Ella Bella

Precious little one year old Christella passed away in a Haitian hospital on Sunday. She was sick with a tummy ache and was sent to the hospital to get it looked at. Since it was the weekend and night time she was sent away by several hospitals. She was eventually seen and had an ultasound revealing her intestines were "twisted". They were getting her ready for surgery and she passed away. She is now in Jesus's arms in heaven with a perfect, pain free body, where she can run, walk, and play. I am so sad about this news but I know that God has a plan and we need to trust Him. It is hard to do sometimes though...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day to everyone... We are currently at my in laws enjoying time with family. We got here this morning after waking very early in the morning and driving for about 6.5 hours. I hope everyone has a great holiday. What are you thankful for?
I am thankful for all that God has given us and for the hope that Elijah will be home someday.

Please pray for my friend Sarah. She is very concerned that her adoption will not be approved because of her family size. I feel so badly for her. I hope that her son will be able to come home to his family! That being said it has made me worry more about Elijah. So far the process has gone well, but I think the fact that it's possible that he may not get signed out of IBESR is what's making my stomach hurt. All I can do is pray and trust God!

Tired!

We are all getting sick around here, and I have had very little energy. We need to get ready to go to the in-laws this week and I am hoping I will be feeling better so I can do all that needs to be done.

Widows and Orphans

I recently had dinner at my friends' house on Sunday night. Her husband has a strange lump on his neck and while waiting for the biopsy results the couple have been joking about him dying. (We do strange things when faced with the unknown, don't we?) My friend and I got into a heavy discussion about how we, as stay at home mothers, would not know what we would do if our husbands were to pass away. We said that we would be so depressed and sad, yet we would have to carry on for our children's sake. We would be hurting financially and would probably have to sell our homes and move closer to family that would help care for the children while we got a job. (This discussion made me realize also that we need to buy more life insurance for my husband!) We would have to put our children in school, who have been homeschooled their entire school years. We also discussed how the church would help us for a while while we got on our feet...and I understood why God states that we are to help the widows and the orphans...

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

This month is National Adoption Month. Around this time last year I was listening to Focus on the Family on the radio and was greatly moved by the program and the idea of adoption. I wasn't sure if it was what the Lord had for our family at the time, but I really was interested in learning more. I went to the library and checked out some books on International Adoption and was enlightened by how complicated the process was. I let it be for awhile. Jeremiah was not against the idea but agreed that it was very expensive and far from possible at that time. Around that same time is when I met some women who were adopting or have adopted internationally and locally. It was a good chance to be educated and moved. It wasn't until early spring 2007 that we really decided as a couple to adopt, and we were going to go about it through the foster care program at first. God had a different plan for us, and through time we realized that a Haitian adoption was what we should pursue. I am thrilled and excited about the idea about us adding on to our family through adoption. I know there will be many challenges along the way, but I am so happy to see what blessings God has in store for us!

I will leave this post with a Haitian proverb that I love,

Di m' ki sa ou renmen, m'a de ou ki moun ou ye.
Tell me what you love, and I'll tell you who you are.
Your priorities shape your character.

Elijah Update

Here is an update on our sweet little boy...

Elijah is doing so well, happy and silly as ever. He’s definitely not shy about asking for attention, and he is always the first to start climbing on your lap if you sit down in the Boat room. He’s always jumping and dancing, and is so much fun! It is so easy to make him laugh, and he has SUCH a great laugh! I was playing in his room recently, and all I had to do was give him a silly look, and he kept doubling over, laughing and laughing, no matter how many times I did it. He’s going to have a happy outlook on life. One day I. was angry with Elijah about something, and a nanny told I. to give Elijah a kiss and forgive him. Instead, Elijah gave I. a kiss, and kept giving him kiss after kiss, which made I. so mad! This morning one of our volunteers left in the truck, and all the Boat kids came to the front gate to say goodbye. We were all laughing at Elijah because he was leaning out so far, waving both hands so vigorously, yelling “BYE!” We have a good welcoming and sending-off committee. He loves the evening videos, and tries hard to sing along, which is adorable. He keeps very busy, pushing chairs and beds around the room and hallway. He’s great at giving kisses, and saying “ba!” when he gives them. He tries hard to help M. give S. his meds, but he just likes to grab the syringes and then lick his hands. He still is saying mostly “ba” and “mama”, and today when a nanny kept trying to get him to say “papa”, he would say “ahpa” and then laugh at himself. Elijah weighs 21 pounds, 10 ounces this month.


I miss him a lot. I am hoping we can go visit him in March/April. Hopefully we can find low airfare to Florida.

No news....

I am so glad to report that all the kids' extra activities are finished, except Kylie's ballet class. I was getting so tired of driving around to here and there, and am so glad to have more time at home.

There has been no news on the adoption lately.

Please pray for a friend of mine, Stephanie. She is a great young woman who is going to Haiti to help those in need of medical treatment. She is a nurse and has a great heart to help others. Pray for her safety and that she will be able to help however she can and share the love of Christ.

We got a grant...

...from Shoahannah's Hope!!! Tuesday night I had a great dream about Elijah's adoption. In my dream I opened an email from Robin and she had made a remark about how Elijah would soon be miraculously out of IBESR. I woke up in a hopeful mood that soon (I am praying for July) he will be home. I spent some time in prayer about the adoption and the $6500 we need to come up with when Elijah is out of IBESR. Yesterday I got the mail on our way over to Sarah's for their Halloween party and there was a letter from Shoahannah's Hope. I eagerly opened it and there it was, a letter stating we got a $3000 grant!!! I was so happy and after I thanked God I immediately shared the news with the kids and called Jeremiah. He was pretty happy too. I have a lot more hope that this adoption is what God wants and will be with us every step of the way.

Last night we went to Sarah's and had pizza, then the kids went trick or treating with the dads. Jeremiah was working last night so he missed out. It was nice to not have to be out in the cold, wet weather. Loren went to our church youth group's trip to Canada to do lazer tag. He had fun but kinda missed the candy! The girls are sharing of course.