Gustav Update

Gustav strengthened from a Tropical Storm, to a Category 1 Hurricane before hitting Haiti and then weakening again - now a tropical storm again. I've heard through a friends' adoption agency that the orphanage, in Port-au-Prince, is doing fine. They have not had the strong winds, but have had a lot of rain - must be close to 48 hours straight of rain by now, and according to weather.com, scattered storms forecast through the weekend.

From Forbes.com, 8/26:

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Hurricane Gustav dumped torrential rains across southern Haiti on Tuesday, killing at least one man and threatening crops amid protests over high food prices. Global fuel futures soared on fears Gustav could move into the Gulf of Mexico as an "extremely dangerous" storm.

Trees toppled as the storm lingered for hours over Haiti's poor, deforested southern peninsula, and water levels were rising in banana, bean and vegetable fields. One man was killed in a landslide in the mountain town of Benet, civil protection director Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste told Radio Metropole.

"If the rain continues, we'll be flooded," U.N. food consultant Jean Gardy said from the southeastern town of Marigot.

Hundreds of people in coastal Les Cayes ignored government warnings to seek shelter, instead throwing rocks to protest the high cost of living in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. Witnesses said U.N. peacekeepers used tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Haiti is a tinderbox because of soaring food prices, which in April led to deadly protests and the ouster of the nation's prime minister. It was difficult to ascertain the extent of the damage to the nation's crops on Tuesday because of Haiti's poor infrastructure and faulty communications.
...
Gustav roared ashore Tuesday afternoon near the city of Jacmel with top sustained winds near 90 mph (145 kph). Heavy rains pelted the area as winds bent palm trees and kicked up surf along waterfronts of dilapidated wooden buildings.

Patrice Tallyrand, 43, fled with his family to a friend's home after Gustav knocked down four trees in their back yard in the southern town of Kabik.

"We had to leave the house before it got worse," he said.

Forty miles (65 kms) to the north, residents in the capital wrapped themselves in plastic sheeting against the rain and wind as they ran home in advance of the storm. Businesses closed early, and stranded travelers mobbed the American Airlines (nyse: AMR - news - people ) counter at the airport after the airline canceled all flights...

I also follow blogs for a few missionary families in Haiti. The Livesay's just in the past week have been moving into Port-au-Prince from LaDigue. They had a tidbit about Gustav on their last post, although it was brief because they had to travel to get internet access because of their recent move. The Pye's live near the Southern coastal city of Jacmel, which is very close to where Gustav made landfall. They posted both yesterday and today about the trials they're experiencing. It is frightening to say the least. Please continue to pray for all who are affected, and continued safety for the orphanage, that has thus far been spared.

Tropical Storm Gustav

This new storm is predicted to become a hurricane before it passes over SW Haiti tomorrow, "producing flooding rains and strong winds." This, right after Tropical Storm Fay struck Haiti last week, causing flooding, and some deaths - mostly due to a bus that got swept away in flood-waters. We're thankful that the orphanage wasn't hit hard. They had some water in a storage room, but were fortunately able to move things in time. Please pray that they are again protected from the storm and any flooding that occurs. Also, it was noted on our Yahoo group, that this time of year is especially difficult for the orphanage, as with the weather changes, illnesses and sick babies can become common. Please pray for the health of all there.

Busy week

Thursday was Jock's birthday! He and I went out for lunch at Biaggi's. We hadn't been there for quite some time, and it was very YUMMY, as usual. That evening we weren't very hungry after that big lunch, so we fed Kaylen supper and then we all had dessert. I forgot to get a picture, but he'd stopped and picked out a few slices from the Cheesecake Factory on his way home from work. YUMMY again!

Then we spent the rest of the evening (until Kaylen's bedtime) playing Monopoly. It's the first time we've let Kaylen play on her own - although of course us still providing suggestions on what's the best decision for a few things like when to buy, etc. She started out having to go to jail twice, which each resulted in tears. Then all was better when one of us had to go to jail, and she realized it's just part of the game and she's not really in trouble. She also was upset that she couldn't buy the "cards" (properties) for a bit into the game like we could - she just wasn't landing on any.

The game ended up that Jock lost nearly all of his money to me after landing on my hotels, then went out to Kaylen because he owed her less than $100 rent and didn't have it. The picture was taken after this - notice no properties or money in front of him. We stopped at bedtime and counted all our money & properties - Kaylen had over $2K, but I won it with over $5K. It was a fun evening for all. Too bad for the birthday boy to lose the game, but he had fun. He was just glad to have someone to play the game with him, because we don't play it very often.

Today we had Jock's mom & brothers over for lunch - sandwiches, chips, and cupcakes. His mom's birthday is next week, so we combined the celebration like we usually do. No gifts, just lunch and enjoying each other's company. It was a beautiful day, so the kids played some outside on the swingset, and some of us sat outside for a while. It was even a little bit cool in the shade. I didn't get any pictures taken of the gathering though.

I also spent some time today organizing drawers. I'm so excited to have this accomplished. Maybe I can find things now, and also be able to get the drawers closed more easily! :) (By the way - Jock says I have a sickness because I'm blogging about organizing my drawers. I'm just very proud of it, and so happy it's done. These three drawers have been a pet peeve of mine for some time now. We'll see how long it takes them to get completely messed up again, but it should take longer now, right?! For now, everything has a space.)

Tonight, just after Kaylen was in bed, she came back out of her room hollering that she'd lost her second tooth! Goodness, the tooth fairy is going to go broke if Kaylen keeps up this pace of one per week! Just kidding - her top two aren't even loose (yet), and I think I remember reading that it's generally a while before it's their turn to come out. And, I did notice today that her permanent tooth has poked up through where she lost the tooth last week. Yeah! Now we know for sure that she didn't just start trying to wiggle those teeth out on her own. ;)

Tomorrow's another busy day. We're heading out of town, just for the day, to attend Ben's baptism. Should be fun to see how much he's grown in 7 weeks, and see his family too!

Adoption Process - Courts Steps

No update here, just clarifying the step we're in. I've been telling people that IBESR is Haiti's social services, and we're now out of that step and into the court steps. That is correct, but I knew there were a bunch of parts to the courts steps - I just didn't know what they all were. I found a document from our facilitator that describes them:

• Parquet to verify the IBESR signatures. (Our dossier is here as far as I know.)

• Civil court for "Judgement Granted" - E & J will receive our last name.

• Parquet to verify "Judgement Granted" signatures.

• 2nd Legalization at the civil registrar, Justice of the Peace, Department of Justice and foreign affairs.

• Acte d'Adoption (Adoption Decree) is written.

• Archives to verify signatures again, upon which E & J will legally be our children.

It's anyone's guess how long these steps take. We should have another process update in 1 1/2 weeks. Please pray that we have some good news then - that these steps are moving along quickly.

Hey - what's that empty space?!

It's out! We were getting ready to go to a birthday party yesterday evening, and were waiting for Kaylen to finish in the bathroom - taking forever (yes even longer than her usual turtle's pace). Then she came running out, excitedly hollering for us to come look, holding up her tooth. The one right next to it is pretty loose now too - once the other one came out, she started working on it. I think it annoys her having them loose and she'd rather get them out as quickly as possible.

FYI - the tooth fairy brought her a gold dollar coin. She came in our bedroom this morning a-hollerin' when she saw it: "Mom! Guess what?!? The tooth fairy brought me a quarter!" I (still groggy from being woken up like that) asked to look at it, had to have Kaylen find my glasses for me so I could study it, and then told her that it wasn't a quarter, but a dollar coin. At church she was telling people that it was $2000, because that's the year it had on it. They were pretty impressed (but confused) by a $2000 coin, until we corrected her. :)

Please pray for Haiti

**Update Sun 8/17, from an article I found here: "A man died Saturday in Haiti while trying to cross a river in Leogane, south of Port-au-Prince, said Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, head of Haiti's civil protection department. No further information was immediately available.

Rice fields in the Artibonite Valley, Haiti's most fertile region, were flooded, according to reports from Radio Ginen. And Fay's heavy winds destroyed banana crops in Arcahaie, north of the capital, although it is unclear how many acres were affected, Jean-Baptiste said."

Not too good, given the food crisis already in Haiti, but good there wasn't more loss of life reported. I haven't heard how the orphanage fared.


**Update Sat 8/16: From the first website I linked to below, "FAY IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE TOTAL RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 4 TO 8 INCHES OVER HISPANIOLA... EASTERN AND CENTRAL CUBA... JAMAICA... AND THE NORTHERN CAYMAN ISLANDS... WITH ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF 15 INCHES. THESE RAINS COULD PRODUCE LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS AND MUD SLIDES." (Hispaniola is the name of the island that the Dominican Republic and Haiti share.)

Tropical Storm Fay is currently over the Dominican Republic, and looks to be headed right over central Haiti tomorrow morning. Storms like this can be devastating to the country lacking infrastructure to withstand several inches of rain - floods and mudslides are common. More info here. Here's what weather.com showed earlier tonight:

Also... Hooray! The shipment that was sent down to Haiti a few months ago finally cleared customs this week. They're working feverishly to transport the donations to the orphanage and unpacking. Please pray that there was no loss of goods while things were sitting in warehouses in the port, and that this helps greatly with the orphanage budget this fall.

Random stuff from this week

I'm loving the olympics, but I'm getting tired. Tough when the sports I'm really interested in watching go until 12:30 at night, and then I have to get up at 6:30 the next morning to get my daughter to school and myself to work! Friday afternoons are always quiet and long at work - today was especially!

We went out for supper tonight - not really anything to cook and both too tired to do it anyway. We were going to go to KFC, but decided to hit the BBQ place again - yummy!

Kaylen's second day of kindergarten was equally successful - I think. She's so funny though. She told me that she thinks, "Kindergarten is going to be the best year of school! ... Oooorr maybe 4th grade." But then when Daddy asked her how school went today she said, "Oh, I don't know." Sometimes she's a little hard to figure out. She had art today as their daily special class (yesterday was music, they'll have their first time at P.E., library/computer, and guidance next week) - but she said they didn't actually do any art because they just had to learn the rules. :)

Last weekend, mid-afternoon, I found this:
Can anyone tell me what time it was?!? I think my alarm clock is on the fritz. It's still working - it was back to the normal time when I went up to bed, without me resetting it. I think it's done this once before (that I've seen) - does it during storms or if the electricity flashes, but I don't remember there being a storm that day. Wierd!

This weekend Kaylen's going to a friend's birthday party tomorrow. Sunday I'm helping in the 4-year-olds Sunday school classroom during the early service. And I'm really looking forward to a picnic Sunday afternoon with three other families in our area that are adopting from Haiti. I'm so excited for this community we're developing. We have families to share what are going through with our adoption process now, and our kids will have friends that have similar backgrounds as them to share with growing up. Between us, we currently have 6 children (5 girls & 1 boy), but after we have our kiddos home from Haiti, we'll have 15 children (9 girls & 6 boys) - how awesome is that?!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

1st Day of Kindergarten

Kaylen had a great 1st day of school. For the longest time she said she wasn't excited but nervous. We didn't believe her - she's not the nervous type. Yesterday the excitement started showing. Last night she was really excited! This morning she acted just like it was any other day. I went over a few things with her, like which way she goes to find her classroom when she gets in the school, etc. She says, "I know, I know..." :)

Getting ready - these were a few days ago. We took her supplies to school on Meet the Teacher night - they didn't all fit in her bag, and she could hardly carry them all!







More pix from this morning - yep I was one of two crazy moms taking pictures at daycare. The other one was Ryan's mom - she also followed the bus to school to take a few pictures there too. Ryan is who she's sitting next to on the bus - he's been in her class for the last 2 1/2 years at daycare, and now not only goes to the same elementary school, but is in the same kindergarten classroom.

Kaylen had a great day. She told me all about it when we got home. It took about an hour telling me everything. She really likes her teacher. She learned some new rules, some new routines, went all the way across the monkey bars, had music class, and school lunch that apparently was really yummy - pizza, raw veggies & dip, chocolate milk. She said she had 5 recesses, but she included the 3 regular ones, an outdoor activity her class did, and then outdoor playtime after school at daycare.

Anyway, day 1 was a success, and I think it's going to be a great school year!

Look Quickly

... or you might miss it!
The lower right-center tooth is very loose, and I don't think it'll be there much longer. She told me it was loose last week, but I didn't think much of it then. I had to ask her if she banged it on anything or if she'd been trying to get it loose. She said no.

Our girl is growing up entirely too quickly! Isn't she a little young for this? I don't think I lost a tooth until I was 7. She's 5 1/2. OK - I looked it up online. This says, "Most kids have their first loose tooth at age 5 or 6, but it can happen when they're as young as 4 or as old as 8." It also says that it can take a month for it to fall out after it becomes loose - I don't think that'll happen here - it's really loose!

So, how much does the tooth fairy pay now-a-days? I guess I better study up on this stuff, huh?!? She already mentioned the tooth fairy, saying something about how the older kids at daycare said that the tooth fairy is real, but she wasn't sure. I asked her what she thinks and she said she doesn't know - she'll just have to wait until her tooth comes out and then see the next morning. Hmmmm...

Butter Shawn Johnson

Well, can't see her very well - we couldn't get very close, but you get the idea...

Iowa State Fair

We made it to the State Fair today. It was a lot of fun today - and a beautiful day for it. It got a little warm later in the day, but much better than nasty the heat and humidity we've had in previous years! Wynonna Judd was pretty good. Wells usually has a concert for their employees. It was supposed to be Leann Rhimes, but she is apparently sick, so Wynonna filled in. Kaylen was pretty good through it - it was a good time to rest after walking around the first couple hours, but by the end she was politely telling us she was "starting to get a little bored."

Next we stopped into the Ag building to see the butter cow, right next to the butter sculpture of Shawn Johnson (by the way, this local girl did awesome today in Beijing!). Although, it didn't look too much like her - guess you had to use your imagination a bit. Didn't get the chance to see the ice sculpture of Lolo Jones. There was too much of a crowd and it was hot in there, so we headed down to see some animals.

Dad - you'd have laughed at us. You'd have never known I grew up on a dairy farm, seeing us take pictures of Kaylen petting a baby calf. She was a little scared though, and didn't want to get too close to his mama - a little different getting close to one that's bigger than you! She also had great fun petting the baby miniature ponies - so cute! I realized after we got home that we forgot to walk through the swine building, so we missed this year's biggest boar - "Freight Train". I heard he broke a record this year. We did see the largest bull though - "Tiny" was 3012 lbs.

We of course made sure to hit The Dairy Barn for some great ice cream cones, and Jock got his annual turkey leg. We had an early lunch before we left home and we'd snacked on Barksdale's cookies and the ice cream, so we didn't have a chance to patronize the beef producers for supper. Maybe next year we'll hit them again.

We only got a few pictures this year, but I haven't had a chance to download them yet. I was too busy tonight watching the Olympics and playing with my new toy - we finally splurged for a Blackberry for me! I think I've now got it somewhat figured out - at least enough to do the minimal functions of checking email, surfing the web, and making/receiving phone calls and text messages. :)

The Olympics

I'm conducting a poll - leave a comment with your answer...

What's your opinion of the Olympics:

a. I LOVE the Olympics
b. I like the Olympics
c. Depends on which part - I do like __________ (fill in the blank)
d. Eh (read with a shrug)
e. Please don't make me watch (with a groan and a curled-up lip and rolling eyes)
f. I hate the Olympics
g. What's the Olympics?

By the way, I'm watching the opening ceremony right now. I'm not a history fan, but this is awesome! And the precision! The symbolism! The Beauty!

And a Olympic quiz... On the Olympic flag: a) What do the five rings symbolize? b) What do the 5 colors symbolize? OK now, no cheating - keep yourself honest. We had to look up the answers because we were curious and had forgotten. Don't comment your answers if you had to google it.

Have you ever...

My friend Jodie tagged me via her blog, so now you're all tagged with another "getting to know you" questionnaire. Answer the questions with an X or an answer and either add it to your blog or send it to your friends (including me).

Gone on a blind date: (no-unless you count the night I met Jock)
Skipped school: X (college only, but not much)
Watched someone die: X
Been to Canada: X
Been to Mexico: (no)
Been to Florida: X
Been on a plane: X
Been lost: X
Been on the opposite side of the country: X
Gone to Washington, DC: X
Swam in the ocean: X
Cried yourself to sleep: X
Played cops and robbers: X
Recently colored with crayons: X
Sang Karaoke: X (if doing it at my dad's with/for family counts - not in public really)
Paid for a meal with coins only: not sure
Done something you told yourself you wouldn't: X
Made prank phone calls: X
Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose: X
Caught a snowflake on your tongue: X
Danced in the rain: X
Written a letter to Santa Claus: X
Been kissed under the mistletoe: X
Watched the sunrise with someone you care about: X
Blown bubbles: X
Gone ice-skating: X
Been skinny dipping outdoors: (no)
Gone to the movies: X
1. Any nickname? Lis, honey, mom
2. Mother's name: JoAnn
3. Favorite drink? Donno - probably milk (fresh unprocessed is the best)
4. Any Tattoos? no
5. Body piercings? Just ears - if they haven't closed
6. How much do you love your job? Like it
8. Favorite vacation? San Francisco, Haiti
9. Ever been to Africa? No
10. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? yes
11. Ever been on TV? Don't think so
12. Ever steal any traffic sign? No
13. Ever been in a car accident? Yes
14. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 4-door
15. Favorite salad dressing? probably Balsamic or raspberry Vinaigrette
16. Favorite pie ? Rhubarb
17. Favorite number? don't have one
18. Favorite movie? don't think I have one
19. Favorite holiday? Easter
20. Favorite dessert? Ice Cream
21. Favorite food? Ice Cream
22. Favorite day of the week? Don't know - probably Saturday or Sunday
23. Favorite brand of body wash? Dove
24. Favorite toothpaste? Crest Mint Gel w baking soda & peroxide
25. Favorite smell? don't know
26. What do you do to relax? listen to music, read, sleep, watch TV, blog :)
27. How do you see yourself in 10 years? I'll steal Jodie's idea - Mom to 15-yr-old girl, 12-year-old boy, 11-year-old girl, and maybe more. Probably busy as ever.
28. How many siblings do you have? 3 - Amy (6yrs older), Jack(4yrs older), Karen 10.5 yrs younger)
29. Furthest place you will send this message? It's called the world wide web, but probably CA/WA or FL, maybe Canada.
30. Who will respond to this the fastest? Donno :)

My strange quirks

Can someone please tell me where I got the term "Yumm-O!"? I think I heard it somewhere (maybe?) and it sounded funny and I said it to Kaylen once or twice and she thought it was funny and laughed at boring old mom, and it stuck. Hmmmm....

July Adoption Process Update

Your dossier has been submitted to Parquet. Unfortunately, this office processes out of order and can take up to 10 months for release. The good news is that we are seeing releases nearly every month.

Please God let the wait in Parquet be short!

Just so you all know, this is the first of the court steps. They are verifying the IBESR signatures, before it goes on the remainder of the court steps - Judgement & 2nd Legal where in Haiti's eyes they legally become our children with our last name. After that, they go through the Ministry of Interior (MOI) where they approve passports and then print them.

The US side of the processing (immigration at USCIS), can be happening in little pieces as they get documents from the Haitian steps, so that hopefully by the time we have their Haitian passports, we can have their visas fairly quickly and they can come home. Make sense? Clear as mud? Yah - it takes time to figure this out! And I don't even know the details - this is the condensed version! :)

Happy Birthday, Elijah!

Our little boy is 2 years old today! I can't believe we're celebrating his 2nd birthday with him so far away, but I'm at peace that he is being very well cared for, and our Lord is watching over him and preparing his heart and ours for him and his sister to join us when the paperwork is all through the adoption process. I can't wait for that day when we can come to bring he home, and he can join our home and our family - physically. He's already here in our hearts and our minds!

We love you and miss you, Elijah Ralph! We pray you're having a fun day with your friends and nannies today, and are having a great 2nd birthday! We pray you're home long before your next birthday!

We're planning to go out for pizza and ice cream to celebrate in honor of Elijah's 2nd birthday. Hopefully we can get a good picture to share later tonight, and to keep for Elijah's scrapbook.

Updated photos from this evening:
We finally tried Old Chicago, and loved it! And you can't go wrong with Dairy Queen! Yumm-O!

UNICEF Anti-International-Adoption?

I don't know if there's anything that can be done, but it's very unsettling. At the very least, please read this and at least be aware.

I couldn't have written it better myself - Thank you Dawn for sharing. I appreciate your heart for the children of the world.

Dawn and I met back this past February when Linda and Pierre were visiting in Iowa. I'm glad we've connected again!