James' Adjustment - Bedtime

So some of the first questions people ask me about James' transition home are:
- How is he sleeping?
- How is he eating?
- Is he speaking/understanding English yet?
- He is he getting along with his siblings?

Other common questions/comments are:
- Why was he brought to the orphanage for adoption/what's his family background?
- He's so lucky to have been adopted by you.
- Why did you choose to adopt from Haiti?
- Why does it take so long to adopt?
- How much does it cost to adopt from Haiti?

I'll attempt to answer these questions (at least of our experiences so far), for those of you I haven't talked to already, over the next few days...

I'll start here with the sleeping question, since it is on the forefront of my mind right now.

James is a pretty good sleeper. When we were in Haiti, he slept in a twin bed with me, and napped a few times with both of us. He wasn't feeling very well, and was very out-of-sorts not only due to that but also because he was taken from the home and caregivers he'd known for the last ~18 months. I could tell he wasn't too comfortable sleeping next to or on me. He wanted to be held/comforted, but he also wasn't used to being touched or having blankets on him. He also is a belly sleeper, arms and legs out, so sleeping next to me, on me, under covers, or next to me on his side, snuggled in, was odd to him.

By the time we got home, we figured he might be afraid to sleep in his bed, so we planned to ease him into it. We started sleeping with him, with a makeshift mattress on the floor of the boys' room next to his bed. Then we would wait until he fell asleep and put him on his bed, but still stayed in the room so we'd be right there when he fussed to comfort him back to sleep.

After a few days of that, we decided to try just putting him in his bed to fall asleep. I did it a couple nights/naptimes, and sat next to him rubbing his back until he fell asleep. Then we tried just staying next to him, then closer to the door, and just outside the door - but things were getting worse, not better like we'd hoped by trying to ween him off of us being in the room - so I went back to staying in the room with him. When my back couldn't take it anymore, Jock took over, but instead just put him in his bed and stepped out of the room. The ear-piercing screaming started again, but when Jock went back into the room, and said, "Shhhhhh," he stopped. Apparently I'm the softie, because when I put James to bed, he doesn't stop, he just keeps crying. After a few days of us trying to sneak out of his room after laying him down, he was back to screaming out, like he was afraid again, so we backed up to staying in his room until he fell asleep. We don't want him to feel abandoned.

Once James is asleep he sleeps quite well. He does wake up a few times in the night, crying. We would go to him right away when he cried, and just the sound of our voice or rubbing his back for a few seconds would calm him right back to sleep. However, when we're also asleep we weren't always hearing him - he doesn't always cry very loudly - sometimes just a soft whimper.

One night Jock woke up thinking he'd heard something. He went to check on the boys and came back in a panic to get me because he couldn't find James. I walked in the boys' room, and both of them (in Elijah's bed) sat up and looked at me. Elijah said, "He was crying, so I said come'ere." I told Elijah that was so sweet of him, but that we want to try to get James to sleep in his own bed... but that if he does crawl in with him, try to get him to go on the other side by the wall so he doesn't fall out. Elijah's Response: "He already did," very matter-of-factly. The thump is probably what woke Jock up! James wasn't phased at all! We got a good laugh about that incident!

We've actually found James in bed with Elijah or sound asleep on the floor next to Elijah's bed a few different times. Also, one morning, the boys were up playing with the light on before we woke the kids up to get ready for school. We figure they'd been playing there for a while considering the toys they had out, etc. Elijah said James woke up, and since Elijah doesn't know how to tell time yet, he thought it was time to get up and play like they do on Saturdays.

Elijah is such a good big brother to James, but we also know that he needs to get his sleep - especially since he's in all-day kindergarten and doesn't take naps. James crying at bedtime, and crying in the night, and waking up too early in the morning can't be good for Elijah's rest. So, we decided to move James' bed into our room for a while. We figure he just needs that comfort that we're always there for him. We're still staying in the room until he falls asleep, and then we're also there to just tell him "It's OK" and "tahn pou domi" when he wakes in the night or too early in the morning. We don't even get out of bed, he just hears our voices knows we're there, and goes back to sleep.

We'll give this a try for a while, and hopefully it won't be too long before he's back in his room.

Happy 10th Birthday Kaylen!!!

Double Digits!!!

Our silly, smart, sassy, sweet girl is turning 10 today!

I can't believe how much you've grown up this past year. Here are some highlights:

Wishing you a Very Happy Birthday, Kaylen!!!

James' Pick-Up Trip - MIA to Home!

Our flight out of Miami to Dallas wasn't until about noon Saturday, so we had a fairly leisurely time showering, having our complimentary breakfast at the hotel restaurant. James was pretty happy that morning, even though he didn't want to eat much. We ordered him oatmeal for breakfast - he barely tasted one bit and that was it! He did have eat our orange slices and drank some juice, but that was about it. Since the hotel restaurant is on the 7th floor, and we'd asked to be seated by the windows, James had fun looking out the window at the airplanes and the cars on the freeways near the airport.

After breakfast, back in our room, we decided we should try to fit our other carry-on bag into one of our checked bags that wasn't very full. Somehow we got it all put together. That was very helpful to not have to lug one more bag on the plane with us. We just had Jock's backpack, the diaper bag, and James to carry.

We got checked in, got our boarding passes, and got our luggage checked. Getting through security was a little bit traumatic for James, but not near as bad as the day before. They let us go to a shorter line since we had a baby with us, which was really nice. They didn't make us take James' shoes off, which was also nice. But they did make us put James' water through the scanner. Then the guy watching things go through the scanner took his cup and set it aside. I thought he was going to dump it, and I know they don't dump drinks for babies, so I complained. But what I couldn't hear him say the first time was that they had to sample his water - so I calmed down and tried to calm down my screaming baby as he waited for his cup back. They called a guy over right away to sample his cup and gave it right back to him. James calmed down right away, and we just got the rest of our stuff put back together, and meandered our way to our gate.

James was pretty happy the rest of the time we waited for our flight. When we got on our flight he was sitting on his seat between us, just playing, etc. (We were in a plane with six seats across with an aisle down the middle.) We were told it was a very full flight. As we were getting ready to take off, we starting getting James seated and buckled. The minute we buckled his seat belt, he panicked. Yup, the screaming started all over again. :(

As I sat praying for James to calm down, God instead sent a couple experienced, off-duty flight attendants to sit right behind us. They told us that James did not have to sit buckled into his seat. We questioned them before unbuckling him, not wanting to stop and then just have to start the torture all over again. We said, but since he's two, we had to purchase the seat for him. One of them says, "I know, but that's because you need extra space when you've got more than just an infant on your lap. You had to purchase the seat, but he doesn't have to sit in it... unless he's over about 45 pounds... how much does he weight?" Well, he weights less than 30 lbs. She told us that because little kids don't understand seat belts like that and they're so scared of it, he doesn't have to sit in his seat. We could still hold him on our laps.

We unbuckled him, and I held him, and he calmed down immediately. He sat on my lap and slept almost the entire flight. Thank God for those flight attendants! (I was since told that sometimes people have been required to have their 2-year-olds sit, buckled into their seats - so maybe it's an airline policy or something??? At any rate, we were so thankful!)

That flight from Miami to Dallas was longer than anticipated because we were routed around a storm. We were a half-hour late landing, and we only had an hour between flights. When they announced the gates for connecting flights, I was nervous because we had to change terminals and we had less than a half-hour to get to our gate. They also announced, though, that all flights were running slightly late so not to worry too much about making connections.

As soon as we landed in Dallas and were allowed, I started up my phone and got online and checked the status of our connecting flight, and its departure was delayed about a half-hour, so we were fine. We found the gate but were pretty hungry. There was a restaurant right next to our gate, so we ordered some quick food from a bar seat where we could see when the flight was boarding. I changed James diaper, and we made it on our final flight home just fine.

With the new knowledge from the flight attendants on our previous flight, we also kept James on our lap and had no problems on that last flight home - such a blessing! He was awake the whole flight, and was just playing and having fun most of the time. A nice med student sitting across the aisle from us took a photo of all three from us.

Our flight was about a half-hour late getting in to Des Moines, but we had friends and family waiting for us. I texted a couple of them when we landed: "We're Home!!!" And how sweet it was bring James home to his forever family, extended family and close friends! What an overwhelmingly exciting week it was!

Thank you to all our friends and family for supporting us through this adoption process and the ones previously. We could not have done it with out each and every one of you. Thank you for your continued prayers as James continues to transition into life with us in Iowa, and prayers of thankfulness to God for bring him into our family!

James' Pick-Up Trip - PAP to MIA

Friday James woke up early - like around 4 am. Yes, fun times! He was wide awake too! He kept saying something like, "Ahhh Bin!" We had no idea what he was saying, but I thought maybe it sounded something like 'bibon', which is bottle, so I handed his water cup to him. He guzzeled down almost half the cup, then put it down. He was sitting upright, so I just said to him, "Tan pou Domi" (time for bed) or "domi souple" (bed/sleep please). He complied laid down but was still fairly wide awake. As is usual, there was a dog barking off in the distance, so then he started saying, "Aahhhh chen!" (Chen is the word for dog). Yup, that was a dog! He did finally go back to sleep but was up again, as he had been most of the week, by 6:30.

We knew the mission team was going to be leaving for the airport around 7 that morning, so we headed downstairs to see them off. They were finishing getting their bags downstairs and grabbing a quick breakfast. We had breakfast while they were waiting for their ride. By the time their ride came, James was getting antsy and wanted to "ann ale" too. Soon, buddy, but "Tahn" (wait). He didn't like that too much. Nikki explained to him in a little more detail in Kreyol that we would be leaving soon to ride in an airplane, but that didn't satisfy him much.

We went upstairs to shower and finish our packing. James only wanted Jock, and cried and cried when Jock went to shower or was working on his final packing, taking the suitcases downstairs, etc. He wanted me to hold him but he didnt want me to sit or walk out to the balcony. ah, what a long morning! We were ready to go about 20 minutes ahead of our ride, so we hung out downstairs for a bit. A ticking hand even got a few smiles out of James before our ride arrived. :)

Ernst picked us up in GLA's big van, so we were quite comfortable for the trip to the airport. James and I sat in the second row, behind Ernst and Jock. He sat on my lap for a while, but then wanted to sit in the seat, even playing with the seat belt. I tried to keep him awake so that maybe he would sleep on the plane, which worked quite well. He was content to look out the windows at the people/things going by.

When we got to the airport, we had the fun chore of trying to get inside with a baby, a backpack, a diaper bag, two carry-on suitcases, and two large suitcases to check. I used the baby carrier, which worked well, until about the time we got to the line to check in for our flight and check our bags. Good timing. When I gave the lady our passports, she asked for our yellow envelope. I gave her the folder with the IBESR travel papers, which didn't appease her. She wanted to see our visa envelope. I reluctantly handed it over. She just looked at the paper that was on the front, compared the info to our three passports,and handed everything back to us, including our boarding passes. We checked our bags, I handed James to Jock to get him to stop screaming, and we moved along.

Through immigration where they stamp your passports with the exit stamps, the lady asked for our IBESR exit papers. I thought there would be someone after her desk that was going to ask for it, so when she asked for it and before taking it asked if we had an extra copy of everything, I panicked a little bit. But then when I asked her if there was someone else here from IBESR taking them she said she was supposed to take it. So we gave it to her and moved on. Luckily that was all there was, so we were OK. She just wanted to make sure that we had a copy of all our paperwork, which we did.

Round 1 of security, we had to take off our shoes, but luckily they didn't make James take off his. They dumped one of our water bottles, but let us keep the other one, for the baby. :) We got our electronics put back together, and stuck our heads into a little shop for a minute or two.

Then there was Round 2 of security, which was another pain to remove our shoes/belts, empty pockets, remove liquids and electronics, etc. We went through just fine though. However, round 3 to get into the boarding area for our flight was a different story. We got everything out, they also wanted to see our yellow envelope, AND they made us remove James' shoes. He completely lost it! He was already very nervous with so many people and not knowing what's going on, but his shoes were the last straw. He wanted to "ann ale", and his shoes were his freedom! Even after we got his shoes put back on and all our belongings put back together, he still cried and cried for probably 20 minutes. In the area to wait to board the plane - fun times!

I think everyone in that room could describe the three of us still without hesitation, what with all the staring. We had several people come up and try to help us or suggest what we should do to get him to stop screaming (suckers, snacks, help talking to him in Kreyol, etc.). We also had at least a couple people come up and ask us about adoption. Um, not the time people! Oh well. They were well meaning, it's just very awkward when your child is screaming bloody murder in a room full of people. And yes, his scream is blood-curdling, ear-piercing. Jock was a little deaf after that episode. Jock's back was hurting him, so he needed to sit down, but all James wanted was for him to stand up and walk around, as though they were getting ready to go somewhere. I tried to take him, but he only wanted Daddy, so that was a bust.

When Jock thought he could stand again, he did, and James finally calmed down. We walked up towards the doors, so we could watch our friends de-board the plane we were to be boarding soon. We traveled with them in May, and they were there to bring their daughters home! :)

When it came time to board the plane, we were again asked for our yellow envelope... twice. When we handed the lady our boarding pass, she asked for it, then walked over to the counter and printed James a different boarding pass. Then they checked passports in the jetway, and asked for it again. I know it said to keep it out, not to pack it in our luggage, and they were right! But I didn't know it was going to be asked for so many times before we even got on the plane!

The actual flight was another experience in itself. Since James is 2, we had to purchase a seat for James. We had two seats along the window, and one across the aisle from them. There was a doctor and his family sitting across from Jock behind me - but the rows were staggered so I was across from Jock and James a little bit in front of them, so I could look back and see James easily from my seat. They kindly offered to change seats with us so we could all three be together in the middle of the plane, but we thought it better that James be by the window, blocked in by Daddy.

James did well until it was time for him to sit and get buckled into his seat. Oh my, here came the ear piercing screaming again! He kept holding his arms up for Daddy to hold him, and no matter how close Jock scooted close to him and rubbed his back, etc, didn't help. Finally, a flight attendant came by after take-off, who had kind of a loud demanding voice. He said half-jokingly to James, "Hey, what's going on here." He was kind, but I think his voice startled James a little bit and James started silently at him. James then fell asleep buckled in his seat and slept most of the way to Miami. However, when we were starting our descent before landing he woke up and again started his screaming. The same flight attendant came up and talked to James for a bit, gave him an extra bag of pretzels, and he was quiet the rest of the way into Miami.

Upon landing in Miami and de-boarding the plane, we found a restroom on the way to immigration, as we had been told it could take 3 hours. Jock went in first, and then I took James in to change his diaper, and the screaming started again - he just wanted Daddy! I took him back out to Daddy before going back in to go myself so that the screaming would stop -- and yes, the same people were in that hallway staring again, but this time it seemed like more knowing stares, as they probably knew they were done listening to it. We even got a few congratulatory comments, which was nice.

Our instructions for immigration were to go to the US Citizen line, and then to tell the officer that we needed to proceed with an adopted child. The lady minding the line was in a poor mood because people were crawling under the stretchy things between the posts instead of walking all the way down to the end and all the way back. We complied and walked all the way down and back. When we got up to her, we told her we needed to proceed with an adopted child. She got all upset that we were going to slow her line down and that we should have gone to the permanent resident line, which was much longer and slower (fewer booths in that section), but then she told us all preterbed that we should wait here in the line next to her. We did, but I was very annoyed. How dare we US Citizens, slow down her US Citizen line! There was a young kid in line behind us and he'd heard her say that we were going to slow down her line, and begged us to let him go in front of us - since he was just one person. We did but then he was just sent away to go back to a different line. Strange! The man at the booth was very kind. He stamped our passports, took James' passport and our yellow envelope and put it in a slot and asked us to wait along the wall behind his booth. We did -- and didn't slow the lady's line down at all!

We waited just a couple minutes and another officer came through collecting immigration envelopes and brought us and a couple other indivieuals back to a waiting room. Before we walked in, he said, now this room is going to be full, just try to find a seat and if you can't go all the way to the back, there's another room back behind this one. We did, and watched him walk away with James' passport and envelope. Both rooms were standing room only, so we just found a spot along a wall. We were about to sit on the floor when a few seats opened up and we took our chance. We probably only waited 30-45 minutes. We just sat and got our snacks from our flight or that we had in the diaper bag. James also seemend interested in the TV in front of us, which was headline news - ha! We'd seen them call several people's names and ask questions and verify IDs before asking them to sit down again, and we hadn't waited near the 3 hours we were told to expect, so I stayed seated when they called Jock's name. Then they said you're all finished and ready to go, so I had to get our carry-on suitcase, diaper bag, and James (who'd warmed up to me a bit more by then - yay snacks!) through the crowds to meet up with Jock. The officer told us congratulations, gave us a slip of paper telling us what would happen next, and we were on our way -- yippee!!!

We were confused that our paperwork said that James' stamp on his visa in his passort was his proof of permanent residence -- not that he is now officially a US Citizen, but I understood that his type of visa means that they'll automatically transfer it to citizenship and send us his Certificate of Citizenship a few weeks from now. At any rate, as we were walking down the next hallway to get our luggage, we were celebrating to ourselves, our newest US Citizen! We made it!!!

We went down to baggage claim, and found our luggage, which had been set off the carousel by then, but was still right next to the carousel with several others. We got through customs, and headed down to our hotel - the airport hotel, which we were VERY happy for, since we were SOOO tired from traveling and didn't have to worry about shuttling to a hotel, etc. Very convenient! We got checked in, dumped our luggage, and then headed back downstairs to find a restaurant. We found the slowest Burger King on earth, right by the hotel lobby, but we were happy to have dinner so close.

We called home, talked to the kids, and it was so sweet. Elijah asked us on the phone if James was there. We told him he could hear him since we were on speaker, and he said, "Hi James!" He'd been so excited to have his brother home - such a sweet big brother! Of course, James was silent, not knowing what was going on, so we had to explain that. We were so excited for us to get home the next evening, and the grandparents and kids were very excited to meet us at the airport!

We crashed pretty fast that night, after posting a photo on Facebook of the three of us making it back to the US.

James' Pick-Up Trip - Day 3 (Part 2)

Thursday afternoon, we said our goodbyes to Melissa, Susie and Rhyann, and headed out with Holli, Melissa Parker and her daughter Chelsie. We picked up Holli's daughter and Brandon and Nikki's son at school, then picked up Nikki and her girls and a couple boxes of food before heading up to the Baptist Mission and Fort Jacques. We had a full car-load, but 6 adults + 5 children in a SUV never deterred anyone from traveling in Haiti! :)

I thought about half-way to the Baptist Mission (too late!) that I should've taken some dramamine. Oh well, too late now! It felt good getting out at the mission. Holli and Nikki held James for us while Jock and I went out on the street to do some shopping. We had wanted to get some souvenirs there, and we found a few pieces we were wanting to get. The sellers were a lot more respectful than I had remembered them being when I came on my only trip to Haiti without Jock a few years back. I don't like to haggle and barter, and I get VERY nervous doing so, so probably just having Jock with me made a big difference. We found the things we wanted, got what we thought were decent prices, and passed up what we didn't want without too much fuss. One lady lingered and followed us along most of the way. I felt badly for her, wanting to get her sale so badly, but her things were not very good quality, nor what we were looking for, so we had to tell her no.

On our way back into the Baptist Mission, we kind of got lost trying to figure out which door led to to the gift shop and restaurant. We ended up getting ushered into a small historical museum of Haiti, which we walked through fairly quickly. Then a kind man showed us where to find the rest of our group when we were finished. James was sleeping, and running his fever again when we found them, so I planned to give him some more Tylenol when we got up to Fort Jacques. As we walked out of the building back to the car, I was holding James, and felt wet suddenly. I thought he had soaked through his diaper, but then realized he was peeing, and it just happened that it was running right down his leg. His clothes were completely dry - go figure! It wouldn't be a trip to Haiti without getting peed or pooped on, right?!? I changed his diaper quickly before we got back on the road.

The Fort Jacques property was different than I expected from the photos I'd seen. I was expecting to see the toddler houses, but you can't even see them from the other side of the property - it was larger than I'd expected! Brandon gave us the tour. We arrived near the house Georges and Jocelyn live, the mechanic shop, the wood shop (building nearly complete), and Patrick and Holli's house and the gazebo. Brandon showed us around to the back of the property (which may eventually be the front with the additional property they've acquired). We saw the storage depot, and the toddler pods.
Two of the six toddler houses are finished, one is nearly finished, and the other three are framed now. Tim and Melissa Parker and their daughter Chelsie are temporarily living in two of the toddler houses - each set up with a bedroom in the loft, each have a bathroom, and the main part - one as a kitchen and the other as their living room.
The toddler houses have a gorgeous view overlooking Port-au-Prince and the bay. Brandon also explained the rest of the vision for a volunteer/guest building, main house/nursery, school building, administration building, playground, water supply/storage system, and possibly a house for John and Dixie separate from the nursery building. It was awesome to see and hear the vision for GLA, and also see the beautiful veiw of Port-au-Prince!

I had a chance to get James a little used to the baby carrier I'd brought with me, as we walked around the property, and I didn't figure James could walk it, and didn't want to have to carry him. He did get tired of being in it though - but still wanted to be carried. Oh well, he did allow it for a little bit!

I gave James his Tylenol (again pushing it into his cheeks while he clenched his teeth shut) - poor thing! We then had supper in the gazebo with the mission team from Canada, and many of the GLA staff. We had hot dogs on the grill, maid-rites, macaroni salad, and chips. We weren't sure if James was going to eat, but he liked the noodles in the salad. We figured he was hungry since he hadn't really eaten much for lunch, but he was also still running a fever.

We rode back to the guest house with Brandon and Nikki and family. Jock and I took a look at a few more souvenirs we'd wanted to purchase, and while he settled up, I gave James his bath. He did awesome this time - no crying when I took his shoes or clothes off - just had a really sad face like he was about ready to cry. He didn't cry until I put water on his head, but wasn't too bad at all really. And he calmed down right away when I wrapped the towel around him and just held him for a bit before doing his lotion and PJs.

After his bath, we joined the mission team out on the balcony for their final night of devotions and prayer. They prayed over us which was a huge blessing to us. They had actually been a big blessing to us the entire week - visiting when we needed the distraction from just sitting around snuggling with James, since we're not used to just sitting around a lot... to giving us the space when we needed it too. James mostly slept through devotions, as it was after 7 pm by then, and he was beat! After devotions, we visited with them a bit more before It ook James to bed. He was completely out, not wanting to be held, so we got some packing done before crawling into bed too.

James' Pick-Up Trip - Day 3 (Part 1)

James slept really well Wednesday night until about 4:15 am Thursday morning. He woke up screaming. I couldn't figure out what he wanted/needed, and neither could Jock, but as soon as he heard Jock's voice, he looked up. I handed him to Jock and he calmed down and went right back to sleep. But then Jock's neck was hurting since James wanted to sleep on his head and pull on the other side of his face so he could get closer. James was getting fussy again anyway, so I took him back and he slept on me until 6:15. He woke up screaming again, so I got him his water cup, and he was up for the day.

James fussed until I go this diaper changed, then went over and brought me his shoes. He was ready to get dressed and have his shoes on for the day! He was quite content once he had his shoes on and was holding his cup. :)

Jock and I got up and dressed and then joined everyone for breakfast. I figured James was hungry since he wouldn't eat last night, and I was right. He ate a pretty good portion of baked oatmeal, and of course juice. I had a small cup of juice, but had filled his sippy cup too. When he motioned for my cup, I pointed to his cup and helped him get it to his mouth -- he was getting better about drinking from it. He didn't ask us to take the lid off for him.

After breakfast, we visited for a bit but lounged around, and James again took a nap, this time with Jock. It must be that 6:15 is too early for him to get up! ;) He slept for about an hour, then came over and slept for almost another hour on me. Jock took the opportunity to shower, and I just played a game on the iPad while listening to music/singing and snuggling James.

After James' nap, we thought he felt like his fever was returning, so we gave him some more Tylenol. But instead of going to get juice in a small cup, we made the mistake of having Jock take his cup to fill and then put the meds in. He did NOT like his cup being taken away from him! But once he had it back he drank almost all of juice. Only about the last inch remained with mostly dissolved bits of medicine in it. There was no way he was giving us his cup to take the lid off now, so he didn't get the whole dose, yet again. :(

For lunch, Nikki made us ham and cheese sandwiches, and a grilled cheese sandwich for James, which he wouldn't eat, His fever was up again. Nikki gave us some ibuprofen, but he was still very fussy for a while.

After lunch, James saw the toddler house kids leaving their school room, and thought we should go out for a walk too. I took him outside, but he wasn't happy just being out in the yard - he wanted to go out of the gate. I stepped back inside to let Jock and Nikki know where we were going, and he threw a big fit! So Jock and I both took him out for a little walk in the neighborhood. He didn't even want to walk - just wanted to be carried! We walked down to the toddler house and church (just a couple houses downhill) and then turned back. I passed him to Jock when I turned around and saw the big hill to get back to the guest house.

After our walk we just went back to our room to rest. Jock laid down for a bit, and James just cried because he wanted Daddy. While he was crying, his fever broke, and he was suddenly sweating like crazy - thank god! :) Soon after, Nikki came to tell us that Melissa had called. James' birth mom had arrived at the orphanage to meet us. We had been told it might be possible, but didn't know for sure or when she might be able to make it. Holli came to pick us up and take us to the main house for the meeting.

When we got there, James' birth mom was sitting with one of the orphanage's social workers. James went right to his birth mom. He sat on her lap for a bit while we chatted, before he reached for Jock to hold him again. It was so nice meeting James' birth mom, although I will say, a bit awkward. We had not had the opportunity to meet our other children's birth parents. Although we know a little bit about each of them, this was a new opportunity we'll be able to share with James when he is older. I was glad that the social worker was there, as he not only translated for us, but he also helped lead the conversation a bit. She was happy that we loved James as if he was our own, we were going to give him medical care, educational opportunities, and asked if we were Christians. We exchanged phone numbers, and promised to send photos of James regularly. We also took a few photos with her. Overall it was a good meeting.

After our meeting, and James' birth mom had gone back home, we met with Melissa to go over our final paperwork and travel papers. It was pretty cool seeing our original dossier, along with our final adoption papers, translations, and extra copies of everything for us and copies to be given to various officials on our trip home. Also included was James' immunization records, some notes from James' volunteers at GLA, and a few mementos including his hand/footprints that they do about every 6 months.

As we sat visiting for a bit, Melissa also shared a couple fun memories she had of James. She said one evening, the children in James' nursery were out on their room's patio while one of Dixie's sons was shooting baskets. The basketball hoop is attached to their balcony railing, and James was hollering for the ball to be thrown to him. He had his arms through the railing, and was catching the ball in his arms and throwing it back to him. What a cute memory! and what dexterity for a 2-year-old to be able to catch a basketball multiple times, through a railing! Very cool, and I'm so glad she shared that with us. She also shared that James and his friend Benny (Benoit?) would often times conspire to cause trouble. She said the nannies will miss him but will be glad to not have to make extra trips downstairs and outside to pick up all the kids' sippy cups that James and Benny have tossed over the railing. (Little stinker!)

(To be Continued)

James' Pick-Up Trip - Day 2

Wednesday morning, James work up around 6 am, when things outside were just starting to wake kup. It wasn't even quite light outside yet. He just sat with me for quite a while, then started getting antsy. He had filled his pants, so I laid him down to change him and then realized it'd gone all the way up his back, and a little out the leg holes of his diaper, so I scrubbed out the bedding and found my changing pad. I got him all cleaned up, lotioned, and dressed before breakfast.

I also gave James some more Tylenol, which he doesn't like (it was dissolvable tablets instead of liquid - silly me!) The night before I had dissolved them in his water, but since they didn't completely dissolve, I thought it'd be better if I just broke them into pieces and put them in his mouth. He clamped his teeth shut, but I somehow got them in his cheeks.

Breakfast was toast and bagels with PB&J, cereal and milk, and juice. James ate nearly a whole slice of bread with PB, and a few bites of Jock's bagel. The milk was gone before we got to it, so i got him some juice, which he guzzled down pretty quickly and begged for more. I was glad he ate, because he hadn't eaten much for supper.

After breakfast, Jock got a couple smiles out of James. :)

I took a quick shower, and then while Jock showered, James and I found a rocking chair on the balcony and enjoyed the beautiful morning - but James proceeded to sleep for about an hour.

When he woke up, he sat on Jock's lap the rest of the morning - didn't want to play much either, despite my best efforts with any books/toys I got out. I read a couple books to him anyway, but he just looked away. Probably a combination of him not feeling well and also being out-of-sorts with strange new people taking care of him in a strange new place.

Nikki warmed up some of the left-over chicken/noodle casserole for lunch, and also made some ramen noodles for James. He ate the ramen noodles really well, and had some juice to go with it.

After lunch, James was in a playful mood, and his fever hadn't come back when the Tylenol wore off, so we stayed downstairs and played in the living room a while, coloring, playing ball, and James walking around just checking things out (looking for more juice). I was glad to see him playing, and since he'd taken a nap in the morning, we decided to keep playing instead of making after-lunch into nap-time.

After an hour or so, James started getting bored, so I took him up to the balcony to rest. He probably slept another 45 minutes, but it was interrupted by school kids and neighbors coming and going a couple times.

Around 3:00, we left with Brandon to head over to the main house. James was happy to "an ale" in the car, although he had not been pleased to have to change his shirt right before we left.

James seemed to know the way around and seemed pleased to see a few people he knew - a volunteer who worked with him the previous week, a few staff, and his nanny who he recognized right away with a great big smile. She was coming downstairs for the staff devotions and enjoyed seeing him as well. She picked him up and gave him a quick hug but then went on her way. James liked that, and hollered her name, kind of giggling - so cute!

Jock and I talked to the office staff a bit and then went upstairs to the 3rd floor balcony. I paused at the second floor because Jock wasn't right behind me, and James started getting very nervous, like he was worried that we were going to stop there.

After being on the balcony for a bit we went back downstairs. We thought we would try to stop in his nursery and see his little friends for a bit, but he panicked and started screaming when Jock opened the door. This makes me think he remembers back to May when we left him. We scratched that idea and came back down to the main floor to get wifi passwords and check emails (which didn't work out since the internet was choppy - no email checking - just posted one quick status on Facebook, without a photo because they wouldn't load either).

James was very anxious the rest of the time we were at the main house. his fever had come back by then, so that didn't help either. He screamed when we changed his diaper, tried to give him more Tylenol (until we got the great idea to dissolve it in his juice!), or when Jock walked away to throw his diaper in the trash, etc. He wouldn't eat anything for supper. I thought sure he'd eat a banana, but no luck. I held him for a bit while I ate until I took away the spoon and butter knife he was jabbing into the table and the guy sitting next to me. Then he wanted Jock but started being a little stinker (and smiling/laughing about it). Hmmmm... maybe that's a little bit of the fiestiness that we've been told about him! ;)

I took him back when I finished supper so Jock could eat the rest of his food. He wasn't happy about it, so I took him outside. When I tried to come back inside for something, he panicked again, so I just forgot about it and went back outside to not disturb everyone's dinner. He didn't really stop crying outside, until Dixie's grandaughter started talking to us. I was happy for the distraction she provided both of us until it was time to go back to the guest house. I didn't even realize we'd missed the regular Wednesday staff devotion - which Jock said was awesome.

Back at the guest house, they were VERY low on water (of course with 20 people in the house, but apparently their power/pump had been out so they apparently had water just couldn't pump it up to the roof) - so the rule of the night for us and the team was no showers, and try to save flushes as well. Nikki did bring up a gallon or so of water for us to bathe James though. James again screamed when we took off his clothes, through the bath and lotioning, until after his PJs were on.

When he'd calmed down, it was only about 6:30 pm, so we went out on the porch for a bit to visit with the mission team and a little rocking. Jock started playing a game of hearts and a few played Skip-Bo. I just visited for a while.

Around 7:45, I took James to bed. He just laid there for a long time while I played a game on my phone. I scolded him a bit when he started pulling on the curtain, and again when he started pulling on his diaper (I'd heard the kids in his nursery take their PJs and diapers off when they don't want to go to bed, and I didn't want him to start that with us!) He then cried for a bit, but not his high-pitch scream - more just a tired wail. I stood up and held him for about a minute until he stopped, then laid him down and he was out!

I was glad to see James starting to test a little bit, as it told me he was maybe starting to get comfortable with us. But yet, there were times when he still seemed so scared! My prayers that night were that things would go well on Thursday, more of his fears would subside before we headed for home on Friday, and the testing didn't come on strong until after we got home. Don't get me wrong, a little testing is good though, as he learns to trust and obey us.

James' Pick-Up Trip - Arrival Day

We arrived in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, January 8th at 12:15 pm, on time. The new arrivals section of the airport is very nice and shiny. The funny thing about it though, was that the electricity was out in the immigration section where they stamp your passports. Some of the officers were still allowing people through their lines, but the line we ended up at, the guy wasn't letting people through. He didn't say, but I think he couldn't see without the lights, so we waited a minute or two until the lights came back on.

Our luggage seemed to take forever, and I was standing there praying that everything would arrive with us, while Jock stood at the shiny carousel watching for them. They did arrive, and then we stood inside the exit for a bit watching for a guy with a sign with our name on it. It took a bit but then we saw him - the same guy that came to get us in May. He showed us to Ernst's truck, we loaded up and headed towards GLA. Ernst made a stop at the grocery store on the way back, and picked up a bunch of chicken and powdered milk.

We probably got to GLA around 2:30 pm, and James was downstairs with Melissa and Susie, waiting for us. He walked over and held his arms up for Jock to hold him right away - so sweet! I don't know if he reemmbered us but he still had the photo book we'd sent to him with photos of us and him together in May. They say he liked looking at it, so perhaps he did remember us.

We were told that we'd be having supper at the guest house, so we would be leaving around 3pm. Holli (Dixie's daughter-in-law who also works in the office at the main house), and Brandon (GLA pastor and guest house operator with his wife Nikki) take turns picking up their youngest kids at school, so that was our ride. I think Ernst had already dropped our bags at the guest house on his way out on more errands.

James was running a fever, so we gave him some Tylenol when we got to the guest house. He also had major sniffles/runny nose, so we know he wasn't feeling good. He was pretty mellow and not very smiley - probably also combination of not feeling well and confused/scared about what was going on.
He did warm up to me a little bit with some cheerios snacks, and playing ball.
He also had fun learning how to scroll through photos on the iPad, playing with toys, looking at books, and snuggling a bit with Jock.

Around 4:00, the generator turned on, and sounded a little like a loud vehicle out the window. James immediately wanted to go somewhere, and kept saying "an ale" (let's go). He has a very high-pitch voice that we hadn't heard before, so that was fun. His speech was very clear too, although he did do some just grunting or pointing and saying, "da". Because we weren't up for going anywhere, we just took walks from the bedroom we were assigned in the back of the house, to the balcony in the front of the house, and that seemed to appease him until supper.

Just before supper, the mission team that was also staying at the guest house arrived back from their day's work - all 12 of them! James recognized one of them, as they had spent some time with the babies the previous week. He held his arms out for him to pick him up, but Nikki had asked them ahead of time to not try to play with or hold James so we can have the bonding time we need. They were great the whole time we were there.

Supper was a yummy chicken/noodle casserole and a fresh salad. James took a few bites of the pasta, but wasn't very hungry. Jock tried to get him to take a bite of strawberry cake/frosting, but he wanted nothing to do with it - even when I put some frosting on his lip.

After supper, back in our room, we just sat and tried to relax a bit. I did some reorganizing of our suitcases, because we had packed it with everything mixed up in the carry-ons and checked luggage in case something got lost in transit (luckily nothing did). Jock took one of James' shoes off, and he had a little melt-down, so he put it back on. But then we decided we should try to keep his bedtime routine similar to what it had been in the orphanage, and do a little bath.

Nikki brought up a basin, a teapot of hot water, and a pitcher of cold water for us to bathe James right on the floor of our room. She said, "Do what you need, let him scream, don't worry about us." And scream he did! He did NOT want us to take off his clothes, even after showing him his PJs. We stood him in the water and pretty much just rinsed him off, not taking extra time to find soap. We dried him off, and got on a clean diaper and PJs. We thought it was close to 8:00, and he was still very warm, so we gave him some more Tylenol (it actually was before 7 still - oops!), and I "rocked" him to sleep.

He slept with me that night. We didn't want to even try the pak'n'play, since he was so clingy to us. We figured he needed some Mommy bonding time, and bedtime was a good time for it, so Jock went out of the room for a bit so he would be more OK with me. He mostly slept quite well, although he did wake up (sort of?) briefly, crying out, but went back to sleep. One time he woke up for a bit longer, but after I sat up and rocked him for a bit, he let me lay down with him and he fell back to sleep.

James Is Home!

We left Monday, January 7th, for Miami, and arrived in Haiti Tuesday, January 8th.

James was placed with us upon our arrival to the orphanage last Tuesday, and we had three days to get him fairly used to us before we jumped on a plane to bring him home. His paperwork was already completed, so no appointments, just bonding time with our son.

We left Haiti on Friday, January 11th, exactly a year after we received his referral. We overnighted in Miami, and then had two more flights Saturday before we arrived back home.

We had a welcoming crew at the airport (thanks family & friends!!!), and dinner waiting for us at home (thanks Dad & Terry and our 3 big kids!!!).

A few photos of the homecoming...

I'll write more in detail about our trip to Haiti, our flights home, and our first week at home, later. For now, having a 2-year-old in the house is keeping me pretty busy.

Happy New Year! (Part 3)

New Year's Eve was pretty low-key at our house. Jock went back to work and the kids back to daycare after being off all last week and part of the week before because of the blizzard. I worked a full day as well. The kids were pretty much a disaster by day's end with getting back to their routine of getting up early and being gone all day. So they went to bed on time or early. Jock and I had a quiet night lounging in front of the TV. Around 9:00 we were wondering if we were even going to make it to New Year's Day somewhere in the US - ha! We got out the bubbly early just in case.

Today we all slept in a bit, before I started making a pot of Haitian Pumpkin Soup. This is a dish that is traditionally made on New Year's Day in Haiti, also Haiti's Independence Day. Also called Soup Joumou, it is traditionally made on Haiti's independence day because it is a meal that French slave masters had forbidden their slaves to eat. So when the slaves revolted and earned their independence, Soup Joumou became a symbol of Haiti's freedom.

If you google Haitian Pumpkin Soup, or Soup Joumou, you will find many different variations. I decided to just pick one and make it. On an adoption group someone posted a link to this one, but then someone else pointed out that there is a "more authentic" version spelled out in the comments. I'm not sure about the "more authentic", because it appears that if you ask 10 Haitian women, you will get 10 different varieties of soup joumou. Maybe like asking Americans how to make chili.

I made the epis (spices to marinate the meat) yesterday. It made a HUGE batch! I could have just done a half batch and had more than enough to marinate the meat. It says this is a key to most Haitian dishes, so we tried cooking it in with a few other various things we had laying around for appetizers before supper last night. A few were busts, but a few were really good. :)







I marinated the meat overnight in the epis, and chopped the veggies (turnips, carrots, cabbage, celery, onion, potatoes) while the meat and pumpkin were cooking. Then you mix it all together. Once the veggies were tender I took out the habanero pepper and put in 3 more cups of water and a half-box of vermicelli. It smelled amazing while it was cooking!

We had it with rice and bread - common sides to go with it. I thought it was great as is, but would have probably put in two butternut squash instead of just one. I also had to add extra salt and pepper - but that's common for me at most any meal. Jock thought he needed to add a little of the habanero pepper to it (it just soaked in the soup while it was cooking - not cut open or pierced. I'm not a fan of hot, spicy foods, but I might try piercing it next time, maybe with one of the cloves, as it could have used a tiny bit more pizazz. The girls thought it was great as is. Elijah wasn't a fan - not a surprise since he's not the best veggie eater.

It was fun to make it for our family, in honor of our kids' Haitian heritage. It was also neat to talk to the kids about a traditional dish that's made in Haiti. Josephine thought that was pretty special. Although they don't quite comprehend the whole slavery/independence purpose behind it.

*****

2012 was a good year for us, but we are very much looking forward to 2013, as we anticipate the arrival of a new family member. Wishing you all many blessings in the new year!