It is day two of homeschooling. Yesterday was a long day. We didn't get through everything I though we should have, but we did 5 hours of schoolwork. We also had to go to the dentist to repair some of the kids' sealants. I scheduled it right in the middle of the day, bad mistake. Today we started out good, then went to the swimming pool with Sarah and her kids. It was a lot of fun and we got a good workout in! We got home late, but I had my kids finish up the rest of their work. Surprisingly they finished with no complaints! The best part is I can use 2 hours of pool time to count toward our school hours. We have to keep track of hours for the school program the kids are in. Loren needs 25 hours a week and Corinn needs 20.
I am off to put the kids to bed, we will see how the rest of the week goes.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Please help with Haitian adoptions
Bureaucracy Stops Adoptions in Haiti
A CALL TO ACTION
***********************************************************************
Dear friends of Haiti,
A bureaucratic nightmare has forced the stoppage of Haitian children from
receiving their U.S. visa and joining their forever families here in the
U.S. A simple phone call from the U.S. Department of State to the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security would quickly and easily resolve this
situation. To date, no such phone call has occurred and Haitian children
continue to suffer needlessly. We are asking everyone with a heart for
Haitian children to rally together, make some noise and help our children
find their permanent, safe and loving families.
What can you do? Make four simple phone calls.
1. Call your U.S. Senator.
o You can find your Senators' phone numbers at www.senate.gov
o Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff
2. Call your second U.S. Senator.
3. Call your representative to the U.S. House of Representative.
o You can find your representative at www.house.gov
o Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff
4. Call the Congressional Coalition on Adoption
o Their number is 202-544-8500
When should you call? Today, Thursday or Friday
o For maximum affect, we are asking you to make these calls within the
next 72 hours - sometime before the end of the day Friday.
What should you say? Speak from your heart and give them the following
information.
o The Department of State has stopped issuing visas to Haitian
orphans.
o The problem behind the stoppage was fixed by the Department of
Homeland Security.
o BUT, no one told the Department of State.
o Your office must get involved and make the Department of Homeland
Security communicate with the Department of State.
o Your office should contact the Office of Children's Issues at the
Department of State. Their number is 202-736-9090
Can you explain the problem behind the stoppage? Here is some additional
information...
o The U.S. Department of State (the consular office in Haiti) is
ruling that visas can not be issued to legally adopted children due to the
absence of the words 'irrevocable and unconditional' in the Haitian parental
relinquishment documents. The Department of State is incorrect. USCIS has
already resolved this issue and has been approving orphan status since June
2007. Sadly, USCIS has not communicated the resolution to the Department of
State. USCIS has already written a legal opinion that orphan status can
legitimately be granted to these cases, but the Department of State and
USCIS have thus far failed to communicate the information that will release
the children.
We need to send the same concise message to each of these offices: there are
legally adopted children in Haiti who cannot get Visas and come home due to
the lack of communication between DOS and USCIS.
Please act on this message yourself, and pass it along to anyone you know
who has children waiting, has adopted in the past, or just has a heart for
Haiti. Each adult member of your household can call separately.
We need to depend upon sheer volume to get our point across so please call
today!
A CALL TO ACTION
***********************************************************************
Dear friends of Haiti,
A bureaucratic nightmare has forced the stoppage of Haitian children from
receiving their U.S. visa and joining their forever families here in the
U.S. A simple phone call from the U.S. Department of State to the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security would quickly and easily resolve this
situation. To date, no such phone call has occurred and Haitian children
continue to suffer needlessly. We are asking everyone with a heart for
Haitian children to rally together, make some noise and help our children
find their permanent, safe and loving families.
What can you do? Make four simple phone calls.
1. Call your U.S. Senator.
o You can find your Senators' phone numbers at www.senate.gov
o Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff
2. Call your second U.S. Senator.
3. Call your representative to the U.S. House of Representative.
o You can find your representative at www.house.gov
o Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff
4. Call the Congressional Coalition on Adoption
o Their number is 202-544-8500
When should you call? Today, Thursday or Friday
o For maximum affect, we are asking you to make these calls within the
next 72 hours - sometime before the end of the day Friday.
What should you say? Speak from your heart and give them the following
information.
o The Department of State has stopped issuing visas to Haitian
orphans.
o The problem behind the stoppage was fixed by the Department of
Homeland Security.
o BUT, no one told the Department of State.
o Your office must get involved and make the Department of Homeland
Security communicate with the Department of State.
o Your office should contact the Office of Children's Issues at the
Department of State. Their number is 202-736-9090
Can you explain the problem behind the stoppage? Here is some additional
information...
o The U.S. Department of State (the consular office in Haiti) is
ruling that visas can not be issued to legally adopted children due to the
absence of the words 'irrevocable and unconditional' in the Haitian parental
relinquishment documents. The Department of State is incorrect. USCIS has
already resolved this issue and has been approving orphan status since June
2007. Sadly, USCIS has not communicated the resolution to the Department of
State. USCIS has already written a legal opinion that orphan status can
legitimately be granted to these cases, but the Department of State and
USCIS have thus far failed to communicate the information that will release
the children.
We need to send the same concise message to each of these offices: there are
legally adopted children in Haiti who cannot get Visas and come home due to
the lack of communication between DOS and USCIS.
Please act on this message yourself, and pass it along to anyone you know
who has children waiting, has adopted in the past, or just has a heart for
Haiti. Each adult member of your household can call separately.
We need to depend upon sheer volume to get our point across so please call
today!
Monday, September 3, 2007
Summer over?
It is Labor Day and here I am at the computer. Jeremiah is working today, but he just had his days off and we had a great weekend. It was Jeremiah's birthday and we went to this dirt racetrack with some friends and watched cars racing around on Sat. and were treated with a firework show after the races. Sarah watched the kids for us so it was a nice getaway. Then yesterday we went to church and a BBQ. We also had time to swing by a friends' house and pick up a bunk bed they were giving us! We set it up in our son's room and hopefully the bottom bunk will be used sooner than later by Elijah.
I have been feeling sad lately, mainly because of Helande and Ella going home soon. We were originally thinking that Sarah and I would take them back to Haiti, but now it looks like we will have someone else escort them home. It may be very soon. The whole thought of it grieves me. Mainly because if something happens with their shunts they need to get help fast, and they may not be able to do that in Haiti. I just wish their family could move to the US or somewhere with better medical facilities. I will miss both girls so much but especially Helande since she has spent so much time with us. Since meeting these girls and starting our adoption, my eyes have been opened wide to the world and countries that need help. I so want to help every single orphan or hurting child.
I have been praying about mission work, and I'm not sure where God will lead with that. Jeremiah is not at the point where he would like to give up his job, but he is able to take vacation days back to back so he may be able to take a month or two off at a time. Maybe we should just start with a visit to Haiti and see what happens.
Homeschooling starts tomorrow. I am not ready at all but that is ok. One of the benefits of homeschooling is flexibility. I mean, for the last 10 minutes my kids have been watching two spiders in the corner "fighting". That's educational isn't it! I am not sure if I should explain that they may not be fighting....
The weather here has been not too desirable, I am thinking summer may be over. I do love the fall though. I hope that we have mild weather so we can do some fun outside activities.
I have been feeling sad lately, mainly because of Helande and Ella going home soon. We were originally thinking that Sarah and I would take them back to Haiti, but now it looks like we will have someone else escort them home. It may be very soon. The whole thought of it grieves me. Mainly because if something happens with their shunts they need to get help fast, and they may not be able to do that in Haiti. I just wish their family could move to the US or somewhere with better medical facilities. I will miss both girls so much but especially Helande since she has spent so much time with us. Since meeting these girls and starting our adoption, my eyes have been opened wide to the world and countries that need help. I so want to help every single orphan or hurting child.
I have been praying about mission work, and I'm not sure where God will lead with that. Jeremiah is not at the point where he would like to give up his job, but he is able to take vacation days back to back so he may be able to take a month or two off at a time. Maybe we should just start with a visit to Haiti and see what happens.
Homeschooling starts tomorrow. I am not ready at all but that is ok. One of the benefits of homeschooling is flexibility. I mean, for the last 10 minutes my kids have been watching two spiders in the corner "fighting". That's educational isn't it! I am not sure if I should explain that they may not be fighting....
The weather here has been not too desirable, I am thinking summer may be over. I do love the fall though. I hope that we have mild weather so we can do some fun outside activities.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Elijah update and other news
We came home from a fun trip to Winthrop (an old western town in central WA) and our email box was full of great things. We got an update from July, the orphanage is behind, but still it was a long time coming!
Elijah has had a busy few months. He graduated from the Giraffe Room where all our smaller babies are and moved up to the Boat Room. Although his old nannies miss him they were all excited for him to move up as he was constantly trying to escape and play with the bigger kids! Elijah has been getting on really well in his new room; he loves to play with all the other kids and is certainly able to stand up for himself too. His crib is in between Samuel’s and Chrity’s and he loves to get up and chat with them. Elijah’s other big news is that he has started to walk and has mastered it. He’s amazing, he moves so quickly and can always be found near nannies, volunteers or any new people that come to visit. Elijah is very attached to one of his nannies in particular, Fifi. Although she only works in his room one day a week on other days that she is here she’ll take Elijah out of his room to spend some extra time with him and give him extra cuddles. Elijah loves to walk around the hallway playing with his friends and looking for toys. He is so proud of himself too and likes everyone to notice him so he’ll quickly cling on to my legs whenever I walk past. He loves to walk with his arms stretched up in the air and often tried to run and gives kisses with his mouth wide open! If he is in his crib he’ll hold on to the rails and sway from side to side, singing and dancing along to whatever is on the stereo. Elijah got a bad yeast infection on his bum recently and the poor little guy was not too happy about it. His nannies have been so careful to make sure that he gets to walk around free from diapers and we’ve started him on an antibiotic too and have been applying cream to it. Thankfully it’s started to clear up and he is feeling much better and back to his happy self, always smiling and laughing. His weight this month was 20 pounds, 9 ounces.
Reading it brought tears to my eyes. I realized how much I wish he was here and how much of his "firsts" I have missed. I am glad he is doing well and I hope to see him very soon.
Our trip was great. We went with some good friends from church. Dawn's dad has a cabin in a nice little resort community and let us all use it for 3 nights. There was a ton or wildlife (besides our kids), and Jeremiah even got to feed a deer out of his hand while petting it with his other! We went to Grand Coulee Dam and toured it and went swimming and looked at the local shops. It was a nice, relaxing time. Oh yeah, we also saw the Smoke Jumpers base. (these are the guys that parachute out of a plane to put out forest fires) We were given a tour of the plane and facility and I thought it was really interesting. Jeremiah thinks he should start smoke jumping. NO, not a chance!!!!
We are going to have a calm next few days, we will be celebrating our 12th anniversary on Sunday, and then school starts in a few weeks! I am going to get the kids into a routine so they will be used to getting up at a reasonable hour and get started on the books!
I have not posted any pictures because of my dial up internet. If you would like to see some pictures of Helande and Ella, and there is even one of Kylie, look at Sarah's blog, the link is to the left. www.ourhaitianjourney.blogspot.com
Elijah has had a busy few months. He graduated from the Giraffe Room where all our smaller babies are and moved up to the Boat Room. Although his old nannies miss him they were all excited for him to move up as he was constantly trying to escape and play with the bigger kids! Elijah has been getting on really well in his new room; he loves to play with all the other kids and is certainly able to stand up for himself too. His crib is in between Samuel’s and Chrity’s and he loves to get up and chat with them. Elijah’s other big news is that he has started to walk and has mastered it. He’s amazing, he moves so quickly and can always be found near nannies, volunteers or any new people that come to visit. Elijah is very attached to one of his nannies in particular, Fifi. Although she only works in his room one day a week on other days that she is here she’ll take Elijah out of his room to spend some extra time with him and give him extra cuddles. Elijah loves to walk around the hallway playing with his friends and looking for toys. He is so proud of himself too and likes everyone to notice him so he’ll quickly cling on to my legs whenever I walk past. He loves to walk with his arms stretched up in the air and often tried to run and gives kisses with his mouth wide open! If he is in his crib he’ll hold on to the rails and sway from side to side, singing and dancing along to whatever is on the stereo. Elijah got a bad yeast infection on his bum recently and the poor little guy was not too happy about it. His nannies have been so careful to make sure that he gets to walk around free from diapers and we’ve started him on an antibiotic too and have been applying cream to it. Thankfully it’s started to clear up and he is feeling much better and back to his happy self, always smiling and laughing. His weight this month was 20 pounds, 9 ounces.
Reading it brought tears to my eyes. I realized how much I wish he was here and how much of his "firsts" I have missed. I am glad he is doing well and I hope to see him very soon.
Our trip was great. We went with some good friends from church. Dawn's dad has a cabin in a nice little resort community and let us all use it for 3 nights. There was a ton or wildlife (besides our kids), and Jeremiah even got to feed a deer out of his hand while petting it with his other! We went to Grand Coulee Dam and toured it and went swimming and looked at the local shops. It was a nice, relaxing time. Oh yeah, we also saw the Smoke Jumpers base. (these are the guys that parachute out of a plane to put out forest fires) We were given a tour of the plane and facility and I thought it was really interesting. Jeremiah thinks he should start smoke jumping. NO, not a chance!!!!
We are going to have a calm next few days, we will be celebrating our 12th anniversary on Sunday, and then school starts in a few weeks! I am going to get the kids into a routine so they will be used to getting up at a reasonable hour and get started on the books!
I have not posted any pictures because of my dial up internet. If you would like to see some pictures of Helande and Ella, and there is even one of Kylie, look at Sarah's blog, the link is to the left. www.ourhaitianjourney.blogspot.com
Friday, August 10, 2007
Sick Mom!
Now I am sick. Please pray that I will get better very soon. I am supposed to be going down to Seattle with Sarah and the babies for check ups. Helande's head is getting puffy in the back and they want to check on her, and Ella needs to have a post op visit. I don't want to go to Children's with a nasty cold or cough! I have been popping lots of vitamins and stuff.
Jeremiah was away at training for work and is finally back and has the weekend off. I am not sure if I will be up to doing anything fun, but it will be nice for him to be at home.
We got our I600A approval! Hopefully our paperwork in Haiti can start moving.
Jeremiah was away at training for work and is finally back and has the weekend off. I am not sure if I will be up to doing anything fun, but it will be nice for him to be at home.
We got our I600A approval! Hopefully our paperwork in Haiti can start moving.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Sick kids
My oldest child was sick last week and this week our youngest daughter is. She had a fever, headache and annoying cough. She is the saddest sick kid there is, so we skipped church this morning. My husband was leading worship and I felt bad to miss it, but there was no way she could go to Sunday school and would be bored to tears if she sat with Helande and I.
We have had some hot weather these last few days. Yesterday we dropped our son off with my parents for the weekend and the rest of us went on a walk along the bay. Sometimes I take for granted all the beauty that surrounds us here. Then we went to Costco. This older lady approached us, asking about Helande, who was sitting up in the seat of the cart. She thought she was a doll at a distance and couldn't believe she was sitting like that in the cart. She was next to our daughter and we were making sure she was stable, but she did great. It is hard to believe that in May she couldn't hold up her head!
She is making a remarkable recovery. Ella is doing great too. She is talking a lot now! Not real words but baby babble.
We have had some hot weather these last few days. Yesterday we dropped our son off with my parents for the weekend and the rest of us went on a walk along the bay. Sometimes I take for granted all the beauty that surrounds us here. Then we went to Costco. This older lady approached us, asking about Helande, who was sitting up in the seat of the cart. She thought she was a doll at a distance and couldn't believe she was sitting like that in the cart. She was next to our daughter and we were making sure she was stable, but she did great. It is hard to believe that in May she couldn't hold up her head!
She is making a remarkable recovery. Ella is doing great too. She is talking a lot now! Not real words but baby babble.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Fun day
We went to the park today with some friends. One of them brought her two twin girls adopted from Ghana for us to meet. They just got home last night! They are so adorable and I loved to hear about how the homecoming has been, and how the adjustment is going. Can't wait to experience it myself with Elijah!
We have had Helande here for 3 days now and we are going on 3 nights. I hope she will sleep better tonight. She usually gets up around 2 or 4 am and then around 6 am. I was thinking that by almost 6 months she would be sleeping through the night. She seems like she is starving when I feed her though. I am not complaining, she is a joy to have here. She was talking to Jeremiah this afternoon (sounded like Native American jargon) and telling him all about her trip to the park and the ice cream cone she shared with Kika! (my nickname founded by Angeline)
We have had Helande here for 3 days now and we are going on 3 nights. I hope she will sleep better tonight. She usually gets up around 2 or 4 am and then around 6 am. I was thinking that by almost 6 months she would be sleeping through the night. She seems like she is starving when I feed her though. I am not complaining, she is a joy to have here. She was talking to Jeremiah this afternoon (sounded like Native American jargon) and telling him all about her trip to the park and the ice cream cone she shared with Kika! (my nickname founded by Angeline)
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