E&J's Homecoming 1st Anniversary

Elijah & Josephine have now been home for a year. Wow! What a journey it’s been! At referral, we were thinking they’d be home early the next spring. Then the process dragged on, then the earthquake shook, and we feared the worst. But God worked it for good, and brought them home to us on January 25, 2010.

On that day, a year ago, we were finally allowed to leave the Orlando Sanford International Airport with Elijah & Josephine in our arms between midnight and 1:00 am (although our paperwork said 1/24/2010). Jock pulled the rental car around, and I took a sleeping Josephine out to the car with me to get the car seats buckled in and Josephine buckled in also - quite the job with a back-arching, kicking and screaming 2-1/2-year-old! She was so scared, but I somehow got her in there! Jock came out with Elijah, and we told him, "shita" (sit in Creole), and he crawled right in and sat on the seat in between the two toddler seats, so we had to revise, and told him, "shita isit" (sit here), pointing to his car seat, and he complied. We wanted to get as close to Orlando International Airport as we could, however, soon after we got onto the freeway, a Hampton Inn sign called our names.

We climbed into bed around 2 am, and slept through our 8:00 wake-up call. We awoke around 8:30, and I quickly got our things repacked for our flights home, while Jock checked out and grabbed us bananas, yogurt and bagels from the continental breakfast. We got to the airport, then had the fun of returning our rental car, gathering up our bags and two small children and making the trek in to check in for our flights. We stopped by a gift shop for another carry-on bag (in case we were separated on the plane), and a couple more entertainment items. We got through security fairly quickly and headed towards our gate - making a pit-stop to change a VERY stinky diaper - then checked in at our gate to get our seats. Luckily we sat right across from each other, in the row right behind first class - thus more leg room. :)

Elijah screamed for about 20 minutes on the flight - until he fell asleep for a while - then creamed another 20 minutes when he woke up. After that, he was fine. It could have been his ears, but we think the realization and fear suddenly hit him when he recognized the baby photo album we'd brought on all three of our previous trips to Haiti. The gentleman sitting next to Jock was very kind and gracious, as was the couple sitting behind them, who kindly explained to their daughter that sometimes babies' ears hurt on airplanes. Josephine and I sat in a 2-seat section across the aisle, and she slept most of the way. I did have to get up and change her diaper once though - she'd even soaked through her pants, so I had to wipe up the seat too. I'm sure the passengers in first class appreciated that smell wafting past them and the long wait for the restroom while I tried to maneuver her on the tiny changing table- Yikes!

We were starving once we got to St. Louis, so once we found our gate and made a few phone calls, Jock got us some food. I don't remember what we got other than french fries, which the attendants graciously let us carry onto our flight to Des Moines. The french fries made the flight with Elijah and Josephine go really smoothly. They were awake most of this flight, and we even got a few smiles out of them. Unfortunately when we got home our camera had destroyed our memory card, so we have no photos of our trip home.

Amazingly, we had no flight delays on our way home, despite the blizzard (and I'm not exaggerating) we arrived home to! It would have been a very scary landing had we realized it how close we were to landing and how bad the weather was. We couldn't see a thing out the windows, until we were ready to hit the pavement - wow! When we deplaned, as we walked towards down the terminal, we were told by passers-by that we had a small crowd waiting. We stopped in the restroom to check diapers and freshen up, then headed downstairs to a news crew and our friends who braved the blizzard to welcome Elijah & Josephine home. I have very little recollection of this part - I know I talked to people, and even the news crew, but I was soooooo tired, it's very much a blur! I know that a couple of our friends took our keys from Jock, went to collect our luggage, paid for our week of parking and pulled our van around for us, buckled in E&J's car seats that had been haphazardly thrown in the back seat a week before, and brought in all our winter gear that was also left in the back seat. We chatted for a bit, then headed home.

Elijah & Josephine had the shock of their lives when we stepped outside of the airport. I remember carrying Josephine, as we walked about 10-20 yards to the van, into the wind & snow. She turned, curious to look where we were going, and quickly snapped her head back to bury her face in my shoulder, as if to say, "What was that nasty, cold, white stuff?!?" (She still does the same in the snow and wind.) We got the kids buckled in (which went better this time), and headed for our house - on treacherous road conditions, but we made it. Elijah & Josephine fell asleep on the way home, and didn't even move when we carried them inside and plopped them down onto the living room floor. Soon after we arrived home, a warm meal was brought to us by another family in our small group - along with a gallon of milk and a bunch of bananas. A simple meal, but warm and homecooked - was one of the best we've tasted after being stuck in airports for the previous 7 days.

It wasn't long before we all crashed, and woke up the next morning to our new life as a family of 5. Life has changed so much in the past year, for all of us, but especially for Elijah & Josephine. We can’t wait to see what God has in store for the next year, and beyond! A HUGE thank you to all of you who were a part of our journey to welcome Elijah & Josephine into our family - that day, the two weeks after the earthquake, the previous 2-1/2 years of waiting, or even since they've been home!

Here are some photos to capture part of their stories as we know it (you can click on the photos to enlarge if you'd like)...

Elijah:

Our referral photo, June 2007, age 10 monthsOur first trip to Haiti, March 2008, age 19 monthsMy second trip to Haiti, July 2008, age nearly 24 monthsMy third trip (Jock’s 2nd trip) to Haiti, March 2009, age 31 monthsHomecoming Week, January 2010, age 3 1/2Dedication Day, Mother’s Day 2010, age 3 3/4Fourth Birthday, August 2010January 2011, age 4 1/2

Josephine’s Photos:

Our referral photo, July 2007, age 2 monthsOur first trip to Haiti, March 2008, age 9 monthsMy second trip to Haiti, July 2008, age nearly 15 monthsMy third trip (Jock’s 2nd trip) to Haiti, March 2009, age 22 monthsHomecoming Week, January 2010, age 34 monthsThird Birthday, May 2010, age 3Fall 2010, age 3 1/2January 2011, age 3 1/2

8 Years Old!

Happy birthday to my beautiful princess!

“Adopting Haiti”

Watching “Adopting Haiti” was good for me, to see what was happening at the orphanage after earthquake and the efforts to get the children home to their forever families. I can’t imagine the stress of being there and trying to do the best for the children, both short-term and long-term. I’m so thankful for all those who participated in those efforts!

Emotionally, it’s hard for me to describe how I felt watching the movie. I remember those two weeks like they were yesterday, although there were a few details I’d not known or had forgotten. The movie almost seemed surreal watching it a year later without all the stress I had when it was occurring. The tears watching it this time were so much fewer. Last year, we watched those clips on CNN as they’d come on with great anxiety – waiting for news of when our children might be in our arms, eyes peeled for any glimpse of them, just to know they were still OK.

There are a few key pieces of the story of our children coming home that were missing. A couple are just for us – a couple clips we saw last year of our children (Elijah standing in a tub getting a sponge bath from a nanny, and Josephine standing up in a crib with six other babies). The other is huge – the wait on the parents’ parts, both in our homes and in Florida for the children to be released to us. Those times were agonizing, and very much a part of the story. When “Adopting Haiti” cut from the children being loaded onto the cargo plane to the Wyatt girls at home in Ohio 7 weeks later, it seemed to leave a gaping hole.

However, I’m glad to see Saintania and Eveline are home and doing well and thriving. I’m also happy to see that Mr. Wolfer was able to help the girls reconnect with their birth family. The story was very touching, and I cried right along with Saintania, as I thought of my children possibly never knowing their birth parents, or even knowing what became of them.

For those of you that are interested in watching it, go to www.hulu.com, and search for “Adopting Haiti”. Both Elijah and Josephine are shown in the movie. Elijah is in a clip around 23:30-35, with the blue shirt walking and then sitting on the bench. I believe he is shown again on the bus, sleeping and then with his back to the camera looking out the window, with a blue shirt on around 34:20-28. Josephine is shown on the van behing held by a nanny at 29:34 – look at the far right of the screen, she peeks out around another child to see what’s going on. She’s also VERY briefly shown again on the van, around 35:45, again at far right with a plaid outfit with white sleeves with three animal pictures across the chest.

I’m so glad that we’ve ordered copies of this movie to save for the kids. They are not really old enough to fully understand what was going on, but we do plan to watch it with them now that we’ve watched it. It will be interesting to watch their faces as they watch part of their story, a year later, and see if there are any glimpses of memories that pop up for them. We have shown them photos of themselves and us visiting them at the orphanage on our trips to Haiti, and they LOVE it. If they do remember, I’m not sure images of the chaos of everyone being outside after the earthquake will be as fun for them, but hopefully not traumatic.

Routine Exercise!

Yes, starting Farrell’s means daily exercise. And not just any exercise – my body has been put to the test this week! I haven’t worked my body this hard since ... well ... I’m not sure I ever had. And I’m not saying I haven’t ever done anything – but not like this! Or maybe it’s because I’m about 15 years older than I was the last time I’ve done anything remotely close to this.

I’ve been very sore most of the week from the training I’ve endured. My muscles are rebelling, but that means progress, right? My pecs were already sore from the push-ups during the Saturday testing, and there are at least a few push-ups done at each work-out so that has continued somewhat.

Monday was my first day of cardio kick-boxing. I am generally a fairly coordinated person, but felt a little uncoordinated at times. I was able to complete most of the skills though, and the coaches helped us all to do it in proper form to really work the muscles and prevent injuries. Slowly, but surely, I’ll figure this out!

Tuesday morning was ROUGH! It was lower body resistance day, and I couldn’t even complete one set of some of the exercises – so I just did as many as I could, and didn’t worry about speed (the second of the three sets for each exercise is supposed to be faster – yah right!) - basically my second set was continued into the second set, then I did a few of set 3. We did exercises for quads, hams, adducts/abducts, gluts, and abs. My legs were pretty sore before walking out that day and it progressed throughout that day as I sat at my sedentary job.

The soreness continued through (and maybe worsened) Wednesday, but I was able to keep up with the cardio-kickboxing on Wednesday morning – even the kicks, despite my sore legs. The Wednesday instructor really worked the arms that morning, but I survived without too much additional soreness there. [Luckily Jock bathed the little kids that night, as I don’t think I could have done it due to my legs! By the way, he’s been an awesome support to me starting this program – encouraging, supportive of my meal plan, and picking up my slack when I’m in pain or too tired.]

Thursday morning was upper-body resistance day (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday alternates between upper-body and lower-body). I was glad for the rest-day for my legs – although they got a little warm-up with the jumping jacks at the beginning which were on the verge of going too long for my poor legs. We moved right into arm work-outs, and those went OK. Like the legs, I couldn’t complete all three sets of everything, but there were some I could mostly complete. The experienced lady next to me warned me after the chest and back exercises that the shoulder ones were the hardest. She was right (youch!) – I couldn’t complete any of those sets. The instructor was good about telling us to drop the bands and just do the motions if we couldn’t complete it, so that was helpful. The triceps were rough also, and then we finished with the biceps. Overall, upper body resistance wasn't too bad ... until I got home and in the shower and my triceps complained when I tried to wash my hair. Washing hair is over-rated, anyway, right? No, I am still washing my hair – don’t worry! (I did skip conditioner today though.)

Now that I’ve completed each of the types of work-outs, I’m interested to see how I do on the second round, if it gets easier, or if it takes a couple times of the pain and suffering until it starts getting easier. I guess, though, that getting easier isn't the point - since it's not supposed to be easy or I'm probably not working the muscles. But, I do hope the pain subsides somewhat though.

The nutrition plan is going well. I’m able to eat foods that I like, and I’m not really hungry throughout the day. The only issue I had was with a protein shake – my stomach didn’t like it, especially at 4:45 am! I didn’t see it again, but I didn’t feel so good after my cardio workout. I also tried peanut-butter on a toasted English muffin – which I love – but also was slightly queasy after that morning's cardio work-out. My stomach does like a hard-boiled egg and a piece of toast better for its pre-workout energy – but I’ve only tried that on resistance days, so I'll find out tomorrow if that will be good on cardio days as well.

I’m also hoping that my routine of going to bed earlier and getting up earlier gets easier. For some reason, twice this week I’ve woken up an hour or two after I’ve gone to sleep, gone to the bathroom and in my groggy state, have half-gotten dressed for work-out, before realizing it really wasn’t 4:30 yet. Sheesh! Don’t know if I’m just nervous about sleeping through it, if my body thinks I’m just taking a nap when I go to bed that early, or if I just drink too much water and have to get up to go to the bathroom. Maybe a combination of all three!

P.S. – I hope all my Farrell’s posts aren’t a complete bore or annoyance to you. I’m writing all of this so I can look back on what I’ve accomplished, keep myself accountable, and maybe even inspire someone else to make positive lifestyle changes. :)

One year ago...

One year ago tomorrow was the earthquake that changed our lives. Never could we have imagined the means which brought our children home.

Looking back at last January's post brought tears to my eyes. Some parts of it I remember like it was yesterday - other details I'd forgotten. I'm so glad I have this documented as a reminder. I never want to forget - this is part of Elijah's and Josephine's life.

We continue to pray for Haiti. Nearly 3 years ago was our first trip to Haiti, and a piece of our hearts were left there when we returned. We mourn for our children, for the people of Haiti, for all that has been lost. We pray for comfort, strength, faith, wisdom, restoration...

We look forward to watching "Adopting Haiti" tomorrow. It is a documentary that chronicles the life and events at Elijah & Josephine's orphanage following the earthquake and the efforts to evacuate the children from Haiti to their waiting adoptive families. I've got my box of kleenex ready. Check it out on Hulu tomorrow. There is a lot of information on Mattoid Entertainment's website about the film. The trailer is here. I assume that if you go back to www.hulu.com tomorrow, and search for "Adopting Haiti" you'll find it.

Farrell's Orientation/Testing

I survived the 10°F temperatures this morning for my one-mile run as part of the test. It was brutal but I only walked a little bit of it and finished in 12:44. The rest of the 2 1/2 hours was meeting my coach, getting supplies, learning a little bit about how things are going to go, and doing the rest of the testing and measurements.

Once I got home, I spent a good deal of time trying to figure out the nutrition plan. It seems quite complicated and I already have a few questions for my coach, even though it says to keep it simple - ha! I do have a week of meals planned out though, and have a list of groceries to get tomorrow.

I also have to read through the rest of the manual tomorrow - the exercise portions. This is going to be a tough work-out, as they told us at orientation for at least one part of the workouts, that if we don't hit muscle fatigue or we can carry on a conversation with our neighbor, we're not pushing hard enough. I'm sure this couch-potato body of mine will be very sore the first week or two until I get used to it!

Even so, I think sticking to the nutrition plan will be my biggest challenge. That, and getting up at 4:40 a.m.

Farrell’s Extreme Bodyshaping

I didn't go into this in detail on my New Year's Resolutions post, but I'm really getting serious about my health this year. So I'm starting Farrell's Extreme Bodyshaping – YIKES!!!

I'm a little nervous, but also excited to get started towards a healthier me. It's a ten week, six days per week program with four key components, according to their website: Cardiovascular exercise to burn fat, Resistance training to build muscle, Nutrition plan to help you eat healthy, and Instructors and coaches to keep you encouraged throughout your journey.

They do before and after photos, and testing at the beginning, middle and end. Photos are Friday evening (which won't be shared unless I win the 10-week contest – ha!) Orientation and testing is Saturday morning at 8am. I understand they measure weight, body fat and inches (chest, waist, arms, thigh, hips/butt, sit-and-reach); do one-minute sit-up and push-up tests; and an outdoor (rain/snow/shine) timed one-mile run. I'm not certain I can do more than a few sit-ups and push-ups or run a mile. I might have to walk part of it, especially if my asthma gives me trouble like it tends to do if I exercise in cold weather – but I will complete it – I can easily walk a mile, so my time should be under 20 minutes! :)

Then, starting dark and early Monday morning (5:15 am!), I'll be starting the exercise regime. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are cardio kick-boxing. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday are resistance training (bands). Luckily, Saturday is not at 5:15 am – there's a choice between 6, 7, or 9:15 am – still early for a Saturday, but I'm committed. That's the only good part about the cost of the program – it makes you committed, or you've just wasted a large sum of money! I'm committed to making it worth my money and time.

How did I decide?

I have a few friends that have completed the program – and a couple that continued to go to stay in shape even after their initial 10 weeks was completed. They have had good results, have sustained them, and I want to see that in myself as well.

I am at the highest weight I've ever been, and I'm not happy about it. My weight actually fluctuated quite a bit in the last year. Following the earthquake in Haiti, I lost about 10 pounds in two weeks with all the stress surrounding that event. I gained about half of it back, but was able to keep the other half off for at least a few months – but it came back after I went back to work, and had a less active lifestyle not chasing 2 toddlers around my house! Then in June, I was sick and eventually had emergency surgery. During those the week of my surgery and the week of recovery, I also lost about 10 pounds. It all came right back after recovery, and then some. I think I'm up 7-10 pounds from where I was a year ago (before the earthquake), and I just haven't been happy about how I look, how my clothes fit, etc, for a several months.

I've never been much of a dieter, and I have horrible eating habits. I tend to not pay attention to portion sizes and instead, overeat. I also don't pay too much attention to calorie, fat, or sugar intake. I'm guessing that the nutrition component is going to be the hardest part of this program for me – but I really want to make it work, and I am going to try to get my entire family eating healthier as well.

Over the past two years, I've tried to start a 9-week Couch-to-5k running program several times. I was doing well motivating myself to get up in the mornings to run/jog three days per week. Each time I'd start the program, I'd have to stop around week 4 or 5, due to shin splints. I'd give myself rest time, and then try to start again, with no luck. New shoes didn't seem to help. I was, however, running on pavement. I also understood that sometimes shin splints can occur with decreased muscle strength in the lower leg, with excess weight, or by doing too much too quickly. I still have a goal of running a 5k someday, and would like to continue running, so I'm hoping Farrell's will help in the building muscle strength in my legs and losing weight, so maybe I can start running again after the 10 weeks and make that goal of running a 5k this summer!

So there it is. That's what I'll be doing for the next 10 weeks. I'm doing something extreme!