In Memory of Mom

Saturday, Jock, Kaylen, and I all walked in the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation's Race for the Cure in Des Moines. I've always wanted to participate in it, and the company I work for always pays the registration fees for us, but it's never worked out before. Especially when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and subsequently lost her fight, I've wanted to do this. This year everything worked out.

We of course walked the 5K (~3.1 miles) instead of running, and Kaylen rode part of the way on Jock's shoulders or in the stroller, and walked/ran part of it. It was a rather hot day for early October. Usually the day of this event people have been bundling up for the chilly or freezing walk through downtown. Not today! I think it was above 80 by the time we finished!

It was an awesome experience joining the 20,000+ crowd for this awesome event. In addition to the numbers we got with our registration, they also had "In Celebration of", and "In Memory of" placards available for people to wear. I also noticed many, many women wearing shirts just like ours that were pink instead of white, that said "Survivor" on the front. Probably the thing that stood out to me the most, and brought a tear to my eye as I was walking, was an older woman standing along the race route with a sign that said "Thank You" to her relatives that were walking for her. It's sobering how many people are affected by breast cancer!

Our experience with my mom having breast cancer was probably the toughest time of my life. It was so hard to watch her suffering from something that we could do little about. We just did our best to help out where we could. Our family really came together during that time, and has been so much closer than we ever were before that. As much as we all miss Mom, we know she is in a much better place today, and is watching over each and every one of us. Someday we will see her again. We love you mom!

Some pictures from the race:











These pictures don't do it justice though. The last one shows only a small fraction of the people that were there. At a few points in the race as we'd turn corners, we'd look down a few blocks and see the streets just as crowded as where we were - in the same race as us. The runners/walkers extended many blocks ahead and many blocks behind - it was just amazing!

Congratulations Karen!

This blog is dedicated to my sister, Karen. I'm so proud of her! She just finished degree in cosmetology today. I think she still has to take her boards, but we already know she's awesome. Since she started at cosmetology school last fall, she has been coloring and cutting for our whole family and many of her friends. Dad and Terry's kitchen and porch sure get a lot of use, and she's sure busy on holiday weekends. Sometimes we give her a break though.

She's just awesome. Jock says she does better than his barber that's been cutting hair for many years. Now, if we could just get her to move closer to us! Maybe we need to convince Alex first?! :) Here's a few pictures of her at work...

Cutting our sister, Amy's hair:


Coloring our neice, Kelsey's Hair:

We're in IBESR!!!

I know, I know - you're thinking - wow - three posts in one day?! Well, it's worth it...

I just got an email from our adoption coordinator. We're in IBESR!!! To those of you not familiar with the adoption process, that just means we're on to the next step. Since many of you have been asking me if we've heard anything, or have had anything progress, and I"ve been saying no... Well, YES - we are now in the first major step. IBESR is Haitian Social Services. They will review our dossier (our info and the children's social histories) to approve the adoption.

This wait for this step is currently running 4-7 months. After that it will go to parquet/courts/2nd legalization (where we'd get our oficial adoption decree where we officially become their parents in the eyes of Haiti's government. Then we'll have to wait for the children's passport and for the US to approve and recognize them as our children for immigration and their visa before they can come home.

Anyway, it's still a long wait, but it's so exciting to see that we've moved on to the next step at least!

Soccer, Week 2

On to a lighter subject. Today was Kaylen's 2nd day of soccer. We weren't real impressed by the coach of the other team, and perhaps that's why half of the other team did not come this morning. They play at a different time each Saturday, so this could have been a communication issue as well, but who knows. Some of the girls played on the other team so they could get the game going, so there's one picture with Kaylen wearing a navy shirt, the others she's in her own team's red.

For the most part, the girls did much better today than last Saturday. They didn't use their hands as much (although they still did some). They got the ball in the goals more - although still quite a bit of ending up stuck on the sides and in the corners. They still aren't much used to the teamwork - the whole idea of kicking it to their teammate who can kick it in the goal still escapes them. Still very fun to watch, and fun to see the differences after only one week. I'm sure many practiced during the week. Since Kaylen played the first game of the day, we went early and Jock worked with her a bit before they got started.

A few still pictures... Kaylen's team huddle (Kaylen's in black shorts right next to the coach):


Kaylen helping out the navy team:


And some videos... See how easy it is if you use you use your hands to put the ball right in front of the goal, and then kick it in the remaining 3 inches? :)


This one, after stopping it with her hands and then letting the other girls run by to clear her way, she actually ran around the ball when she realized it was going the wrong way, and then kicked it in:


Here's her best shot (actually kicked it the right direction all the way from the side of the court!):

A word about comments

Just a note. This is my blog. I will not tolerate others' hijacking it and posting rude comments. Especially when it is done so anonymously. I will remove your comments if I deem necessary. I do appreciate those that comment positively and good-naturedly. I enjoy having my friends and family read what we're up to. I do not appreciate those who try to post derogatory remarks. I put a lot of thought into most of my posts, and I expect to be treated with respect. If you disagree with something that I say, let me know, but let's not be rude about it. If it comes to it I will moderate blog comments, and read them before they have a chance to be read by others. I hope not to have to do this. I hope that we can all be adults and be polite about things.

In response to the person who posted "You should really look into the organization that you ask people to support"... I have looked into this organization. I am adopting my children through this organization, and that is not a decision that we made lightly. I do support them myself, and would never ask someone to support an organization that I did not believe in or are not supporting myself.

For those of you that are unaware of circumstances that likely are the reason for this rude comment I received, there has been some negative publicity regarding the orphanage in the last couple of months. I did hear first-hand of some concerns. However, most of the negative comments have been second- or third-hand knowledge, and also some situations that had been blown out of proportion before they were given a chance to even have them explained. Jock and I took into consideration all of the things we have heard, and have prayed over our decision and whether or not to continue forward with this organization. We have been in conversation with its leaders, and others to whom I'm grateful for their first-hand knowledge of the conditions of this organization and of its leadership. The first-hand experiences from many that I've had conversations with far outweight the second- or third-hand accusations and assumptions that I've heard. I feel confident that this remains where God is leading us, and I feel confident in the organization. If you have other information (factual, not assumptions or second-hand rumblings) that you would like aired, find an appropriate means to relay that information, rather than just anonomously posting rude and defamatory remarks in the comments on my blog. That I will not tolerate.

Others, thank you for your patience, and I'm sorry I've even had to post this message. I've meant all along for this blog to be a positive outlet for me to share our family's experiences. To my family and friends, thank you for your prayers and support. The organization and all those involved definitely could use your prayers at this time. Our feelings all along have been that Satan was trying to drag us down, and not do what's right for the children we have committed to providing a family. Please pray that we will keep our eyes on God, and focus on His will for our lives. We're trusting in Him to see us through. Some days are harder than others. This is not an easy path that He has chosen for us. It's a long, hard road.

What can you do?

If you know us, or have been following my blog, you know that we are in the process of adopting two children from Haiti. For His Glory Adoption Outreach is facilitating our adoption. FHG is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization here in the United States, that owns and operates the Maison des Enfants de Dieu orphanage in Port au Prince, Haiti. Our babies currently reside there, along with about 125-150 other children. They do all they can for the children that are brought to them, yet they still turn away more than 80 children each month. We were drawn to Haiti in part due to the dire conditions in that country. See my blog post, titled "Why Haiti", for more on this.

Several people have asked me recently about financial circumstances of the orphanage - regarding our adoption, and also how the orphanage is funded to care for these children. Adoptive families do pay adoption fees that cover the expenses of the adoption processors and lawyers handling our adoption. Many also pay sponsorship fees that help provide care for our children; however, not all families do. Many families struggle and hold fundraisers just to pay their adoption fees. So, donations are required to support the day-to-day operations of the orphanage, and as with many non-profit organizations, they struggle from time to time meeting their needs.

FHG recently started a campaign seeking sponsors to commit to supporting the orphanage and its mission to the children and people of Haiti. It is called the "1000 Friends/100 Days" campaign. You can find more information on FHG's website, or on the campaign's MySpace page. Please prayerfully consider what you can do to help. If you are not able to commit financially, please commit to praying. Also, feel free to forward this information to your friends, family and church. There are materials, including a flyer/bulletin insert and a video you can share with others.

Patisipe an Revolisyon An! (Join the Revolution - in Creyol)

Soccer Pictures

Got some pictures from Jock's aunt of Kaylen at soccer. No really good action photos, but we were sitting right behind the goal in a crowded 1/2 of the gym. So we'll try harder next week to position ourselves better and get some more action photos - maybe even video clips.

Excited, and getting ready to start:


I don't know the name of the girl looking at the camera, but Kaylen's the one looking towards her coach who is attempting to give some instruction before the game started:

Blog Changes

Been doing some work on my blog - probably not done yet, so please bear with me.

Soccer

Kaylen started soccer today. I was kicking myself when we got there and I'd forgotten to bring my camera. There's 5 more Saturdays to go, so I should remember to take it at least one of those days, right?!

Each week, they'll do 15-20 minutes of practicing, and then the rest of the time they play a game. They didn't get to technical at this age - basically had to just keep the girls from touching the ball with their hands, and trying to kick it towards the goal - that is, the correct goal. Neither was working very well. I think both teams kicked it in the wrong goal at least once. Mostly it just went towards the corners and the sides, with 10 girls running after it. The coaches were running around on the court with them trying to tell them what to do, so that helped a bit. Also, they played in a gym, so that was good - that kept them contained a bit.

Kaylen is such a competitor, it was so funny watching her play. She was usually leading the pack, kicking and following after the ball - although rarely did it go towards the goal - mostly to the sides and corners - and sometimes behind the goal. It helped that she was one of the bigger girls on the two teams, but there were a few others that were right up there too. We are hoping the teamwork will be good for her, although none of them really got into that too much, so we'll see.

At the very least, I think most of the girls had fun. There was one that got stage fright, and wouldn't leave her mom's side. Another one or two were upset because they couldn't be the one kicking the ball all the time. And a couple (Kaylen included) didn't like sitting on the sidelines when they had to rotate out. Kaylen even got up and tried to help her team when the ball came towards her. Their team helper had to catch her and have her come back, and Jock went to talk to her once and explain why they couldn't all play at the same time. It will be fun to see how they improve over the next 5 weeks. Hopefully I'll have pictures and some improvements to post next Saturday.

More pictures!

Just wanted to post a link to Kathy's blog. She's got many more pictures than I could ever hope to attempt to post. She and her family (they're adopting twin toddlers) must have spend hours upon hours at the orphanage playing with the children and taking pictures of the babies like ours, whose parents weren't able to travel this time. Someone else said it last week when we were waiting for the September update photos - we adoptive parents live for pictures! We're forever grateful!

Anyway, on her blog, going back to late August through today, you'll see some awesome pictures and videos of the children (babies, toddlers, older kids) playing & eating lunch, her teenage daughter's account of the trip, laundry operations at the orphanage, the hotel, and their family, etc. The laundry really gives us an appreciation for our machine - probably does more-so if you've experienced it first-hand. I'm thankful/inspired/encouraged by the nanny's stopping everything at noon to pray over the children.

I SOOOOO want to go down there! Praying that we're able to go on the next trip. No word on when that would be yet though - could be anywhere from January through May. Yikes - our little Josephine could be a year old by then!

Oh - by the way, there's a picture on Kathy's post from today of a baby named Celina, that is available for adoption. This isn't our Josephine Celena - this Celina (name is spelled different) was new to the orphanage around the time of the mission trip, and she is older that Josephine. Josephine isn't in most of the baby playtime pictures - she was sleeping a lot - at only 3 months old.