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.

Ups and downs.

No call today....sigh but some adoption paperwork news, both bad and good.

Bad news first.

We asked the agency who did our home study and update to send it for the notary authentication in California before sending it on to my folks. [Then needs translation and then will be sent to the Haitian consulate in Chicago before going to our agency and to Haiti.


Well that was plan A. Today we received the notice that the letter made it to Michigan but when mom sent us the scanned papers one was a letter stating that the home-study could not be authenticated because it was not stapled together.  SIGH.

So many e-mails back to the agency and my folks resulted in Plan B...folks will send all the papers they received today back to the agency who will staple together the home-study and resend it for authentication and then back to Michigan, again.

Good news. We already have the 11 page updated home-study and now the 1 page update scanned so we contacted the lady who translated everything for us back in 2013. She still translates and can get it done in the next few weeks...then when the authentication paper for the notary comes she will do that so we can send both language copies to Chicago.

Will be asking the translator to also translate our 1-page acceptance letter [leaving blanks to be filled in once we know who, when, where....].

Good news. Due to no mail plane coming on Tuesday we received this week's mail today and it included our I-600a renewal from the U.S.CIS, department of homeland security.

Already scanned and send to our agency. Now have until mid-Nov. to get a referral and file for a I-600 before it expires.

I blogged today about the building referral anticipation on our 'normal' blog... here.

Today we entered the 'get creative and change up plans' zone for our bonding trip. While we can still fit in the two week visit to the orphanage we will need to fit some ministry plans into the picture.

Have not heard of any referrals this week but still holding hope out for tomorrow. Thanks for the prayers.

Daily IBESR visits...

First a bit of review:

• Our USA agency did not receive renewal of their license to continue to work in Haiti
• They did confirm that they could complete the cases that entered IBESR
• Three cases, including ours wait for referral.
• The agency representative started out visiting IBESR twice a month to check for progress, then twice a week.

Now the cases, within a couple signatures of completing the referral letter could be done any day. 

With the 14 day limit to have the acceptance letter [or refusal] back to IBESR the pressure and responsibility on the representative increased significantly.

Interestingly, IBESR does not call the representative or e-mail the agency to let anyone know about the completion of the referral letter. 

Only when the representative physically shows up to ask will they release the letters. 

So the visits will now be a daily occasion by the agency's representative, increasing the costs.

Some prayer requests:

Representative: Will be healthy. Safety in travel with no strikes or protests to block his path.  Motivation, resources to do the job well. Perfect timing of the visits.

IBESR: Sign papers. Everything done correctly. Work efficiently. Honesty and motivation. 

Paperwork: Done correctly. Not lost. Not damaged. Safe.

Agencies: Again timely and efficient work to get the referral to us. Phone call would come through.

     

Answers: Find answers, in a timely fashion, to questions specific to our unique case [due to living in Haiti]. 

Timing: Any travel needed would work well. Getting things set up and accomplished. Getting the letter back to IBESR in time.

Equipment: That the computers, phones and internet would continue to work well.

Our family: To use this time well, getting done what needs to be done without distractions.

Praying vigilantly, fervently and with gratitude for His plan, His power, His timing. 

Still waiting...

Today marks our 15th month in IBESR waiting for a referral and four weeks since the 'keep your phones on' e-mail.

Two days ago marked the 'two months before we fly to the USA' date.

Trying to wait well with complete confidence in the Lord's plan and timing has me asking more and more people for prayer.

I'll confess I find myself frequently reminding the Lord that a referral this week before the bonding trip in the next four weeks would be great. No need to fly back to Haiti for the bonding trip and to postpone/ cancel church visits or appointments. Both Eli and Anna could easier go with us [if allowed by the orphanage]. No additional costs for changing our flights or tacking on an extra trip.

My head knows that the Lord sees the bigger picture, loves us, knows the plan and has the power to execute the plan as He sees fit. My heart longs to jump up and down with hope and joy more than sitting calmly at His feet praising Him while I wait calmly.

I like to pray as specifically as I can but after years of praying for our adoption process, I'm finding myself running out of ways to keep saying, asking, thanking the Lord for the same issues, needs, and wants.

I want to move to the next step. I want to bargain with the Lord to move things along. I want to know facts. However, more than all that I want HIS WILL.

A dear friend who's walked this walk wrote me this last week: "And for the adoption.  I know that your logistics are different from ours here.  But I think every adopting parent has hoops that look impossible and horrible and strike terror to the heart.  But I can't get away from the fact that he led you this far.  And he isn't the kind who takes you into the middle of the Red Sea that is piled up on both sides, walking on dry ground, only to pull a trick and let the water come crashing down.  No.  He will get you ALL THE WAY across.  You WILL hold your children.  He will finish what he started.  He will hold you up until it is done.  And then some more."

So pray for me.

Pray for us, to be content in the wait, knowing 100% that the Lord's way is best. He's actively interceding for our family and our child/children.

Pray that we can praise Him wholeheartedly, giving Him the honor and praise that only His deserves.

Pray we can keep our eyes on Him and not get distracted. That we can focus during our days on the opportunities before us to serve Him with love and joy filled hearts.

He cares for the flowers, animals and knows the hairs on each head. He loves each of us with an unconditional love. He cares for me, you and each life.

Thank you for joining us in prayer.

P.S. Someone on the Facebook group posted that IBESR may start up parent interviews again in May.

Close?

On Tuesday we received an exciting e-mail from our adoption agency that we should keep our phones on as a few families from the crèche we plan to work with in the North received referrals last week.

This step of the process should go something like this:

IBESR signs the last signature needed to our paperwork approving a referral.

At that point the clock starts to click down, as we will have 14 days to accept the referral.

Then IBESR needs to contact the crèche where our child/children live. This unfortunately can take several days. The crèche in turn contacts our agency.

The agency then needs to translate the child/children's information into English. Then the phone call should come.

Once we receive the referral we pray and decide if we will accept. A formal letter stating that we plan to accept the referral needs to be written and then signed in front of a notary.

The letter then scanned-back to the agency, translated and returned in some form to IBESR before the 14 days run out [not sure if that includes weekends or not.

So you can see things will need to move rapidly when we get our referral. For us the notary may mean a long 6 hours or so to the Embassy if we can get an Embassy appointment rapidly.

Encouraging news if it happens soon...as we just read that IBESR may be stopping processing any children's charts for up to 3 months while they work on the 1,200 parents charts waiting at their office.

Please pray!

Need home study update.

Our updated paperwork just needs to be put into a large envelope and addressed, as the team will bring it to the USA and put it into the mail.


We used a Haitian notary to complete it before we started getting busy with the team.

We located an American social worker to come visit so that she can write a one page update for the original social worker who did our home study. Unfortunately for us, due to vehicle troubles she has not yet been able to drive up to visit.

Praying we figure out a way for her to visit soon or we'll need to start to look for someone else.

The paperwork needs to get to CA, assuming notarized, and the gold seal added before being sent in to the US government office.

Due by May 23.

Continue to wait for our referral. Think the step after accepting the match is to write a letter stating our intent to adopt the child/children and that will need to be notarized as well.

An Embassy meeting is scheduled to occur in Cap Haitian on March 19th. Many reasons we'd like to match by then but one would be so we don't need to travel the 6+ hours, overnight to get one letter signed at the Embassy....but will do it if need be.

After then we would schedule our two week bonding trip. Over one year ago we started the wait for our referral.

We continue to wait.

Last week the countdown to our USA trip started with the purchase of tickets for June 12th.

Trying to wait well, trusting in the Lord, in His plan.....but it is hard. Getting harder.

Please pray for us. Pray for us to have patience. To increase our faith. For the Lord to open the doors and make a way for our family to grow according to His plan. No delays from the devil.

[Photos-my new Amazon lily (Eucharist lily). Fitting as we just celebrated 20 years after our engagement in the Amazon rain forest of Brazil.]

One Year, IBESR

One year ago our chart entered IBESR. Number 43.

We received the news January 29th...and nothing since.

Our chart could be sitting on the same desk where it arrived a year ago.

But we pray many steps occurred in the last year.

We pray that it may be sitting on a desk along with the charts of our children just waiting for someone to pick up the phone, or hit send on an e-mail to let our agency know about the match.

We pray for the Lord's plan, His will, His choice of children, His choice of crèche, His timing...but our hearts long to know names, ages, faces, where, when, who...

We start to think about updating our chart and shutter to hear stories of families updating for the 4th time during the adoption process. Please, no Lord.

Please move the blockades. Please pour out pity and compassion. Please work miracles.

But if not....still we will praise Him.

Lord, help us to wait well. Help shape us into the family our children need us to be. Help us to learn the lessons well while we wait. Increase our faith.

Thank You! Thank you Lord, for being with our charts and children. Thank You for interceding on our behalf when we can do nothing. Thank You for leading us on this journey every step, every day, every prayer.

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.

Why the long referral wait?

Adoption consists of a complicated process that produces a lot of paperwork. [and just telling of this one step...a long blog]

Times of transition generally mean backlogs of charts and delays with the discussion and implementation of proposed changes. Haiti's transitional delays we pray result in a smoother system with reduced possibilities of abuse.

One of the big changes in Haiti's adoption process involves declaring a child's adaptability status prior to referral. This should prevent referral of children not meeting 'adoptable requirements' of Haitian and American governments.

In theory: A Haitian family meets with the social service team and makes an adoption plan. If after every possible effort to keep the family together, including education, and counseling the family stand firm on the decision to place the child up for adoption and IBESR agrees it is in the child's best interest, a one-month waiting period starts. After a full month, consent can be granted.

Abandoned children remain in an orphanage for at least 6 months while the family is looked for after which time IBESR can decide to make a referral for adoption. The mayor of the area where the child was found will need to appear in Children's court.

Child's Dossier - after IBESR declares the child adoptable these items need to be collected:

1. Passport Pictures
2. Birth Certificate
3. Attestation of signature on Birth Certificate or a copy from the National Archives
4. Legal relinquishment of custody by family/mayor if abandoned in family Court [this step can take 2-3 visits]
5. Death certificates and extracts from archives of biological parents if applies
6. Parent's marriage certificate if applies
7. Psychological evaluation
8. Medical evaluation
9. Laboratory tests
10. Social history

Now a referral can be proposed. The orphanage/creche directors will be asked to review the charts of waiting families. Once IBESR approves a potential match  the adoption agency will be given an official letter, and the family notified. After notification, the family will have 15 days to consider the match and accept or decline the referral. 

At this time, no one knows what will happen should a family not feel able to accept a proposed referral. 

As you can see there are many steps in the process and many potential areas for delays and problems. Praying for protection for everyone, every step, every paper, and every signature.   

Pray for us to be patient, wait well, and for our children while they wait too. Yesterday marked our 9th month in IBESR.  

No families without a 'soft' or 'pre-matched' admission to IBESR along with a proposed child have yet reported a match by IBESR on the Facebook group.  

We know that generally a child's development becomes more delayed for every month they live in an institutionalized setting, but we're praying our children will miraculously thrive.   

IBESR News.

Dragon fruit flower bud

My dad once called me an opportunist and I guess I am.

With the conferences on campus this summer with representatives from all 25 northern churches and a few additional churches outside the district we could not pass on the opportunity.

The opportunity to let them know about the lack of referrals the last 7 months delaying providing needy children with families.

We reminded them that while we pray that families can stay together there will always be some children who need a new family and right now many creches are full and needing to turn away children.

We asked them to join us in praying for the children of Haiti. Praying for the adoption process to improve and move forward. Praying for our children. Praying to defeat the devil's delays and blocks.

Together we join in prayer for progress to be made at every step for hundreds of waiting children and families.

Some folks report that over 900+ dossiers currently wait in IBESR.

Our chart joined the numbers 6 months ago and no word since then about our referral.

Some news this week from a meeting held by IBESR.

The short version boils down to some encouraging news:

• Biological families are being helped to understand their options of keeping their children and getting help with schooling and jobs.
• If IBESR feels that a couple over the age of 50 would be a good fit they will make exceptions to the age limit of 50 years. 
• The lawyer in charge of adoptions hopes to see matches starting by the end of July.
• If a foreigner holds a residential visa and lived in Haiti more than 5 years they will qualify for a National adoption. 

GLA full blog The blog also notes that many of the creches are struggling financially to feed their children as the delay in referrals means that adoption funds cannot be used.

After reading this we contacted our USA agency to remind them that we qualify for a national adoption and to ask them to ask about this when their representative next inquires about our dossier.

We resent the copies of our residential visas when it was expressed that the previous copy was too faint to read easily. National adoptions would be prioritized over international.

Encouraging to hear that referrals will start soon but not so on hearing that one family is at the 3 year mark waiting for a referral.

Keep praying.

Prayers for progress.

We passed the 5 month wait in IBESR with no news this week. Please continue to pray for Haiti's adoption process as delays cause hundreds of children to live without parents and siblings to love them.

For a full report from God's Littlest Angels founder Dixie go here. Dixie recently returned to Haiti after a trip and visited IBESR, June 13.

Condensed points:

1. No official referrals have been given since December.
2. Lots of indecision at IBESR in her opinion. Working on the families stuck because of the change of status for dispensation cases under old law. When the President closed the office after the new law passed, the charts under old law there could not officially be finished.
3. Secretary was working on getting dossiers ready for biological families to release their children for adoption. Families being told their children would be adopted soon.
4. Lawyer in charge of adoption unit has a 'history of indecision or accepts changes slowly' and is busy with other duties. Hague representative been working for 2 months now.
5. GLA has a long list of pre-matched suggestions. Hoping to get quicker matches.
6. Fee increase. "Everyone says this will not affect dossiers already in IBESR before they raise the fees.'

She also noted staff out sick with Chikungunya fever which is sweeping the country right now. She remarks how all the checks and agencies will remain in limbo until decisions are made and then acted on.

Prayer Requests:

• Madame Arielle Villedroin as the director of IBESR. Health. Wisdom to improve the system and make needed changes to get adoptions moving again.
• Lawyers will find a way to finish up the old dispensation cases.
• Parents giving up their children. That many will find ways to remain a family.
• Creches waiting for movement. Having to turn away new children because of limited space, staff, and resources.
• That the devil's delays and distractions will be overcome and progress can be made on getting children home to loving, Christian families.
• That those suffering from Chikungunya fever will recover rapidly without lingering effects. Protection on those not yet infected by this new mosquito transmitted virus.
• Patience, hope, and preparation for the waiting families like ours. 

Please let your praying friends and prayer chains know of this important prayer need. We feel this is a spiritual battle and every prayer counts. Please fight with us for these precious children. Thank you. 

P.S. Maybe as a reminder to pray you can pray when you wait…. When you wait to pick up your children at an event pray for this of us waiting to pick up our children at an orphanage. Waiting at a stop light, in a line or on the phone just send out a quick prayer for the process and those involved at each level. 

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.

Prayers during IBESR wait.

Our dossier now sits in the hands of someone in IBESR and we received our number, [43]!

Now someone from that office will read our dossier and hopefully our children will pop into their mind and they will make a recommendation, also known as a referral. [See below-then apparently a meeting with our crèche director and the crèche director where the children live along with IBESR staff]

Assuming agreement between all parties, our agency in Haiti would communicate with our USA agency who will then contact us with the information about our potential children.

At some time a clock starts because within a two week time frame we need to agree to the referral or decline [not real sure when the clock starts?].

Declining means we wait for a second referral. Accepting means we agree to adopt the children offered and then will start to talk about dates for the two week bonding visit.

A few changes with the new process as we understand them, mean that during the bonding time a social worker will observe our interactions with the children and write a report up. The parents no longer need to travel to court as this report replaces that step in the process.

A time of mixed emotions as the excitement builds toward 'meeting' our children for the first time balanced with the knowledge that other families have waited over to a year for a referral as well as the fear that our referral may not be children that we would be comfortable accepting and we may need to decline the referral.

Last week agents from the USA met with IBESR staff to review the new procedures for the April 1st decision about being Hauge compliant. I have not seen anything yet about how it went.

A Haitian lawyer who works closely with IBESR wrote on Facebook yesterday that IBESR plans to work 'to sign and release some 460 dossiers in the next weeks'.  Do not know if this will slow new process people or not.

On a agency blog who visited IBESR in January they note that the head attorney told them that regular referrals should start in February.

While the IBESR needs to approve the referrals/matches they plan to work closely with the crèche directors who know the families and the children being matched. So sounds like the directors will met with the IBESR folks before a referral is made assuring better matches.

His staff reportedly would have an inventory of dossiers completed by Jan. 16th to start setting up meetings with the crèche directors.

Keep praying!

• IBESR staff as they process many dossiers both old and new process. Work efficiently [we hear that the support staff visit/chat and spend a lot of time on Facebook during work hours]. Work carefully so no mistakes. Health. 
• Crèche directors and IBESR working closely together for referrals and matches. 
• For our specific referral and match [again hoping for a younger boy and girl [OK with stable special needs] but open to the Lord's will]
• Two week time frame? That we will have enough time to pray, ask questions and respond. [Hear of one family's referral arriving more than two weeks after IBESR referred-no one yet knows how this works]

IBESR # 43!

IBESR file number 43 under Haiti's new adoption procedure!!!!!

January 14, 2014 IBESR accepted our adoption dossier.

Being a new process no one really knows how long each phase will be but as we understand things the next step is for the new person in charge of matching to review our chart and refer to us the child/children he believes fit the specifications that our home study approves us to accept.

Once we receive 'the referral' we will have two weeks to think and pray about accepting or declining the match suggested to us.

Please join us in praying for this very important step. On the last blog we listed some specific requests to pray for the person in IBESR, new to the job, who's in charge of referrals.

Pray for us as well as we wait to meet our children. Patience. Wisdom. [We're hoping for a boy and girl and were unable to specifically state this in the dossier]

Sibling groups automatically fall under 'special needs.'

We agreed to be open to limited special needs [like a stable medical condition not needing intensive ongoing therapy-because of our rural location. Also we would not feel comfortable with medical issues that can be serious rapidly like asthma or seizures because of our limited medical care here.

Because we're looking for a sibling group the age range approved for us is up to 8 years. With home schooling being an important part of our lives we think it would be best for preschoolers but the Lord knows better than us so we pray for His leading.

So: patience, wisdom, and more patience. Thank you for your interest in our journey and your prayers.

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

Being First…..

Do you like to be first? First seat on a roller coster? First for something good? What about first for something bad-do you like to just get it over with? Enjoy the unexpected? Adventuresome? What about first in line for the unknown?

Generally in life I do not push to be first. I did not even do so as a school child but would hang back a bit. Middle of the line was OK. Let me see how the other's accomplished a task.

In medical school often my evaluations read 'not aggressive enough'. True enough. I prefer to learn from other's mistakes than be the first to mess up, especially in front of a group.

With all the changes in the adoption process in Haiti we find ourselves one of the first families in line with our agency to go through the new process. In addition everyone else we know living in Haiti going through the adoption process already have their children living in their homes.

Our dossier arrived in Haiti the end of October and may be the very first one our agency submits to IBESR. Being first means no one can share their experience, time frames or give us an idea on what to expect.

Having lived in Haiti for 15 years I suspect that we will be called upon to use the flexibility and patience that we have developed living here as we move through the new process and the unknowns.

We will depend on our support team to partner with us in prayer during this journey especially when waiting for our referral, waiting to learn which children the Lord has chosen to join our family and afterward as we wait for the process to bring them home.

We 'hear' that the new law passed but as of yet still not printed in the paper.

Through a Facebook group we know that some people continue to wait for a referral more than 10 months after their dossier submission to IBESR under the new system.

So far have not heard of any new process families matched who did NOT already have a 'soft match' meaning that their agency already located a child.

Know that hundreds of charts, cases, representing families and children exist in the system each needing attention, time and action to move forward. PLEASE PRAY.

Faith can move mountains. God is in charge. His way. His timing. No delays outside of His will.

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.