Please Pray

We have been emailing back and forth between NLL (our lawyers in Haiti) and the US consulate. I was requested to contact the consulate to request a birth parent interview. We opted in to the orphan's first program, which helps do an orphan investigation at the beginning of the process, rather than the end. Well now NLL is telling me that we must wait until we are signed out of MOI for Elijah to have his birth parent interview. I am really confused and frustrated. I don't want to wait until the end, what if things get held up longer? Please pray with us to help speed things up. Pray for all the other children at COTP that have been waiting far too long to go home to their families.

Picking Apples

Fun at the pumpkin patch

We went to Boxx Berry Farm for a fun outing with Parent to Parent, a support group for parents of special kids. We had a great time with friends and the kids got to pick their own pumpkins. We had some snacks and a fun "train" ride!

Anxious

We have been hoping for Elijah to be able to come home before Christmas but I am not getting my hopes up. He is still in MOI and we have not heard any news. We did get some emails asking us to contact USCIS to request a birth parent interview. I am not sure why we had to request it, but we did. We have not heard news of an interview as of yet. Please pray that this will take place soon, and that Elijah will get signed out of MOI soon too! It is possible for a child to come home a month after getting out of MOI, but the average time is about 2 to 3 months. Meanwhile I have been reading a lot about adoptive kids' homecomings and things family's deal with during the first several months. Things I had not really thought about. I am a little scared! I am not sure how Elijah will do with the adjustment of living in our home, relating to his siblings and his environment, and to Jeremiah and I! He seemed like a pretty laid back, happy boy at the orphanage, but I wonder how it will be here.

I have his room all fixed up. I moved Loren into another room, and am giving Elijah that room. I painted a few of the walls and even put some of his clothes in the dresser. We are going to put a crib mattress on the floor for him to sleep on to begin with. Right now he is sleeping in a cot at COTP, so I figured a crib mattress would be the most similar to that. I still need to do a bit of toddler proofing, because I have seen Elijah climb!

Pictures from the wedding in Oregon

Samuel with Uncle Larry and Aunt Kathy

Samuel with us

Pictures from last weekend

Trip to Seattle

We went to Seattle yesterday. We decided to take the kids to the Children's Museum. We went to the one at Seattle Center. It was really fun, with a lot to explore. We only covered about half of the activities, but will be coming back soon. Then we went to Children's Hospital. Samuel had an opthamology appointment. We were there for almost four hours! He was so good, and fell asleep at one point waiting for the eye drops to work and for the doctor to come in. The doctor was a kook! He was old and silly, but had some good news for us. Samuel has perfect vision and alignment! I was so glad to hear that he won't be needing surgery for his eyes at this point. He said they look crossed because of the bump on his face. I have noticed that they are starting to look better as he grows. Samuel has a blocked tear duct. There is nothing that can be done about that, since it is on the side of the encephalocele. Either his duct is misshapen, or blocked from the artificial bone. His eyes also don't always shut all the way, so we should start giving him moisturizing ointment at night to help keep them from drying out and getting infected.

Imagine...

Life in Haiti (from For His Glory newsletter)
Imagine, if you will, that you have six children and you are raising 6 of them in a single parent home. Imagine that your home is one-third the size of a one-car garage fashioned out of corrugated steel. There's no carpet or cement for your floor; rather, it's simply dirt that you try to keep as clean as possible. You have one double bed that you sleep on with most of your children, while the rest sleep on grass mats at your feet. That's if there is no gunfire. When there is, you all feel more safety sleeping under the bed.

Imagine, too, that there are days that pass that you cannot purchase a small sack of beans and rice to feed your children. You go out to the street market and purchase as many dirt biscuits as you can to feed you and your children. It's not enough for each person to have their own, but if the little ones get to half each, it'll at least stop them from crying. The only water is the river the pigs rifle through - it's where you have dumped your own chamber pots from time to time. You close off your mind and drink from the water because there is no choice.

This is the story of one of the birth mothers that had placed 3 of her children in the orphanage. Those 3 children are in the US now, leaving 3 still in Haiti. The situation for her is more difficult that we could imagine. We asked her, as we were visiting her home, if she was comfortable living in Cite Soliel. She responded saying that no one chooses to live there - it's when you are left with no choice at all that you end up in a tin house like hers.

One of the staff members of the orphanage knows a woman that has 6 sons. When the rains came, 5 of them drown. Her house is destroyed and her hope was buried with her children.

Blood work news

Samuel's iron levels were low, but the nurse called to say that after a few weeks and a recheck they are normal now! That makes me happy. Also, the other results (HIV, hep, and sickle cell) were all negative too.

Thank you

for your prayers. I truly felt them working. Even with my hormones out of wack due to that time of the month (I apologize if any guys read this!), I was able to remain calm and pleasant all weekend. My poor husband got an earful on the car ride home, but he didn't complain once. It really wasn't a bad weekend, and the wedding was beautiful. Samuel was passed around to all the great aunts and uncles and he was so good for us! I am glad to be home and get back in to routine. We are probably not going to be traveling again (except to go to Haiti for Elijah) until spring. I have realized lately how much I have become a homebody, maybe it has to do with traveling with 4 children?

Also, Samuel has started to say Mama all the time! I love hearing him say that.

Hep.

I have thought about this with people who are host families for the Medical Advocacy Team, but haven't thought about it with our adopted kids coming home. I read this on a yahoo group today:

IT was suggested to me by my doctor that anyone who was going to have
close contact with my son in the first months home get the Hep shots -
so my brother and his wife got them too.

I'd suggest that grandparents or any family members that will be in
contact with spit, poop or any other bodily fluids get the shots -
especially young and old people.


Children often don't show symptoms of Hep. and it is transmitted easily. I am going to look into my kids getting vaccinated. Jeremiah and I both have before traveling to Haiti. Maybe I should have grandparents get vaccinated too.

musical bedrooms

Samuel in his own bedroom tonight! We just finished remodeling our oldest son's room, and moved Samuel into his new room. Until now, he was sleeping in a crib in our large bedroom. It didn't really bother me much since he is such a good sleeper, until recently. Once he learned how to pull himself up in his crib, he wouldn't lay down. He would stand up, bounce, laugh, cry and stare at us for at least one hour before going to sleep. Tonight we laid him down, turned off the lights, shut the door and Samuel was out in about 10 minutes! Bliss.

Rude

Can I just say that I am so irritated with the lack of support and kindness by certain members of our family? I don't want to go off... just say some prayers for me please. I need patience, esp. for this weekend while we are at a family wedding and will be spending considerable amounts of time with these people.

Some shower pics

Prayers Please

Please pray for Elijah's buddy at the orphanage, Isaac. He is also my good friend Sarah's little boy. It is so cool that they will be able to grow up together. So many times these kids are separated after they are home by thousands of miles, but Isaac and Elijah will be 10 minutes away from each other! Isaac is sick, and it must not be good, because they emailed Sarah to tell her about it. Most of the time we don't get news like this, probably not to worry us moms. I wasn't told Elijah had the chicken pox until we showed up at the orphanage! Most of the time there isn't much that can be done anyway. But I know that if we pray, God will listen and may heal little Isaac.