Haiti Trip, May 2012 - Part 4

Tuesday, May 8th, we were up early to get ready for our day of appointments at the US Embassy and the court judge.

Terriot (pronounced Terry-o) picked us up promptly at 7 am. Thus begun our adventure of driving in traffic down the mountain into Port-au-Prince. Tom recently posted this video on GLA's blogs to show what traffic is like there. So very true! We were in a small SUV, not a motorcycle, but this is what we saw on Tuesday. :) Terriot was an excellent driver! Unbelievable how he weaved us through traffic, uncontrolled intersections, down side streets to bypass traffic jams, around potholes and speed bumps, etc., without hitting anything or anyone! And use of the vehicle's horn seems to be mandatory in Haiti!

Despite his excellent driving, we arrived to the US Embassy at 9:00 - an hour late for our 8 am appointment. Magaly met us there - she lives about closer to the Embassy than to GLA. Terriot took a close parking space with his car, then jumped in Magaly's car and parked it for her then waited outside for us.

Terriot told us to leave our cameras and cell phones with him, and he locked them in his glove compartment. Even so, we still had to leave one of our backpacks outside the front door, because we were not allowed to take water bottles, medications, sunscreen, or any other electronics into the US Embassy. The guy at the table outside gave us a number to claim our things, then we proceeded through security and went inside. We waited in the large waiting room for less than an hour. They looked over our paperwork, but asked us to come back the next day, since the officials were in a 2-hour meeting. Ugh - fail. But the next day was left open as back-up, so it would probably be fine.

Back outside, we met back up with Terriot, who took us on another adventure, driving us across town to the court building. We drove through some pretty rough areas, and also right past the Presidential Palace - still looking the same as it did 2 years ago after it collapsed during the earthquake. There were places where you could tell they'd torn down collapsed buildings, and there were piles of rocks sitting on a lot. I was surprised not to see as many tent cities as I'd expected.

Once we arrived at the court building, there were no parking spots, but someone was leaving, so Terriot parked in the spot they vacated and took us inside. We sat in a small un-air-conditioned room. It was pretty hot in there, and there were several people waiting. It was around noon when we arrived, and we were hungry, so we asked Terriot if it would be OK if we ate our snacks we'd brought with us. He said that'd be fine, although it was a little uncomfortable eating in front of the Haitians sitting there waiting as well.

Men in suits kept coming in and out of the room, and to the office just past the waiting room. Then they'd come out and ask us to keep waiting because they were "very busy". We must've sat there for a couple hours, before they finally called us to come back to a different waiting room. We sat there for a while before a secretary brought our dossier to us. Then a man came and called us in, one family at a time. He asked us for our passports, then had us sit in a couple chairs to the right of the door, passed our dossier to the judge sitting behind a desk on the other side of the room. I'm not sure he even looked up at us, just signed the front page in the dossier folder, handed it back to the man, who handed it back to us and that was it!

We went back to the waiting room and waited for the other family that was with us. Then we waited for Terriot to come back for us since we didn't know what we were supposed to do or if we were truly done. He took our dossiers back to the original office we'd waited in, and then we got back in the car for the trip back to the Guest house. Terriot graciously waited 5 minutes for us to change clothes and took us to the Main house. We had about 1-1/2 hours to spend with James before dinner.

Susie had shown us a shelf with some small gray boxes the day before. They keep those boxes for special items for each child brought by their adoptive families. She said that the volunteers assigned to a child will get their box out when they play with that child, and look at the photos, etc, with the child. That seems very special to me that they take care of the toys that each child's family sends and plays and looks at them with them. With our previous Haitian adoption, there really wasn't much of a means to keep things special for one child, so I was very impressed by this. We decided to leave the toys we'd brought for James there, along with a couple of the books, including a baby photo album with photos of him, us, and his siblings. We're hoping to bring them home when it's time to bring James home, so he has some familiar toys and books to play with when he comes home. :)

We were only upstairs on the balcony for a few minutes before a couple of the volunteers were talking about taking a couple kids for a walk outside the GLA gate. I was a little surprised by this, but after several hours in the car that day, the walk sounded good, so we took James along with them for the walk. It was about to start raining, but we got to the end of the road and back just as the rain started. The other little boy about James' age with us was walking more slowly because his shoe kept falling off - but James wanted to go faster - was dragging me along, even though I tried waiting for the others. :)







Back upstairs on the balcony, James had fun stomping through the puddles from the rain. Such a typical boy! I bet his nannies love that we'd let him get soaking wet before we brought him back to his room. He also sat down and played with a puzzle with his volunteer, and rocked a bit on Daddy's lap.

Supper that night was another very American meal - hot dogs, hashbrowns, dinner rolls and fruit. We were on our way back to the guest house fairly soon after supper, so we had some time to play cards with the other family we traveled with, before showering and crashing from the long day. The next day we were headed back to the US Embassy - sooner than we'd left that day, so we could arrive on time and get our appointments accomplished.

Haiti Trip, May 2012 - Part 3

Upon arrival in Haiti on Monday, May 7th, we were given a ride by Ernst (in Creole, the "er" is pronounced like "air", and the "t" is pretty much silent) in the back of the truck from the airport to the guest house.

We were met in the yard by Nikki, Pastor Brandon's wife. She told Jock and I after unloading our luggage from the truck that we were to continue to the Main house with Ernst - all we needed was our I-600 paperwork and our passports to go over with Melissa and for an appointment with Judge Bob. I asked if we needed to change into dressy clothes for Judge Bob, and her response was, "Nah, not for Judge Bob". Apparently he's very OK with casual-ness, and very informal. She also said not to worry about bringing our luggage in, they'd take care of it.

Well, I heard that and literally just took my folder out of my backpack and off we went - not thinking that we were going to meet James at the main house as well! So, we didn't have our camera for our first meeting - duh!!! Well, we did have Jock's cell phone, so we got a few good photos, and Susie had her camera out and ready as well! :)

We were met at the main house gate when we arrived, by Susie and Melissa. They said James was downstairs and ready to meet us as well! We walked in, and now thinking back, I'm sure he'd been told that Mama and Papa were coming, so when we walked in, and someone said something like, "Here he is!", or "There they are!", he had his arms up ready to be picked up and held by us! So sweet!!! Susie started taking photos as we stood there soaking up our first meeting of our son and him us.

We were told that we had a little time before we'd have to leave to go see Judge Bob, so we could just hang out with James for a bit until then. I didn't have my backpack, so I didn't have any toys or books or anything to do with James, but there were a few books downstairs, he had a toy in his hand, and we also found a basketball sitting out that we played with for a while too. We also realized then, that when the babies are brought downstairs it is to go for walks outside, because he was ready to go! We walked around the yard quite a bit that afternoon also. James is such a sweet, cuddly little boy, and also a very busy and curious almost-two-year-old! :)

Our appointment with the local judge, Judge Bob, that afternoon was even more informal that we were told it would be! Apparently when they called him, they found out he was in the neighborhood, so Ernst went to pick up the other family and Judge Bob and his two daughters, and bring them to the Main House for our appointment!

When he arrived, he sat down with Magaly for a few minutes then they called us over. There were a few lines written on the top of a page in a legal notepad, then our names were written. Below our names, we had to sign our names, print our address, and our passport number. Judge Bob and Magaly each took photos with their camera as we signed. The only thing Judge Bob actually asked was after I'd signed my name, he asked me if I signed or printed - I guess I signed too neatly! :) That was it!

Afterwards, we were told that Judge Bob had never done that before - he's always been fairly informal, but the appointments were always done at his office. I'm thankful that he seems to go with the flow and is understanding of time committments - as we were told that we needed to have that appointment done that day, since it had to be done before our other court appointment the following day. He was in the neighborhood, so he made it work.

After our meeting with Judge Bob, we went over our paperwork for our I-600 appointment the next day with Melissa. Then we took James upstairs to the 3rd floor balcony for some playtime - James immediately went over to the car and jumped in. Then he handed me the string to pull him around. I shouldn't be surprised - just like his big brother, he's fond of anything with wheels or that rolls. :) We took James back to his room around 5 pm. The babies have their supper around then, and they didn't want us to disrupt his schedule while we were there. Then apparently after supper they are bathed and changed to get ready for bed, so that was it for our first day's visit with James.

Supper that night was with the volunteers, the other adoptive family, and GLA staff. Supper was mashed potatoes, beef gravy, peas/corn, dinner rolls and fruit. We weren't expecting American food, but it was very good. After we'd had dinner and chatted for a while, we rode back to the guest house. It must've been around 7 when we got back. We sat down and talked with Nikki about some ground rules at the guest house, what her and our plans were, got a quick tour, etc. Then we all retired to our rooms. It was pretty early yet, so Jock and I showered off the day's sweat and dirt, then played some cards for a while before getting organized for the next day and getting some sleep.

We had a busy day planned for the following day - 7 am departure for the US Embassy, then our appointment with the court judge in Port-au-Prince. We were told to expect a very long day, and a long wait in an office without air conditioning.

Haiti Trip, May 2012 - Part 2

We were out of IBESR April 18th, 2012. The next step was for us to travel to Haiti to file our I-600, and attend two court appearances. We were asked to provide weeks that would work for us to travel, and they would get back to us, knowing that we'd likely have to arrive in Port-au-Prince on a Monday, and depart on a Thursday. We told them that our first preference would be to travel the week of May 7th, but that we could also travel the weeks of May 21st or May 28th.

The grandparents were on stand-by to come stay with Kaylen, Elijah, & Josephine. Work was notified of possible travel dates. And then we waited. We were asked if we'd be willing to share a room with another adoptive family if that would help getting our preferred dates, and we immediately responded that would be fine. We finally heard on April 29th, that we could travel the week of May 7th. Then it took us another day to coordinate flights so we would arrive in and depart from Port-au-Prince on the same flights as another adoptive family that traveled at the same time - yes, we booked our travel 10 days out!!! Then had 10 days to finish travel preparations.

Most of our travel plans went off without a hitch. We flew from Des Moines to Miami on Sunday, May 6th. Luckily our flights were routed through Dallas-Ft. Worth, as many flights through O'Hare were cancelled that day due to storms. We hadn't booked a room at the airport hotel, because we weren't sure if it'd be worth it upon arrival to Miami at 12:20 am, especially if we were delayed. Well, we were on time, and the airport hotel was full, so we found another nearby hotel that had rooms available and their last shuttle of the night was arriving to the airport right then. We ran outside and hitched a ride to the Hampton Inn. We were able to get about 5 hours of sleep, before hitting their included and very nice breakfast buffet, and then heading back to the airport.

Our flight to Port-au-Prince was on time. We met the other adoptive family we were traveling with as we passed their seats on the plane, then met up with them to get through immigration and customs, and find our driver on the way to GLA. Our trip to GLA was ridden in the back of a pick-up truck - there were wooden benches to sit on, and cages to hold us and our luggage in and to hold on tight when we went over bumpy roads and potholes. A very interesting first experience for us in Haiti. Hello sunscreen and dust/exhaust allergens, but it was nice to see the scenery and get to know the other family along the way. They were a fun couple to travel with, and very handy also, as she understands and speaks Creole very well, having grown up in Haiti with missionary parents. She did say her skills were a little rusty because she'd been back in the states for 20 years, but very helpful none-the-less.

More on our schedule of appointments while we were there over the next few days...

Haiti Trip, May 2012 - Part 1

We just returned from a trip to Haiti. We were there to meet our son James for the first time, to attend two Haitian court appearances and sign our I-600 at the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince. It was a wonderful trip! It was so exciting to meet James for the first time, and to see how God has had a hand in the matching process for the perfect child for our family. Our court appearances and I-600 signing were accomplished as well. More on those later, but I wanted to get down some overall thoughts on the trip and on GLA in general... I was SO impressed with how everything at GLA was run! Very well organized and very purposeful in everything they do, which was awesome to see.

We stayed at the guest house, which is run by Pastor Brandon and his family and also where they live. Brandon and Nikki were wonderful hosts, even though they had an extremely busy week with family visiting them, and the Associate Pastor's wedding on Thursday that they were preparing for. They house the mission teams that visit, adoptive families coming for courts or to pick up their children, and a classroom for the children from the toddler house.

Pastor Brandon's church is just a few doors down from the guest house. He said the church meets on the second floor of this building (the green floor), and his associate pastor lives on the upper floor.

The toddler house is between the church and the guest house. Molly and Joyce run the Toddler house. Both have been in Haiti for 8-10 years. Melissa lives there as well (she's been in Haiti for 3 years), but works mostly in the main house as the adoptive family coordinator. Some of the short-term volunteers are housed at the toddler house as well. I wasn't there for more than 10 minutes the whole trip - just the day we walked from there to the main house with Melissa.

The main house, where Dixie lives and where the babies are, is about a 5-minute drive or a 20-minute walk from the toddler and guest houses. We did walk it one day, and my calves were sore for more than a full day afterwards from the steep hills which were also very slippery because it's rainy season - but it was nice to get out and walk! It's interesting being in the countryside and mountains instead of in the city. The locals are very polite and no harrassing to get you to give money or buy something on the street. In fact, I kept forgetting to look up from carefully watching my step, to say, "Bonjou," to people as we walked past - so rude! :)

The building off to the right of the main house is has rooms for some of the volunteers.

The first floor of the main building contains a sitting room, a large dining room where all the volunteers, staff and adoptive families have meals together. Just under the stairs is Magaly's office - she's one of our adoption processors. Behind the stairs are Dixie's office and an office shared by Emelyne, Susie, and Melissa.

The second floor is where the babies live. If I remember right, there are 5 baby rooms, with bathrooms, storage, etc.: the NICU, a healthy little-baby room, a room for crawlers, a small room for those starting to walk, and two rooms for the walkers 2 and under. There are 2 or 3 nannies in each room, and their shifts are for 4 days straight - they sleep there as well, then they rotate off. When I was in the rooms they were busy doing little girls' hair, lotion/powdering, wiping noses, diapering, sweeping/mopping, changing sheets, singing with them, and just keeping an eye on them.

The third floor has a large balcony play area for the babies, and also I think is where John and Dixie live. There is a rotation of short-term volunteers that come to help at the baby house. There were 7 there when we were, and most are there for 1-2 weeks, one for a month - also a couple had been to GLA multiple times previously. They're each assigned certain babies, and they have a set schedule of when they go get each baby from their room to bring them to the 3rd floor balcony for some one-on-one play time, where they're supposed to work on certain developmental skills, like sensory, eye contact, small or large motor skills, reading books, doing puzzles, etc. Sometimes they take the children outside the complex for a walk in the neighborhood as well. VERY COOL!!!

Awana 2011/2012

The kids had their AWANA awards a couple weeks ago.

Elijah and Josephine have finished their second year of Cubbies, and will move up to Sparks when they start kindergarten in the fall.

The "Cubbies Song"

"He's Got the Whole World in His Hands"
Elijah's shoe fell off as they were walking back on stage, so that's what's going on with him. :)

This was Kaylen's first year of T&T. She found it to be a bit harder than Sparks had been last year. But she did an awesome job, and finished the first book in the year! She was so proud of herself that she got picked to say a verse at the awards program. Then that day she got really nervous, and was afraid she'd forget the verse.

When she was practicing it, she kept going too fast and we couldn't understand the words, so we had her practice it super slow! She did it perfectly at the program! The verses her group was saying basically went through the entire purpose of T&T (Truth & Training). Each kid in front of her said a short verse, and then Kaylen's long verse summarized the whole thing. We congratulated Kaylen on the way home, for saying it perfectly, and that her teachers probably chose her to say the long verse because they knew she'd be able to memorize it and say it well in front of an audience. Kaylen's teacher has told us all along how insightful her comments and questions during discussions! She sure keeps us on her toes! :)

Kaylen saying her verse:

All three with their awards:

(Kaylen lost her dog-dish pin that had her little dog-bone awards on them, which is why she has nothing on her shirt.)

Easter 2012

We got together with Jock's family to color Easter eggs on Friday evening. It's always a fun time - for both the adults and the children.

If we stay in town over Easter weekend, our neighborhood does a "Bunny Walk". Had a few people ask me what that was. Basically, one family hosts it in their garage, and lines up a bunny to come visit. They have coffee, cocoa, juice, and donuts, and a few families bring other breakfast snacks to share. They pass out balloons to the kids, then the bunny leads us on a walk around the neighborhood. When we get back, there is an Easter egg hunt in their front yard and an empty lot across the street from them. This year, we postponed about a half-hour until the rain quit. It was still cool and rainy, but it was still fun, and nice to converse with the neighbors for a bit.

My Dad & Stepmom came Saturday evening to spend Easter with us. They'd been with the East coast contingent of our family since just before Christmas, so the kids were SUPER EXCITED to see them - as were we! So fun chatting and the kids playing and talking and showing Grandma and Grandpa things, that we didn't even take any photos. :)

Kaylen's Baptism

We're so proud of Kaylen for making the decision to get Baptized yesterday!

James

The orphanage where James lives does an awesome job providing updates on the children, to the adoptive families. Each month we get a themed photo, and a little write-up, which includes a little about James' activities and development. The update coordinator does a wonderful job, and it really shows how much love she puts into the updates each month. We're so thankful for this!

April's update was no different. Here was our written update, and a couple of photos of our precious little boy. We can't wait to meet him!

Happy Easter from God’s Littlest Angels, Jack and Lisa!

Here at GLA, we are praying each of our adoptive families had a blessed and fun Easter this past month! There has been much activity happening around here. We have had a new team in each week since the end of March. Each of them has been a blessing. Some worked on building/maintenance projects while others did ministry in our community and with our kids. Our Easter holiday here in Haiti was a true blessing. The kids at the Toddler House enjoyed dying Easter eggs, having a special meal, and learning about how Jesus died for their sins while the babies at the main house received a special treat and spent time with their nannies and volunteers.

All of the bigger babies in our nursery had their chance to try a marshmallow peep for the first time. Some thought it was the best thing they have tasted and ate it before we knew it. Other’s just looked at it curiously and gave it back to us. We recognize that the babies at the main house do not fully comprehend the sacrifice that was made on the cross for them, but we pray that each one will come to an understanding of this as they grow up. This month I will share with you how your child is doing developmentally and what they have learned and experienced in the past month.

James has had a fantastic month. He has enjoyed many hours on the balcony with his volunteers and nannies. James loves it best when the swimming pool is out and he gets to go in. He also enjoys riding in the toy cars or pushing his friends around in them. He is very good at concentrating for a little while to put a puzzle together with assistance.

James really comes alive in the evening. He loves to be bathed and ready for bed. He will run around the nursery with a HUGE smile on his face. The other night while waiting for his bath, he was sitting on the floor in only his diaper with a toy piano, just plunking away. He seemed very pleased with himself and enjoyed all the attention that he received. He looked like he was making music for all the kids and nannies as they went about their nightly ritual of getting ready for bed.

James was one of the kids who ate the marshmallow peep that he got on Easter. He thought it was a delightful treat and asked for more when he was done with the one he was given.

James is healthy and growing: Height: 79.5 cm Weight: 23 lb 10 oz

I understand that the adoption process you are currently working though is long and often painful. I pray over each of these updates as I write them. I pray that your patience with the process will be multiplied, as you trust that God’s timing is supreme. I pray that as you wait, you draw closer to the Lord and that the child that is about to be yours forever will fit perfectly into every aspect of your life when he comes home. I pray that the updates you receive at the end of each month are a blessing to you.

Happy Birthday Josephine!!!

I can't believe my baby girl is 5 years old today!

She's come a long ways from this tiny baby we first saw in this photo in July 2007:

...to this first trip to visit her in Port-au-Prince in Feb/Mar 2008:

...to this second trip to visit her in July 2008:

...to this third trip to visit her in March 2009:

... to finally having her in our arms in Sanford, FL, ready to come home to Iowa, in January 2010:

... to her 3rd birthday:

...to her 4th birthday:

...to last night, "helping me" by cleaning the frosting off the silverware when I was done frosting her cupcakes:

We can't imagine our lives without our beautiful, funny, silly, smart, sweet little girl - who is growing up SO FAST!!!

We love you, Josephine! We hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Signs of Life

Love it when I come across little reminders some days. Reminders of what Life is really about.

It's not just the traffic jam. It's not just hitting every red light when I'm running late. It's not about the little struggles I face throughout the day - at home, at work, in between.

It's about life everlasting. I'm thankful for these reminders I see every now and then, that bring me back to reality - real Life!