He is on the move!!!

This week we had the director of Hope House, where Jivenson lives, and her husband over for dinner. A couple hours before they came over, she called in tears to share the news that Jivenson is crawling and is all over the house:) This is such amazing news because he has not been mobile at all and seemed to have muscle weakness in his arms and neck. Last weekend he just decided it was the day to get moving and now the nannies are having to really watch him;) This is such an answer to prayer!
On the home study front, we are just waiting for our social worker to finish that up and then we can move onto submitting the forms required for US Immigration.
We are getting more and more excited as our trip to Haiti is approaching...a little over a month away! We are currently gathering donations for Hope House and water purification drops and tablets to help combat cholera that is affecting Port au Prince right now.
Please pray for peace in Haiti, as now there is such chaos over the elections of a new president. God knows that country needs new leadership with integrity and a heart for the people.

prayer

The girls love praying for Jivenson and Haiti and it's beautiful to hear. Tonight I told the girls about the cholera outbreak and how people are getting sick from drinking water. I told them too that where Jivenson lives, they only drink bottled water so he will be safe. Wesli looked at me with wide eyes and urgency in her voice and said, "Oh Lord, help the people in Haiti who drink that water and thank you that my little brother is safe. Let healthness go into that water and heal them and not be sick anymore." It was the most precious prayer and the kind of prayer that could move mountains! Both the girls pray for him everyday and Melat starts every breakfast that way. It is so amazing to watch our children's world view expand and see their eyes open to the world outside of our home and to see their response to it...prayer.

Home Study

Yesterday we had our first Home Study visit. Through some misunderstanding on my part, I had it in my head that the social worker was coming here to our home. So of course I've been cleaning like crazy this week and we rushed to get some pictures on the wall that we haven't put back up since I painted the living room. And then when she was "late", i called her and she was expecting us to come there. Thank God she lives close, so we rushed over there and finally got to meet. All went well and it's feeling much easier this time around....using our first Home Study, it makes it a little less difficult since so much is the same as it was during our first Home Study in 2006/2007.
We were very encouraged to hear some things that have been happening kind of behind the scenes, regarding the orphanage where Jivenson is living and things we can do to ensure he comes home in a timely manner. We feel so amazed at how God has brought people into our lives during this first part of the journey and how He has orchestrated relationships and connections with others to do something so wonderful!
We should be done the Home Study before the end of this month and it should get written up and completed sometime in December. We were really hoping it would at least be done before we travel in Jan, and it will be:) We can't wait!

Leaving on a jet plane.....well in a few months

Finally booked our flights for Haiti! We will travel the last week of January and meet our son! It'll be a crazy time to be there because the orphanage is relocating and the week we're there is moving week...so we'll definitely be able to pitch in and help...or I'll just hold Jivenson and move him while everyone moves everything else:) We are so excited!

baby clothes....

Today I went to Target to buy a baby shower gift and it's going to be a boy. I'm standing there looking at all these sweet little boys clothes, with doggies and monkeys and stripes and all I can think of is Jivenson. My heart ached and tears welled in my eyes. The little fuzzy, footy pajamas are out now and I could just picture him all cuddled up wearing those and playing on our living room floor and then I imagined picking him up and snuggling him.
I don't think I will ever get over the beauty of how when adopting, you actually can fall in love with a child halfway across the world, who looks nothing like you and whom you've never met. It amazes me that 2 months ago I did not know his name or face and now I think of him everyday and my heart warms when I see his picture.
It is an amazing mystery....

Hait Foundation Against Poverty

HFAP is now truly in our vision and our hearts. I wanted to put this link up so that you could see all that they do in Haiti and see Jivenson of course, and the post we saw that has changed everything! :)
Jivenson

Home Study

Yesterday we finally got our first Home Study home visit on the calendar! It'll be on Nov. 10th and while the kids are in school. Our social worker will meet with just Kev and I first and then we'll schedule another time for her to meet and "interview" the girls. Our social worker, and contact at Families Through Adoption has such a passion for adoption and for post adoption needs as well....oh yes, it'd be good to mention the agency we're using:)
We were directed to FTA by a couple different people and were so excited they would work with us, especially seeing as this process is so much different from our first; having "found" our son before USCIS approval and dossier.
We did get some good news in regards to our Home Study..we don't have to fill out most of the initial HS paperwork because our first Home Study can be used for much of that, Hooray for a few less pieces of paperwork...there is so much more to come! Kev will have his physical this week and then we are submitting the rest of the paperwork we need (copy of original Home Study and a few other things).
It has been a relief to come to this next step of the Home Study because it makes it feel more real and official. Jivenson feels so far away sometimes and taking these little steps makes us feel like we are getting closer to him.
Speaking of being closer to him, we are hoping (while waiting for concrete dates) to travel in February to meet him!!! We are so excited to buy our tickets and meet our little man!

Again....

Since January, Kev and I have both been feeling that we'd be growing our family through adoption once again. We did not know however that it would happen so soon. We deliberately prayed about it for several months and over the summer we decided that we would possibly start a home study next Spring or Summer, not sure if we would go through domestic or international. We thought we'd check out some informational meetings local adoption agencies were having this fall.
Friends of ours pastor a church that last year partnered with Haiti Foundation Against Poverty. Their church has sent several teams to work in Haiti with HFAP and one of my best friends went on one of the trips. Knowing they had an orphanage, I just thought as part of our "research" I'd contact them and see if there were any children available for adoption, or even if Haitian adoptions were possible at this point. The reply was honest and not exactly encouraging, but it gave us something to specifically pray about. So we did.
On Tuesday September 14th I was cooking dinner and while waiting for something to boil, I checked Facebook. There was a post by Mallery Thurlow Neptune, founder of HFAP. She had posted a link to the HFAP blog and I read several posts.
Then I scrolled down and there was a post about this baby boy and a picture...Jivenson. I saw his face and read that post and I knew. I felt so strongly that God had this child for us and us for him.
I immediately called Kevin to come upstairs and see!!! We stared at him and Kev asked if I thought we should adopt him and I said "YES!" and he said OK.
It was so surreal and I couldn't explain it but I couldn't ignore it. I wrote HFAP to let them know that we had seen the post and felt such a stirring that we had to respond; not knowing to what end but that we would be praying for this child and would wait to see what would come of all this.
That following week was filled with flurried emails back and forth to Haiti and an amazing time "meeting" him via Skype. Mallery has sent tons of pictures and even video of him. There have been so many confirmations and things falling into place that we can hardly explain. We have even met another family who is also adopting a child from the same orphanage. They have had a similar experience as we have.
God is up to something and we are beyond thrilled to be a part of it! There are still soooo many unknowns ahead. This is uncharted territory for us all. This adoption is and will be very different from our first experience but we are fully trusting that God has us in His hands and that this is his making, not our own.
I've been clinging to Psalm 119:105 since that first night we saw his picture:
"Your word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path."
We cannot know the steps we have to take on this journey but God does.... and we walk with great expectation!!
So, here we go!