Prayers, hope, waiting....

Seconds melt into minutes. Minutes add up to hours. Hours accumulate into days, and days to months. Relentlessly the months join together into years as time marches on....

No real news but don't let that stop you from praying!

• Thankful for the new attorney working on our case.
• The legal counsel she's been waiting to talk to about our case should have returned to work today after being gone on vacation.
• Thankful she and the agencies are looking into all possible answers
• Asking the Lord to show the best way for us.
• Asking the Lord to grant everyone wisdom, efficiency, and integrity.
• Asking the Lord for forward progress and that He get the glory and honor. 
• Sent in our 3 month renewal request for F's I-600 visa and received a different response.
• Thankful for our agency looking into this.
• Thankful there looks to be a few different paths for a visa when this one expires
• Asking the Lord for wisdom and direction.
• The first child will be leaving F's foster home this week to join his new family.



• Thankful for the wonderful housemates F has and nannies
• Thankful for the adults pouring love into the kids during these hard, confusing times of change.
• Thankful for progress and the first home going party for this house! Thankful for the other 4 children from the creche who've gone home during 2016. 
• Praying for each during this week of transition and for the good-byes to occur on Friday.
• Praying for progress for F's case as well as the other 4 children in the home. 
• Thankful that F's foster aunt agreed to spend some extra time with him reading books and working on some kindergarten stuff.He will continue to attend pre-school three times a week as well
• Thankful the books arrived to the family before they returned to Haiti and that they were willing to carry the books in for us.
• Praying for F to learn well and continue to enjoy school
• Thankful for those praying and supporting us and especially those supporting F.
• Praying that F can put his trust in the Lord and the adults telling him that we love him. At this time the staff does not think that F would understand if we were to visit him why he can't go home with us. So we wait, longing to interact, hug and tell him in person that we love him. Waiting for the day the Lord opens the door for us to be a 'real' family when F legally becomes ours in name and place, not just in our hearts and minds. 

Four years...the door opened.

I just went back and read my first two posts...

African desert roses

That Friday morning we did not have a clue about the journey that the Lord was about to start us on by opening our hearts up for adoption.

No idea of the ups and downs, confusion, hurt, frustration that would occur before and after the joy of meeting F and spending time with him.

No notion that four years later we would remain in IBESR and not have one or more children at home bonding as part of our family.

No concept of the prayer and emotional support this walk would require from our friends or about the new friends we would gain along with way.

Chou Chou beach-old picture

I think the biggest surprise for me remains..how the process changed me and my faith.

Stretched, refined, sifted, shaken, blown to dust-my expectations now look nothing like they did at the beginning.

As I shared in the last blog, the Lord just keeps whispering to me " Trust me".

While we continue to pray for miracles and movement, we worship and wait.

We are F's family. We don't need a paper or signature to tell us what we know in our hearts and minds. We will be in his life, for as long and as much as as the Lord will allow us.

Doesn't mean we like waiting but we will wait. F's more than worth it.

The lesson--trust

Found with no dirt, no leaves but still beautiful. 

Yesterday we heard from our social worker...

-they are insisting on the new paperwork about F's parents
-the creche is asking other creches for help and a sample letter
-it could be October before they get this paper if it has to go before a judge
-a new staff member with law background has been asked to work on our case

I'm struggling.

-it is very likely our visa paperwork will expire.
     -options for new visa not clear as we live in Haiti, not the USA.
-'any day now' now looking at months
-what could happen if they can't get this paperwork or it isn't want IBERS needs/wants?

I had the following in draft written just before we learned of the new paperwork issue -guess I need to listen to myself.

Written a week or so ago...

Cory called it the 'never give up' flower.

I do better with waiting and delays when I understand why. So I've asked lots of questions during our adoption journey especially in the last few years of waiting in IBESR for our referral and now to exit.

The limbo of unknowns remains uncomfortable to me. So I keep trying to figure out the why, the reason, the lessons.

While my head knows that the Lord's reasons may not be revealed to us now or later I keep looking. Lessons to learn...maybe if I learn that one, it will be the key to progress and moving forward. 

So in the last couple of years some things I've pondered or tried: increased church, increased prayer, fasting, different prayers, lots of books on prayer and waiting, increased gratitude, thanking before something happens, working on problem areas, being content, reading more about adoption-prayers-worship-attachement-contentment..... 

Results: I've changed. I think I've improved in some areas with the Lord's help [maybe hard to see yesterday and today]. But I think most of the lessons boil down to 'Trust me'. 

Why the wait?                                                                        Trust me.

Why can't F come home?                                                       Trust me.

Wouldn't it have be better to be a family of 5 for a bit.           Trust me.

What if our visa paperwork expires?                                      Trust me.

What if its hard to get a visa as we live overseas?                  Trust me. 

What about school?                                                                 Trust me.

What if our papers are lost or misplaced?                               Trust me.

What if corruption or revenge is causing the delay.                Trust me.

What if the government destabilizes?                                     Trust me.

What if we can't travel for another year or so with F?            Trust me.

What if he thinks we don't love him and gets discouraged?    Trust me.

Should we be doing more?                                                       Trust me.

What should we do?                      Just trust me.

Added today...
       What if the new requested document takes months?                        Trust me.

       What if the information is not what they want or need?                   Trust me.
        What if.........TRUST ME!

Additional prayers needed!!

Listening to my adoption songs of hope to help offset my frustration and remind me that the Lord remains in control. He's sovereign. He's all powerful. His plan will come in His timing. He cares for F and us. He is good. He is love. He is justice.

Instead of good news from our social worker today we learned that IBESR has not released our chart but is requesting additional information about F's parents.

We do not understand this, as any additional request for information from the family or orphanage should have come before we received our referral. The information requested is not law, not a requirement and not something our agency has been asked for in any other case. The judge doesn't even understand what is being asked for or why.

On the bright side our social worker plans on being in Haiti next week. Procedure is to go, sit, and wait to see the person or persons you need to see. We pray that anyone she needs to see will be working and have time to talk early next week.

Her flights to and from Haiti are early Tuesday morning and mid-afternoon on Friday.

We would love it if she can update us sooner than the 12th when she plans to return to work. At the least on Friday the 8th before leaving Haiti we’d love to hear that she was successful in some way/shape/form to advance our case. Details can wait until her return to work.

More and more this feels like a spiritual battle and less about being disorganized or ineffective. Other cases with our organization and the orphanage are also stuck. We know that Satan does not want children placed in Christian homes, but our God is stronger, His plan will prevail! The battle and victory will be His, along with all glory and honor.

Please pray:
  -over this trip and for our social worker [travels, health, safety].
-that Port-au-Prince stays calm politically so that the meetings can take place at IBESR
-that someone even today decides that the requested paper is NOT needed !
-she can meet with the correct people to work out the issues on her cases.
              [earlier in the week the better]
-that she can get IBESR to release our file for the courts.
-that she would find the time to update us next week so we don’t need to wait over the weekend.
-that F remains hopeful and trusting in the Lord.
-that our next steps move forward rapidly so that visa paperwork can be completed in time.

We have been allowed twice in June to talk online with F. We heard about his goat [gifted from a friend], loosing a tooth, school, and more. He asked the second time to see ‘his cat’, having been introduced the first visit. He also saw his room.

Not the family time with all five of us we’d prayed for but great to see his smiling face and hear his voice and giggles. Eli leaves for the USA on July 7th and then on to Germany on July 15th.

F’s current foster family will be visiting the USA the end of July for summer break. Changes in ‘routine’ are hard for F and we’re asking the Lord to give him peace.

40 days of more intensive prayer, with at least one person/family fasting each day.  June 23- August 5 is the time frame.

Thank you for your partnership and support of our family.
Cory, Kris, Eli, Anna, & F.

40 Days of Prayer for Haitian adoptions.

One of the groups I frequent on Facebook is for people involved in adopting from Haiti.

On Mondays many folks post prayer requests and then on Fridays we share praises.

Along with my daily prayers for adoptions I also pray for the Lord to reduce the need for adoptions by keeping Haitian families together and providing for their needs.

A couple of years ago during a major transition period the IBESR [children's social services office] shut down for a month to try to 'catch up'. During this time the group intentionally increased prayers and many chose one day of 40 to fast.

June 23 - August 2 will be another 40 days of intentional and intensive prayer for Haiti adoptions.

Many transition families like ours continue to wait for either referrals or exits from IBESR after their referrals and bonding trips. Some families have waited close to three years for a referral.

We've been in IBESR for almost 2.5 years.

Many of the 'pre-Haughe', I-600 visa cases will be looking at starting over as the paperwork expires.

Ours will expire on Nov. 21st unless we start moving rapidly and can get several steps done before then.

Because of long delays in waiting for referrals some of the new Hauge families who've applied for I-800 visas will also need to renew paperwork.

F continues to wait well,  but like us does not understand why we wait?

We know many of you already pray for F and our adoption daily. Thank you!!!
Would you join us in praying for Haiti's other adoptions as well?

Here's part of the post:

It seems fitting to gather together again in prayer. Let's spend the next 40 days in intentional prayer and fasting. 

Let's invite the Holy Spirit to pour over every dusty file, to brighten every page, and move in every heart and hand that is required to sign. Let's pray for the courts, the officials, the immigration officers, and every step in between. Let's lift up the birth parents and nannies and orphanage directors. Let us intercede for the life of each child who waits in an orphanage, for their health and hearts and homecoming. 

Will you pray and fast (in whatever way you can) for 1 day? Will you ask your family and friends to pray that day too?

Thank you for helping to get children to their new families. 

Director's name is Mme. Arielle Jeanty Villedrouin, the last signature needed for referrals, not sure if she is the last for exits (our stage) also.

Face Time

No news on our chart or case.

Eli's time in Haiti will reach the 1/2 way point tomorrow.

 I know that the Lord knows how much we would love to spend time together as a family of five...because I've told Him several times! But we trust that the Lord's timing and plan will be best.

Sunday morning I awoke after seeing F in a dream, only to find a message from his foster Aunt asking if we could Skype or Face Time with F.

After only seeing an occasional new picture for six months we all enjoyed seeing his face and hearing his voice. He's growing up.

He talked about school and told us about his goat, a gift from a visiting friend. He asked to see the goat house that my Dad and Eli built at Christmas time and to see his room.


We heard how he lost his tooth, about school, and we showed him Kody the cat.

We told him we loved him and how we and many people are praying for the paperwork.

We learned he did well after our talk and were able to talk to him again last Sunday. A nice Father's Day gift for Cory. F asked to see Kody again. Because he decided to play with the goat rather than nap we were able to see his sleepy side.

Waiting is hard but we have peace from the Father, can't imagine how people without faith in Him go through an unpredictable adoption process.

Very thankful for the Lord preparing us to be a family for F. Reading a recommended book about attachment and another about the effects of trauma. Interesting...and not without hope and healing.

 Please continue to pray for the process of adoptions in Haiti as well as for government stability so that the cases can progress.

Thank you to each who support us with prayers and encouragement. Your emails and comments mean a lot. Already this week we've received 3 communications of encouragement specifically about our adoption.

Standing on God's Promises.

F's packed and ready to come home..

Still no word on the final signature.

Lots of people praying hard and daily for us to move forward.

Eli's summer break time in Haiti started yesterday, he will be here just over one month before heading back for summer term in Germany.

F met with the man from the orphanage yesterday and asked him if he was working on getting the paperwork done so that he [F] could join his new family.

He then packed up his best shirt, underwear, a piece of sugar cane and some paperwork and brought them to his foster aunt. One paper reads “ God keeps his promises’!!!

He occasionally tells people that in two more days he will be with his mom and dad. So glad he's not discouraged with the wait, and a bit jealous that he can stay encouraged with 'two more days' while my mind counts..6 months, 10 months, one year, one year + 3 weeks....

We bought him some clothes, shoes, and a very cute soft monkey while in the USA last week.

Heard a family exited last week from IBESR so know that the folks that need to sign are signing some charts.

No idea why not our chart, but trusting in the Lord.

Starting to wonder and pray about our visa dead-line of November 21, 2016. If you go to the 'Steps' tab at the top of this page you'll see the many additional steps and paperwork needed to get our paperwork in by this time.

Know that God has a plan...a good plan but also know that the devil does not want good plans to succeed. Praying for the Lord's protection as well as for his grace and intercession.