Praising the Lord!

On Thursday, May 7, we received an E-mail from our agency asking us to please make a 'quick call'.

Our hopes soared while we tried to hold them back not wanting to be disappointed if the call happened to be about paperwork and not a referral.

PRAISE the Lord! Our referral paperwork was signed on May 5th. While the translation of the letter would take another day, we could read the French, learning our son's name and age.

We do not feel at liberty to share details at this time over the computer, will refer to him as F for now.

We will share that the details came together rapidly and after a phone conversation Friday afternoon with the mission director, we excitedly packed and traveled for our required socialization trip on Saturday.

So in less than 48 hours we received our referral and met him in person!

Very exciting. We stayed on the same campus as the crèche and were able to spend some time in the mornings and afternoons with F and his foster family. 

Cory and I reviewed his paperwork on Monday and then traveled to a notary in Cap Haitian on Tuesday to sign our acceptance letters. The letters were scanned that same day and sent to the agencies. 

During our time, the staff person from Haiti's social services came twice. The first time he watched us interact on the playground with F and some of his friends and the second time he asked us a few questions.

See the normal family blog for other activities during our visit. 

We enjoyed getting to know F, seeing him in various parts of his day, interacting with his foster family and the people on the compound. We learned about his personality from stories and pictures, as well as spending time with him. 

F will not be directly told we're his new family until the adoption is near completion. Then his house parents will start sharing pictures close to when we return to pick him up.  However, he's very observant and smart, so he may have an idea.

Because of this, we tried to act as visitors and play with the other children in the home as well, but our attachment started and grew with every encounter. 

His eyes sparkle with intelligence and mischief many times during the day, so watch out world!

We ask for an Embassy visa appointment the day-after missionary retreat so we would not need to travel again down to Port. [The missionary retreat will be held about 1 hour from the Embassy and over four hours from our home.] 

So we plan to be in line at the USA Embassy by 6:30 a.m. on May 26th. This will be to start the process of obtaining F's visa to travel to the USA and for him to become a US citizen. 

At the same time, our paperwork now along with F's will need to negotiate the various and complicated steps of a Haitian adoption. Only the Lord knows how long this may take, but we heard of a recent case moving very fast from the bonding trip to visa in three months....on the other extreme, some people may still be waiting to exit IBESR and get into the courts for over a  year.

Lord knows. Still praying for His timing.

• Translation French to English of F's paperwork this week for Embassy appointment
• Timely Exit IBESR
• Courts/ Haitian adoption
• I-600 Visa appointment-next week
• Translation of home study update and other steps.

New Year, new hope, more waiting..

Been thinking for a while about the first post of 2015. Considered focusing on our fingerprints 'refreshing' which no one has contacted us about since we visited the Embassy on Dec. 10.

Or reviewing that if we don't get a match before the end of February will need to seriously start exploring how we will renew our home study, which will expire on May 21.

A year ago we waited for news that our case entered into IBESR. Our case entered on January 14 as number 43. We received the information on January 29th, 2014 the day that my parents arrived in Haiti for a visit.

I prayed last year to receive our referral during my parents visit. So many major family events we've shared over the last 17 years by short phone calls or E-mails. I cherish the major family moments that we can share in person. They plan to leave Haiti on January 21st.

Since January 29th no news on our case. We pray that our children's charts moved through many steps last year. We pray for our referral to occur in His timing. We pray for the committee that will be matching children with family under the new process.

Knowing that little would be occurring over the holidays gave us a bit of a break from the normal 'Wonder if we will hear anything today?' thought that frequently crosses my mind during the work week.

During the last few days already thoughts about the start of a new year, a new week, a new day have started to increase in frequency. The 'what if's'....of 2015.

Pastor's sermon today hit the mark with me. Psalm 37:7-8. "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways..."

My notes: Confidence in God. Hope in God. Stay bound to Him. Sit quietly. Not for us to act, He will act. [Read sea parting] Calm and confident in all circumstances. God dominates all. Victory in Him.  Verse 25..'I have never seen the righteous forsaken' God never let's us go. He hears those who walk straight when they call for help and He will deliver you. Guarantied. When we don't have hope-God gives us hope. Don't get worried, worked up about your needs. Wait calmly before God. Answers, successes, healing, deliverance, victory, all in the Hand of God. 

Goals for the year.....waiting well. Confidence in Him. His plan. His timing. His will.

Referrals have started!!

Rejoicing with each family who's received a referral in the last couple of months.

In September at least one family a day from the Facebook group fasted and prayed for the process but disappointment hit at the end of the month with news of only 5 referrals.

October passed with only a couple at the end of the month. But already in November there is news of 10!!! Yeah! Praise the Lord.

Apparently the director had been gone for a couple weeks in October but is now back at work. Praying for many families to move up a step in the process before the holiday slow down next month.

Just read of the first Italian family getting a match!

No news from our agency. So we pray and wait.

Folks with other agencies report that they heard that IBESR will not be matching anyone with children until some time next year when they have a committee in place to do so. If this is true then we would be in that group. It could be possible that our agency submitted our chart with a suggestion of children without telling us-then we could match earlier.

Praying that if waiting children have all their paperwork in place they do NOT need to wait until some time next year for a committee to form and do matches. Especially those with medical issues, sibling groups, older children or abandoned children.

Ultimately the Lord controls when we match, with whom we match and with what orphanage. Trusting in Him!

Praying that we can wait well, praising Him, trusting Him. Praying that we're becoming the family our little ones need us to be. Praying we don't miss the lessons we should be learning during the wait.

IBESR Update

Thankful again for Dixie from God's Littlest Angel's for sharing what she knows about Haiti's adoption process. Her long detailed blog can be found here. Lots to pray about!

Without flash. 

Summary- Dixie does not want to be passing along rumors so waited to hear confirmed news from a meeting between the Joint Council Haiti Caucus Meeting and IBESR. The basics:

1. NO changes in the procedure to declare a child adoptable. Total of 3-4 trips for family members to IBESR. 
2. Family will also need to sign away parental rights in front of the Children's Judge.
3. IBESR prepares the child's chart. Then the creche staff pick it up, bring to court staff, then when ready to sign bring the family to sign before the judge. [Detailed and time consuming]
4. No details yet if the US consult will do away with parent interviews currently needed at the end of the process before a visa is issued. 
5. IBESR will do all the matching of all children. Creches to be involved but no one knows what this looks like yet.
6. Multi-disciplinary team at IBESR to be formed by early 2015 to make the matches.
7. Starting with dossiers accepted after Oct. 1st 2015 the referral can come from any creche accredited by IBESR.
8. IBESR currently working on the backlog of dossiers and intend to start with those that were submitted first and been waiting the longest.
9. A family/agency will be able to submit a letter of intent for a specific child with special needs.
10.  Fees given to a creche to care for child is being reduced. IBESR says the creche will need to make up the difference in funds in other ways. Each creche will receive the same amount of funding per child regardless of the level of staff, food, education, medical care given.

With flash. 

Many creches are hurting financially because of the lack of matches in the last year. IBESR set the fees without input from the creches about services provided or current budgets. Some creches are already talking about closing to adoptions. 

"Please keep all of the creches and children in your prayers.  We will see less and less children adopted out of Haiti and there will be some that die waiting for a family.  I agree with all of the articles about economical orphans but unfortunately I've seen severely malnourished "economical" orphans on the point of death whose parents just could not care for the child even with a little help!  To save the life of those children, yes, I believe adoption is a better option than long term orphanage care in Haiti!  I agree there are some children that need to go back home with their parents and thankfully, the new IBESR process will weed some of these children out of the creche and return them back to the parents." - See more: here [same link as above]

Please continue to pray for Haitian families. Please continue to pray for our adoption and our family. Pray for the children of Haiti. 

IBESR Update / Prayer Requests

Very thankful to Dixie at God's Littlest Angels for sharing information she learns from IBESR.

Link to her full blog about last week's visit found here.

Points in the blog that I found to pray specifically about:

• Felyne is the IBESR representative putting together matches. Praying for wisdom, health, resources, protection, and efficiency for Felyne.

• Proposals in small batches going to the Children's Judge.  Praying for wisdom and efficiency!! Praying for the judge and staff not to be overwhelmed but motivated!

• Praying that even doing small batches that the batches are big enough to start catching up on the backlog of charts now sitting in IBESR, some for years waiting for a match. 

• Rather confusing, still being changed and multi-step procedure for the birth families. Praying this gets worked out to be as simply, with the least amount of hassle and expense. 

• Praying that the families who already signed off do not need to repeat the 30-day wait and can be exceptions to the new change. 

• Praying that the steps one and two can and will take place in the same visit. 

• Praying for the organization of the visits to the judge and that the families can make their appointments without problems.

• Praying for the Mayors who need to sign for the abandoned children to make the effort. That IBESR will get the lists together so the Mayors can sign in a timely manor all the children from their area.

• Praying for the process to get the trouble spots worked out so the system can stabilize and stop changing. This will also start a timeline which would help folks get an idea of the time frame.

• Praying for patience for all involved.

• Praying for the children and families waiting like us.

Thank you for supporting us on this journey and for your prayers. 

Help Us Move Mountains!

Matthew 17:20 b "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."

Many families pray for us and other's when in small groups or churches. And the Lord hears us when we pray solo too.

Sometimes I wonder how much faith I have?

I know that together our faith adds up to more.

This week a couple blogs encouraged me. Both from large families who moved outside their comfort zones and adopted lots of children including those with special needs.

One reminded me that the Lord continues to work on our behalf even when we cannot see movement or progress.

He remains faithful. He is moving.

Praying earnestly for the mountains blocking the referral process and other steps in the Haiti adoption process to crumble into the sea so that children can be placed in loving families.

Praying that the delays mean that once the process starts up again it will move faster and smoother than in the past.

Even if we still wait for our referral would be hopeful to see other families getting referrals and moving though the system.

Prayer Requests

• Movement in referrals and other steps in the process
• IBESR staff to work hard, stay healthy, be careful/efficient  and have all the resources they need to complete their work well
• That our chart and the kid's charts do not get lost or have mistakes in them
• That our US agency finds the perfect person to be the International Adoption Coordinator
• That the creche our children are at will allow Eli and Anna to come on the bonding trip
• That the creche has all the staff and resources needed to take care of the children well so that they can thrive during the wait. 
• That the trip would work with our ministry schedule without delays
• For the Lord's will and timing.
• To defeat any of the Devil's plans for delays or derailments
• Patience, hope, faith and gratitude during the process.

Riding the coster with no lights.

YEAH!!!! We possess an IBESR number. I know I already told you that but continuing to celebrate. Today makes week 8 in IBESR.

Next time we hear from someone should be with a possible referral! Very exciting and scary. I think of it like riding a big roller coster in the dark.

Climbing a little hill or is it a big hill. Click. Click. You can tell you are heading up hill..higher and higher. Maybe a small swerve to the right. Now left. Did the sounds change?

Is a big drop right ahead or a series of twists and turns?
The suspense grows with each second.

You strain all your senses trying to see the top or get a clue to where you are.

You know a drop is coming but how to prepare yourself when you cannot see the top?!?!

Each day clicks. The clock moves forward. The days add up.

 Each morning starts with the thought "Will today be the day?" Each night ends with "Maybe tomorrow?"  Then in rapid succession follow: Wonder who are they? What ages? What stories? What details? Will they be ours? What do they look like? 

Click.

Click.

Tick.

Tock.
Tick.

We know days, weeks or months could stand before us and our referral mountain top moment.

Trusting in Him. Looking for verses and devotionals about waiting well.

Lower expectations during Carnival season as we did not expect much work going on in government offices. But heard on Friday that IBESR started matching again [although one of the workers who matches was out sick that day-praying for health].

Heard that parent interviews also starting.

Studying for boards helps to limit my pondering as I focus on all the medical information that could be on the test. Passing now would be great so I can focus on life and not retaking the test in November. 

Waiting to crest the top and open that exciting E-mail.

In addition to the prayer requests on the last post and found on the side bar. Some families who waited months to over a year for Presidential dispensation [no longer needed] find their dossiers in limbo as one group says no dispensation is now needed but the group responsible for the next step thinks they need something more?

43 Days in IBESR for file 43.

Today makes day 43 days in IBESR, entering in as file # 43.

 A report yesterday stated that in March the IBESR plans to meet with crèches for 3 days in March and until that time will not be referring  children for matching or scheduling birth parent interviews.

Know some people now marking the 1 year mark in IBESR waiting to match.

Praying for patience. Praying for the mountains of paperwork to move!!

Praising the Lord for protection and guidance.

We also heard this week that one family who had pre-matched with a non-sibling set were told by IBESR that they can only match with one of the children as non-sibling adoptions will not be allowed in the same process.

We thank the Lord for protecting us from being in a similar situation.

When we started the process we were open to adopting non-siblings and knew that our crèche did not often have sibling sets available to adopt.

Then we looked and asked around for a agency willing to travel to Haiti to perform our home study. During our study while we talked about siblings we did not realize that our approval would be for siblings only.

Because of being open to non-siblings we wrote back asking about this restriction and learned that the agency would not make any exceptions.

Believing that the Lord controls our lives and had led us to this agency we remained at peace that He would either send siblings to the crèche or open a door for us if His plan included non-siblings.

Because of our advancing ages we feel the Lord wants us to get our children at the same time.

We praise Him that we did not travel down that path only to find out that the new procedures would not allow it.

Prayers:

• Praying for the IBESR meeting with the crèches so that referrals and parent interviews can start.
• Praying for the staff to focus on their work despite the Carnival season and holidays.
• Praying for our children and their family.
• Praying that the Lord will continue to prepare us for our children.
• Praying for the time table and needed steps.
• Praying for those stuck and loosing hope.
• Praising the Lord for His guidance, wisdom and protection in situations when we don't even realize the dangers.

Praying through the Steps, in the New Year!

Happy New Year!

If you already read the post on choices you know I started praying regularly for my future husband in high school. It did not take long for me to weary of 'my future husband' so I named him.

Soon after we became aware of our pregnancies we discussed and picked nicknames for our children while we prayed and waited for their physical arrivals in our lives.

So ever since the Lord opened the adoption door we started praying and continue to pray each step of the journey.

Now while we wait to hear that IBESR holds our dossier and  for them to refer children to us we pray.

Early in 2012 I felt called to pray for a little girl. I called her Grace. I 'named' the baby girl that was brought to our front door step Grace and continue to pray for her and her caregivers even now.

I also pray for a Gracie to join our family someday. Since Elijah and Anna set the pattern for Biblical names I also pray for a Daniel, the little boy we hope to add to our family at the end of this journey.

 Until we know more all I can only pray generally. We hope you'll join us in praying for our kids and the process.

Lord protect our children. Protect them spiritually, physically, emotionally, and mentally. Provide for their needs in each of these areas as well. If one or two of our children are being knit by you yet in their mother's womb I ask that you protect each life, each day from damaging events. Provide each need for development and health.

 Be with their family in a special way because I know times must be tough or going to get tough or they would not put their children up for adoption. Provide for their needs as only You can. Comfort them. Lift them up. May they feel Your Love in the midst of this storm of life.

 Strengthen the faith of the family members and their walk with you [or open the doors for them to know You if they do not already]. Provide them wisdom and strength to make the hard choices they must make and comfort them.

Lord be with the government workers who influence the policies in Haiti. Keep things moving smoothly and prevent delays. Provide Christian staff to influence and impact the process. Stabilize the government and help the corruption to be removed. 

Thank you for increasing the awareness of the North American Christians of some of the issues concerning adoptions and giving many of them the burden to pray and push for change.

Guide the social worker who will read our chart and match us with the children You plan to place in our home. You know we think we want younger and a boy /girl mix but we trust You know the best children for our family and we trust You. 

 Bless those working for adoptions in the home agency offices. Thank you for their dedication and faithfulness. Encourage them. Help them to work effectively. Help them to understand the new process.

 Provide the right people in the lives of our children to love them and help them until we can be a family. Provide for the needs of the crèche as they strive to provide the best temporary home environment while assisting families like ours to be complete. 

You know the best timing for our family. The best time for the required two week bonding trip to the creche. The best time for our children to physically join our family. The best time for us to travel to the USA.

 Grow and expand our faith, patience, love and courage for this journey. Thank you for this opportunity to expand our hearts and family. Thank you for the life changing experience You placed before us. Thank You for loving our kids and watching over them. 

Change us. Improve us. Enlarge our faith and patience.  Prepare us to be the best family possible for our children. To help them adjust, heal and thrive in Your and our love. All this we ask in Your, precious, holy name Lord Jesus. Amen

IBESR procedure update

As you know we currently wait to hear that the US approved our I-600a form. Then we will scan the form and send it to our agency and our dossier will be sent to Haiti.

Haiti's social services, IBESR now takes the responsibility to match us with adoptable children. This procedure remains very new with many people wondering how it will work. Right now on a Facebook group for people adopting from Haiti I've only heard of folks who were already matched being rematched by IBESR.

IBESR Procedure Explained is a blog written by the folks at a creche near Port-au-Prince.

The big changes come from wanting only children who meet the criteria for adoption to be matched with new families. The Haitian families will meet more than once with the authorities along with a psychologist to make sure they understand and agree to place their children for adoption.  New changes for children who's family abandon them, mothers disappear or are mentally handicapped.

What I think this would mean for our family [keeping in mind that things can change rapidly and that ultimately the Lord remains in charge]:

• We will need to receive dispensation [Once the new law is published in the Moniteur Journal then dispensation will no longer be required.] before matching with our children. As noted in the blog hundreds if not thousands of charts remain to be signed by the president for dispensation-some have been waiting for over a year at this stage. 
• While this may increase our waiting time prior to receiving a refurral it should shorten up the time between matching and our children coming home. From what I understand from adoptive parents the wait becomes much harder once you have a name and face so this will be better. 

• Our children may come from other locations from Haiti not just the creche that our agency works with in Northern Haiti. They did say that if we do not have a family who is a match for the children we bring to IBESR, then IBESR will notify other agencies to ask if they have families who are matches for the children.

• Good matches being a priority not how long a dossier has been waiting: this may speed up our process. They asked us to please bring all handicapped children, children with medical needs, older children, sibling groups, and abandoned children.  They want to try to place these children first. 

• Once we agree to referral we will need to spend a couple weeks at the creche getting to know our children including a few hours being observed by a social worker. They are working to try to connect this visit with the first civil court visit. 

Encouraged with these comments about the IBESR staff "They seem to have a handle on how to implement the new procedure."  "very organized and I was very impressed."  " I was very happy that they are willing to approve matches already made by the agencies and the crèches.  They said since this is the transition period, they are being more lenient." "Over all, we came away feeling, like after a year of trying to find out how the new procedure will work, we now have some idea of the actual procedure and how we can work with IBESR to make the matches go quicker and smoother. "

Specific Prayers

• Dispensations to be signed or the new law published. [If the new law is signed and means that all the old cases no longer need the president to sign a huge load of dossiers will become active cases all at once!]
• IBESR staff. Not only implementing the new procedure but also working on all of the cases already in the system. 
• Legal staff as they decide new procedures for abandoned children. IBESR has changed some requirements for children whose mothers have disappeared or are mentally handicapped and they can not sign for the child to be adopted.  The adoption lawyers and the IBESR lawyers are arguing over the correct procedures and the interpretation of the law.
• Additional staff responsibilities with home visits, education of parents, observing families/children during the 2 week visits.....
• Communication with the creches. Making the 'good' matches with new families. 
• Those still stuck in the system or adjusting to failed adoptions.
• For our children and their family as they meet with the social workers, sign away their rights and work through these hard, life changing discussions. For the creche and staff who will provide the initial care for our children.