October 25th, 2010 - We began the adoption process today by turning in our application to Lifeline Adoption Services. We were matched up with a social worker in Georgia. And so the paperwork begins.
November 7th, 2010 - National Orphan Sunday. This Sunday morning, Eddy and I had the privilege of sharing our Haiti experience in both Sunday schools at our church. It was an honor and it was VERY intimidating! But we were passionate about that which we were sharing, so the words came easily. Well...I say easily...if you call BAWLING AND HEAVING as you speak to a couple of hundred people "easily", well then I guess it was. I could NOT get it together at times. I could not speak about such a precious topic without being very emotional. Plus, we had only been back from Haiti for three weeks, so the images were still very vivid in our minds. We wanted to leave others with a challenge - to really seek God and ask Him, "Lord how do you want ME to care for orphans?" We know adoption is not the answer for everyone. But there IS an answer to that question...for everyone.
One thing we did while we were speaking that morning was this...we gave everyone a piece of paper and a pencil. Then, we asked them to write the name of every orphan they know on that piece of paper. Of course, everyone in the room pretty much stared at me. They did not write one name. Because they did not know a single name. I was quick to say that I was not trying to make them feel uncomfortable...well, I was a little...but my point was that I had this same realization last year...that I could not write a single name of an orphan on a piece of paper. AND THAT IS NOT OK! If James 1 says to visit widows and orphans, then by the simple process of being with them, we should be learning some names.
November 29, 2010 - Elections for a new President in Haiti today. Things did not go well. Lots of rioting, confusion, fraudulent activity, lack of trust, violence, etc. Our hope for a new President that will shorten the adoption timeframe for Haiti is not looking very promising since they can't even get the President elected peacefully.
December 2, 2010 - We found out today that Kervens was moved from the infant room (a place of nurture and love and safety) into the toddler room (a place of...well...not so much safety). My heart hurt for him. He is with the big kids now. He is going to have to learn to take care of himself a bit. Things get a little crazy in that room. Don't get me wrong, the kids are all well cared for and loved on and managed just fine in there. But life gets "taken up a notch" in the toddler room. You know, the usual...biting, hitting, roaming, fighting. Just picture this...about 30 toddlers... all in the same room in your church's nursery... for next 24 hours... non-stop... with three nursery workers. Then picture that same scene the next day...and the next...and the next...you get my drift? I liked the idea of the sweet infant room with 18 infants and 4 or 5 nannies caring for them. But the Lord knows. The Lord knows.
December 6, 2010 - Pierre Alexis, the Haitian pastor who is the director of the Maison Des Enfants De Dieu orphanage, came to Chattanooga to visit and speak. He is an amazing man with a HUGE PASSION for the Lord and for the children and people of Haiti. As a matter of fact, Pierre has a visa that would allow him to leave Haiti and bring his wife and four children to the US. He even has other relatives that live here in the states. But when you ask him why he stays in Haiti, he simply looks at you in a puzzled way and says, "But who would take care of the children?" What a man. He did a great job speaking at many different venues over the course of the weekend.
Kim Harmon, the President of For His Glory Outreach (which is the financial arm of the orphanage here in the states), also came with Pierre. She has many unbelievable stories of her own to share. And she and her husband have adopted SIX children from the orphanage Maison. All these adoptions came AFTER their biological children were grown and out of the house. They filled their empty nest with six precious Haitian children.
December 24th, 2010 - I was having a really hard time being away from Kervens over Christmas. I kept wondering if they were celebrating with the kids in the orphanage. Would he get a present? Would he know he is special? I had to make a last minute run to Wal-mart on Christmas Eve, and as I was in the car, I began to cry out to the Lord..."Lord, do you have him? Do you have Kervens?" It was as if He replied peacefully, "Yes, I have him." Again I cried out, "No, Lord, I mean do you REALLY HAVE HIM?" And again, I could almost hear Him saying, "I told you, I have got him. You are going to have to trust this child to me like you have never had to do with your other children. But soon you will learn to trust me like this with all of your children. I have got them. You are not in control of your children's lives. I am. I have got them...ALL OF THEM."
Well, wouldn't you know it, that night I received a Christmas email newsletter from the orphanage, and guess who was on the front page receiving a new toy and smiling? Our boy Kervens! He DID get a present. And he MUST have felt special! A HUGE answer to prayer for this mama! Thank you, Lord, for caring about the little "tid-bits" of our hearts. Below is the newsletter...
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December 25th, 2010 - A celebration day with my family in Birmingham. What a great day to be with my parents and my sister and her family. We had a blast giving gifts to each other and opening presents...for HOURS! My dad has always done Christmas up BIG! I think he just might be the original SANTA CLAUS! So, we take our time and open each gift carefully, savoring each present that we, or our loved ones, open. It would drive some people crazy to take this long to open...but we love it! Seriously, we start around 7 AM and end around 2 PM. No kiddin'!
Anyway, another little "tid-bit" of my heart that I had not shared with anyone is how I was LONGING to see a picture of all four of our children together - including Kervens of course. And apart from taking our children to Haiti with us to get a picture all together, I did not see how that would be possible any time soon. Well, on Christmas morning, my sister brought out her gift to me. And guess what it was....a pencil sketch that a local artist had done...of all four children - TOGETHER! She had given the artist an individual picture of each child and asked him to put them together in a portrait. WOW! I began to sob. And I did not stop for quite a while. It was just so precious and meaningful to see all four of our children together. It looks so right!
January 1, 2011 - So we bring in the new year with 16 days of housebound flu fighting. But in the midst of that we have had some really fun times - like watching TV for un-godly numbers of hours, like playing in the 7 inches of snow that just fell, like making cupcakes to drowned our sorrow for not being able to go to a friend's birthday party, like watching the kids double over in laughter as they pull each other around the house on the plasma car (our floors will never be the same), like playing musical beds for 14 nights based on who was coughing the most, like staying in bed with my husband until 9:15 this morning...just cuz we can.
And lastly, back to adoption updates, we have officially finished our homestudy! Woo Hoo! We are waiting for the final draft to be mailed to us, then we start taking our documents to Atlanta for authentication. After that, we start mailing our documents to hither and yon to get final certification stuff done to it. Then, it all goes to Haiti...and we W A I T!
2 comments:
I'm crying again, Carlee! Thanks for writing all of this out so we can take this journey (somewhat) with you! I am praying that your process will be QUICK!
Love the updates, and I'm proud of you for entering the blogging world!
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