christéla.
• We still do not know if we are in IBESR with Aliyah... but either way, please pray that her process will go smoothly and quickly so she can come home soon - and if there is any way for her to be expedited because of her medical needs, that this would happen.
• For the hearts of both our girls - that the Lord would protect them and prepare them to be a part of our family.
• For our boys as they await their sisters.
• For our hearts as we long to have our girls home with us.

Braids!!!

A good friend, that is also adopting from For His Glory, is in Haiti this week and sent me this picture of Christéla. Her hair is now long enough for the nannies to braid again! It looks so adorable on her! We will see both of our girls next week when we travel to sign our I-600... and can't wait! We don't have any process updates at this point... as far as we know we are still waiting for a judge to come out to the orphanage for Christéla's abandonment... and we are waiting to hear if we have enetered IBESR with Aliyah... we were told at one point that we "should" enter "next week..." but our agency has not been able to get confirmation on that yet... so, please pray for those two things!!! We so want our girls to be home with us... please also pray for safety in travel and that God would direct our time with both our girls while we are in Haiti -to what would be best for each of them! Thanks!

Christéla is starting to walk!

We received some new pictures of our girls from our friend Sherri who was just in Haiti... and Christéla is starting to walk! :) We also received updates on their heights and weights... Aliyah is two years old (December) and is 35 inches tall and weighs 26.75 pounds... Christéla is about 17-months, is 30 inches tall and weighs 21.25 pounds! It is amazing how much she has grown since we were there in June! She is really gaining weight and catching up - which is wonderful to see! It is also great to hear she is starting to walk! :)

New Photos...

Here's our latest photos of our girls! Oh I can't wait to hold them in March! Just hope they aren't too "scared" of me... since they don't really know me. Hopefully the pictures we sent down of us will help. :)

THANK YOU!!!

We want to thank everyone who prayed for us and who gave toward the matching grant we were awarded from LifeSong for Orphans! We just found out today that we made the $4,000 goal! LifeSong with then match that amount, giving us $8,000 toward completing the adoptions of our two precious girls! Thank you all so much! You have invested in something eternal and made a huge difference in the lives of our precious girls, Aliyah and Christéla! God bless you!!

Entering IBESR with Aliyah!

We received an update from our agency this morning... Aliyah is expected to enter IBESR next week - the week of January 26th! Yeah!

She also noted that they are still working to get the judge to come to the orphanage regarding Christéla's abandonment... praying that he comes soon and that her process will be able to start soon.

Going to Haiti!

Well, yesterday we got the great news that we can travel to Haiti to sign our I-600 for Aliyah! We are very excited to go see both our girls! We will travel in March and have several days with our girls staying with us at the hotel! (at least as we understand it...). We will also be at the orphanage some, which I'll enjoy - time to hold and love on some of the other kids there and hopefully get some pictures for friends of their children. I'm so excited to have this time to get to know our girls more. We only had about 10 minutes with Christéla when we were there in June - and she was still so weak - we are praying she is healthy when we are there and we get to see the personality God has given her! Also, when we were in Haiti in June, Aliyah wasn't feeling well either - and I only saw her beautiful, big smile once... so, I'm so looking forward to spending time with her when she is feeling better and getting a glimpse into who God has created her to be as well!

For those that are wondering, we can't sign this paperwork for Christéla's adoption until we have an abandonment decree from the government. Since we don't know how long that will take, we decided to go ahead and travel now for Aliyah's... we'll need to do another trip like this at some point in the future for Christéla's process. If we aren't in IBESR yet with Aliyah's adoption, then we'll have the opportunity to also participate in the "AOF" program... which, if it works right, will hopefully speed up her immigration process at the end, allowing us to bring her home sooner. So, please pray God's will in this... if we are in IBESR by the time we travel in March, I don't think we are supposed to do AOF... so, we are just trusting that God will work it out for the best!

Christmas Photo of Christéla

Here is a picture of Christéla we received today! This (I'm guessing) is from the Christmas party they had for all the children in the orphanage. I enjoyed reading about the Christmas party they give the kids, but I didn't realize that our girls would be there... I assumed they were probably too little to join... but, looks like I was wrong! That does my Mommy heart some good today! :)

We also learned that Aliyah has all her teeth, is growing into a very strong girl, and prefers to be out of her crib and on the floor... we also got updates on her height and weight - both of which look great. We didn't get any updates like that on Christéla yet...

One other update we received last night was that the orphanage had called the mayor and asked him to come out to the orphanage to try to get Christéla's abandonment decree started... and he asked them to call back after all the holidays. So, we are praying that now that the holidays are over, he'll come out and get this process started!

If you would like to see a few more pictures of the children celebrating Christmas at the orphanage, click here...