Happy Advent!

We're preparing our hearts and home for celebrating Jesus' birth. This morning we put up our Christmas tree and put out most of our holiday decorations. It was such a joy seeing the two little ones experience it for the first time!

Jock was under there fixing one of the limbs... I had to run to get the camera - so cute them "helping fix it" too.
I got each child a new ornament this year. This was a tradition in my family growing up, that everyone gets a new ornament each year. This year, I ordered special ones from Bronner's. Elijah's is Blue, and Josephine's and Kaylen's are pink, and they say "Adopted with Love". Each has a heart with their name and a heart with the year of their adoption on it - 2006 and 2010.More Ornaments!All Done! (Well sort of - I did some re-arranging of the ornaments after this, to spread out the ones that were 3 to a branch down below, and to fill in the empty spaces up top. :)Trying on the Santa Hat...

We waited until this evening to set out our nativity scene. I read parts of the Christmas story from one of our Children's Bible story books, and we got each character out as we read it. It made it really fun! Then we put all the people and animals up by our stable on top of our entertainment center. I really like our nativity set - it's a Fontanini, and made of a break-resistant material, so we don't have to worry about the kids helping set it up. So fun!

Cwismas Tweet?

So today Kaylen and I have been telling Josephine and Elijah that we're going to put up our Christmas tree this weekend - maybe tonight. They are clueless as to what we mean by this. Josephine finally came over and showed me this:...and called it a Cwismas tweet.

I had to do a search for Christmas trees online and show her the pictures. Then I told her, "you know, like trees outside?"

She questions back, "Twees ouside?"

Yes, but we're going to have a tree right there in the corner, inside!

I'm interested to see how this goes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much to be thankful for! This year for Thanksgiving, I'll share what my kids have prayed about at meal times and/or bedtime recently:

Kaylen (supper-time): Thank you for my family, thank you for all the blessings in my life, (sometimes she adds something specific from the day or a request), thank you for this food and the helpful hands that prepared it, in Jesus name, Amen!

Elijah (supper-time): Thank you for this food, (some other incomprehensible stuff), thank you for family, thank you for Jesus, Amen! (He's usually in a hurry to start eating and the "Amen" is very emphatic! :)

Josephine (bedtime): Thank you for my new bed, Kaylen new bed, Elijah new bed, Mommy new bed, Daddy new bed, thank you for fun at daycare, Elijah fun at daycare, Kaylen fun at school, Mommy go to work, Daddy go to work, (more incomprehensible stuff), thank you for my footie jajamas, my hair, my blankets, thank you for Jesus, Amen!

I'm thankful for all of these things, and so much more! I pray you all have a blessed Thanksgiving, and take time to give thanks for all you have to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!

Iowa Adoption Day!

We re-adopted Elijah and Josephine in the Iowa District Court on Adoption Saturday, November 20, 2010. It was such a special day for us, and what a blessing to have their Haitian adoption reaffirmed by an Iowa Court. It's also a sigh of relief as well, given that because of the earthquake, we had no original documents - only photocopies. We now have several certified copies of our Iowa adoption decrees, and would be able to get more if we ever have a need for them.

We sent our Iowa adoption decrees off to USCIS on Monday, which show Elijah & Josephine's name changes. We anticipate receiving their U.S. Citizenship Certificates in the mail in the next couple of weeks. We also should soon have Iowa birth certificates, and can apply for their SSNs.

So happy to have this accomplished. It was fun to have friends and family join us at the courthouse. Here are a few photos from the day...

Dedication

We dedicated Elijah & Josephine at church on Mother's Day. Some people have asked, so I will explain a little more... Many churches baptize infants. I’m not opposed to this, but I have always believed that infant baptisms are really a commitment on the parents’ part in raising their children to come to know the Lord. Children still have to come to a knowledge and acceptance of Christ for themselves as they grow older and more mature in their understanding. Our family’s preference – and how our church does it – is to baptize once the person has come to the understanding and acceptance of Christ. The dedication is a commitment of the child’s parents, before the Lord, to raise the child according to God’s Word. The Biblical reference is in 1 Samuel, as Hannah gave Samuel back to the Lord.

As part of how our church does this, the parents choose a Bible verse/passage for the child. Ours was Jeremiah 29:11-14a:

For I know the plans I have for you, “declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD...

This passage has context in the Israelites’ exile in Babylon. To us, this passage has held great promise in the trials that we have experienced in growing our family - both with infertility and then adoption. Though the path to our children has been long and winding, and sometimes it was hard to see through the obstacles we were facing, we can now look back and see along the way how God has provided for us. He has used each of those obstacles to guide us through to the path he chose for us, to the children he chose for us.

This is our prayer for all of our children as well, that they would come to know the LORD who has a plan for their lives, the LORD who has plans to prosper them and not to harm them. And that they would call upon Him and pray to Him and seek Him with all their hearts. God will guide them, through the obstacles that appear, to His perfect plan for their lives.

**Thank you Marti S. for taking the photos for us!!!

Neglect

I confess. I have been neglecting my blog. Although it looks that way to you, it hasn't been neglected entirely. I do have some posts that I've written, but never posted because I haven't had time to take or edit or add the photos that go along with them. Some of the posts I've started about have gotten stuck in a rut - with thoughts incomplete, not knowing how to say them. Others haven't even rolled off my fingers onto the keyboard yet. I do plan to continue blogging. I just need a little time and motivation. The inspiration is definitely available: here...and here...and here
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It is finished... sort of...

Well, we had our USCIS appointment at 8:30 this morning. We met with a woman at one of the windows in the lobby, who took our packet of paperwork and cash. She then took everything back to the officers, and we waited in the lobby while they looked things over. She also gave the kids each a sucker and a "Linda Liberty" coloring page. It was so cute! They were just starting to get bored when we were called back for our "interview".

It wasn't really an interview, but they did have to put us under oath. One officer told us that she was in charge of adoptions for the Des Moines office, and she had approved our I-600s. The other officer works on the I-485, and she asked our address, names, birthdates, when and where they entered the US, and got a couple final signatures on a couple documents. She said everything was in order - i.e. the non-existent I-94 cards were not even an issue!!!

Then she said we had a few options for the kids' Certificates of Citizenship. She said it would take about 10 days to get it all entered into their computer system and finalized, then we can either attend a kids' Citizenship ceremony on October 30th (not just for adoptive parents, but any kids who also would receive their citizenship certificates), or come to pick them up when they're ready, or have them mailed to us. We started debating about whether to do the ceremony or not, and then mentioned that we probably wouldn't because we're planning to do a readoption and get their names changed, etc.

Then the officers mentioned that we should maybe wait until that's done to get or citizenship certificates, so we don't have to re-order them in their new names. Well I had to frown over that at first, because we'll always have their adoption decrees and that should suffice to show their name change, but as we talked more through the steps we'd have to go through to get their SSNs, passports, etc, she convinced us.

So, even though all our paperwork is in order, and it is done, Elijah and Josephine are not officially U.S. Citizens yet - but we are happy with the results of today's meeting. USCIS "stayed" our files, typed up a little form requesting that we provide "copy of legal name change" for each child. She gave us a due date of 10 days after we plan to finalize their readoption, and then said once she receives that, she'll proceed with entering everything into their system and will mail us their citizenship certificates, we'll sign them, and then everything will be official - their new names, their citizenship, everything!

Prayer Request

This Wednesday is our appointment with our local USCIS (U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services) office. Assuming all goes well, Elijah and Josephine should become U.S. Citizens on that day! Our paperwork packets are completed and ready to go with us to our appointment at 8:30 a.m.

We are praying for no issues with our childrens’ non-existent I-94 cards – we were not given them in Florida in January as we should have been. I emailed our local immigration officer, and he indicated that he would research what we should do, but to bring whatever documentation we were given to our appointment. He never got back to us regarding the results of his research, so I’m praying that they do not charge us another fee for another form. This is really our only concern with the appointments.

We do have some questions about how they’ll process things, as we’ve heard from a few other families who’ve already had their appointments. One family received their daughter’s certificate of citizenship that day. Another family had their daughter’s citizenship certificate mailed to her within a week or two after her appointment. A third family lives in a larger state, and their local USCIS office doesn’t process the certificates, so they had to be sent out to a different USCIS in their state to be completed, then they were told they’ll have to come back for another appointment to receive the certificates. I did inquire if our USCIS office processes the certificates on-site, but did not receive a response, so we await the appointment with great hope and anticipation that we’ll have two new U.S. Citizens in our arms when we leave!

I’ll try to post more Wednesday afternoon, to let you know how things went, but please join us in praying that things go smoothly on Wednesday.

Playtime

Josephine continues to love playing with her babies. She has two favorite dolls, and she gets really sad and upset if Elijah grabs one of them before she can get there. And he does it just to make her mad, little stinker! Josephine does the same thing though – although Elijah doesn’t really usually have a favorite – just whatever he’s playing with at the time. He really drags his feet if I ask him to go to the bathroom while he’s playing with something. He either tries to take it in the bathroom with him (which we don’t allow toys in the bathroom), or sets it down and looks back about 20 times on his way. Sometimes I hold it for him for safe keeping.

Even though he doesn’t really have favorites, I will say he most often plays with his cars/trucks/tractors. He likes to look at vehicles when we go places. He’s getting good at spotting cars that look like Daddy’s – he used to just see white ones and say, “Daddy’s car!” but now he’s learning what kind of white one to look at, and usually only points out the ones that are the same make.

Kaylen has started playing school or house or dress-up with Elijah and Josephine, and sometimes while getting out the Barbies and stuffed animals. That is funny to listen to the conversations that go on during those times. It usually either ends in someone getting bored or tired of being bossed around or in a fight, but they’re learning to play with each other, so that’s good. Elijah doesn’t quite get the concept of those being more girls’ games/toys, not boys’, so that’s nice, but I’m sure that’ll come. Daddy’s already working on it. :)

Kid-Style Road-Trips

I have yet to catch it on camera, but Elijah and Josephine (and sometimes Kaylen) regularly play that they're going on a trip. Usually it's a trip to "Bampa Hou" (Elijah-speak for Grandpa's house), but sometimes they're going to Lighthouse, daycare, church - generally somewhere they've been recently.

They pack up as many things as they can get in their arms - blankets/pillows, bags/purses from the dress-up bin stuffed with toys, stuffed animals, baby-dolls, you name it. Sometimes they also have on their dress-up clothes, and they almost always have on dress-up shoes - because we all know you can't go somewhere without your shoes on, right?!?

Then the load up themselves and all their stuff, climb into the car (aka the love seat in our living room), buckle up, holler, "Bye Mommy! Bye Daddy!" to us, and they're off. Elijah is usually the daddy so he drives, complete with car-motor noises. Sometimes Kaylen (as the mom) will tell Josephine to go to sleep in the car, or ask what movie she wants to watch on the way.

The other night, when they arrived at their destination, they unloaded all their stuff back into the corner of the play room, and turned out the lights - it was bedtime by the time they got to "Bampa hou." Elijah, being the Daddy, then told the girls, "Go to sleep, no playing." (Wonder where he's heard this before?!) Then we heard some whispering, then someone would emphatically say, "Shhhhh!", then they'd all start giggling like crazy. This went on for about 5 minutes, and Jock and I were so enjoying listening to their fun!

Of course they have their (frequent) moments of teasing each other, arguing, fighting, whining, tattling, etc... but the fun far outweights those moments. I love my kids! They crack me up! How awesome it is to hear them playing and having fun together!