Update

We had a wonderful Christmas! We were able to spend some time with Guerlens and it was awesome! This little boy has stolen our hearts fully and our hearts ache to be with Caleb at the same time. We cannot wait until there are 4 kids stockings hanging up at Christmas! We are so thankful that we can send the gifts we got for Caleb down to Haiti with Mallery and Frentz!

We received our Haitian Dossier packet a couple weeks ago and...WOW! There is a lot of documentation we need! Even though adopting from Ethiopia was difficult and chock full of paperwork, there seems to be even more things needed for Haiti! We have begun the loooong process of gathering this paperwork and it feels a bit overwhelming. But even when I can check one item off the to do list, it feels good and we are that much closer to getting that dossier to Haiti.
We are STILL waiting on a surgery date for Guerlens. We have been told that his surgery will be in NY and that it will be scheduled for late Jan./ early Feb. but an exact date has yet to be determined. We are anxious for this final date!

Guerlens is a very bright little guy. He is so alert, has strong eye contact and is very attached to Mallery, which is encouraging to us. He likes to be held ALL the time and does not like to be put down:) He eats like a bottomless pit and is not picky AT ALL! He likes animals..he'll chase our cats around the house and Mallery told us that he is now saying the word "dog" and will chase her dog around their house and play with the dog toys:) He is smiley and sweet and very charming.
He and Caleb are such gifts and we are thankful!

Merry Christmas!

We received this beautiful gift in the mail this week and we are so thankful! We have been so blessed to spend time with Guerlens and to be able to Skype with Caleb. It's been more than we could of asked for and we're amazed that we are a part of this story!

We are still waiting on a surgery date for Guerlens and are hoping to find out more next week. We are just praying for God's perfect timing in this. We are almost done our Home Study and then will begin compiling our dossier. We are anxious to bring these boys home and are just waiting on God's direction and provision, trusting that He knows all we need to move forward with the process.
We are just trusting that God will provide all of the funds we need for this adoption. Because we are adopting two children, the international costs are quite a bit more.
A friend of mine sent us a magnet when we were adopting Melat that said "Where God guides He provides"...I am hanging onto this every day.
God continues to stretch and surprise us!

Joy

Thanksgiving!

For a few hours on Thanksgiving day we were able to visit with Guerlens! He is an incredibly sweet and happy little guy:) He let us all hold him for a little bit but is very attached to Mallery of course;) He loved the girls and the play phone they brought for him, loving to put it in his mouth, like everything else:)
He is just a joy and we loved being with him. Today he will be coming over to our house to visit with Mallery and Frentz! We'll put up more pics soon of our visit. Kev got a lot of good ones of all of us that are on his camera and he still needs to get those to me...can't wait to share them!

Tomorrow

Guerlens will be flying to MI tomorrow with Mallery and Frentz and Thursday morning we will see them all! Can't wait to get to know this sweet boy!

VISA!!!

This morning Guerlens was granted a visa to travel to the states for his surgery! This is indeed an incredible miracle and the tight timeline is even more a miracle! The travel papers are now needed and they plan to fly on Wednesday, so getting those papers in time will take another miracle. Our God is able!!!
If all times out well, we'll be spending part of our Thanksgiving with one of our sons!! We cannot wait!

Thank God for Skype!

Tonight we were able to skype with the boys! It was so wonderful to hear their sweet voices and to hear Caleb answer questions and sing Happy Birthday:) Guerlens was a busy little guy and so sweet sucking his thumb. Kevin brought up his guitar and played for the boys..Calebs eyes just lit up and we sang Jesus Loves Me. I just wanted to reach out and pick them both up! It was such an amazing gift! We are so thankful! Can't wait to meet them face to face!

Our boys

Guerlens and Caleb

The Story

So for those few who still follow this blog, there is now something more to read:)
In the post I wrote on Jivenson's birthday, I was wondering what God was up to in the places we couldn't see. Come to found out, He was up to something and now we see in part what that was.
To start at the beginning, Mallery from HFAP had posted a blog in the beginning of October and in it shared the names of some of the children who were available for adoption at Hope House. Two of them are brothers and I just started praying for an adoptive family for them, I even wrote something in my journal about them. Later we found out that the youngest one had some health issues, which we had found out about briefly when we were in Haiti in June, but no one knew quite what was going on with him. They suspected hydrocephalus, which in Haiti can be a death sentence. He had a CT scan done that ruled that out, thank God. But results showed that he has Saggital Craniosynostosis, which is the premature fusion of the sutures of the bones of the skull. It can create lots of complications. To make a long story short, a wonderful foundation created by Jorge Posada, a NY Yankee player, will be paying for his surgery and trip to the States! As soon as I found out that he was coming to the States I immediately asked Mallery if he needed a host family. The commitment could be 9 months to a year and Kevin and I both felt strongly about doing it, not even thinking twice. We have been thinking about moving closer to Kevin's work, near Chicago, but felt such a peace about delaying that move so we could provide a temporary home for this child and prepare him for his adoptive family. Mallery was hoping a family would come forward for him and I continued to pray that someone would, I was just waiting for that to happen, not thinking that it would be us!
We exchanged a couple emails about hosting and we just kept waiting to see what would happen with getting his visa to come to the states for his surgery. Kevin and I were hanging out on a Saturday evening and it was like a light went off in my head, why don't we just commit to this sweet boy for forever!? I felt like saying, "Duh?! Why didn't we think of it before?" We had a very brief conversation and Kevin pushed back on my idea a little and I felt discouraged. The next morning i went for my long run and the entire time I was in conversation with God about this child and Kev's push back. I cried and just asked God to help me let this go if this isn't what he had for us, if this was just all in my head or some emotional response. I was very quiet all morning, in constant prayer that God would help me release this because it was so hard. Kevin and I finally talked early afternoon and while we were talking and sharing about this whole thing, it was like something shifted in us both. We came to this place, really unexpectedly, where we felt God was showing us that we could say Yes to moving and going forward with our plans we had been thinking about for months now or...we could say Yes to Guerlens. We looked at each other and in a second our eyes filled with tears. We didn't even need to say it out loud, we both knew , without a doubt, that we wanted to say yes to this child. So we did.
We called Mallery and asked if he still needed a family, and she said yes and we told her we wanted to be that family. After we made this decision, we had confirmation after confirmation. It was just amazing!
We knew he had an older brother but felt such a sense of urgency for Guerlens, that we thought we'd get his adoption going first but very quickly realized that we needed and wanted to adopt them together!

We are thrilled that God is allowing us to be a part of this story and to be the parents to these amazing boys!

And....

BY TWO!!!!

Again....

The Perbergs are growing again;)

Saying Yes

Kevin and I have said yes to something, something big, something life changing and something very unexpected. We will share more as details get worked out but our daily lives could change drastically within a matter of weeks and we can't wait! We are fully trusting God in every step and would love your prayers...for direction, provision and clarity.

Check out:
www.haitifoundationagainstpoverty.blogspot.com :)

Jivenson's 2nd Birthday

Today, October 26 would have been Jivenson's 2nd birthday. It is hard to believe that he has been gone for almost 5 months! We still think of him a lot. Walking through the little boy section in Target one day, Wesli looked around and said that she wishes we could get some of those cute outfits for him...and that's all I'm ever thinking about in the boys section of any store.
But it's amazing how time can heal, at least take away that deep sting.
Because Jivenson was delayed we were always very excited to hear about the milestones he would reach, no matter how small...like when he used a sippy cup for the first time or started scooting around or when he started eating "big boy" food. So I would think about all the things he'd be doing when he turned 2..maybe starting to walk or talk.
So, we're still here and God is still God and we move through every day and take them as they come. I still wonder what God has in store, what He might be up to in the places we can't see yet.

Today our little man is on my mind and heart just a little heavier.

Jivenson we love you so much! Happy Birthday!
Love, Mommy, Daddy, Wesli and Melat

This video is one of my favorites:)

LOVE

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”
C.S. Lewis

Sale was a success!!!

What was to be a 3 day sale turned into just 2 days, due to some rain this morning. But in the last 2 days we were able to raise over $1700!! Sooo many items were donated and sooo many people came out in support of this sale. Thursday was pretty crazy and we were moving all day long but we were so thankful for the droves of people who came. Myself and Jeanne Smith were there the first day. There were a lot of people who read the article about Kelencia and wanted to hear our story about Jivenson and the Smith family. So many were moved to tears and to generosity. Some just stopped to give $ and didn't even take any items. Some came back with items they were going to take to a thrift store, for us to use in the sale instead. Some came back after purchasing items just to give more. A Haitian family stopped to talk with us and to hear the story, beautiful connections were made and the Smith's are one small step closer to having their financial needs met in this adoption.

We are so thankful for this opportunity and so thankful to the MANY people, some of who we don't even know, who donated A TON of items for this sale, to those who loaned us tables and signs to make this sale a success, to those who came to sweat and work the sale with me, to those who came shopping and to Tanya and Lenski who loaned us their garage, driveway and basement at an awesome, high traffic sale location! This was an incredible group effort:)
We feel blessed by God that we could be a part of this story and we will continue to share it whenever we can!
Thank you for being a part of this story too!

Hard

It was hard to write these words...I wept.
This is a sign for our garage sale tomorrow; raising money to help the Smith's get one small step closer to adopting their loved daughter Kelencia.
It's been hard lately, missing SonSon. I was good for a while and now I'm not. This sale was well timed...
I am excited to see what happens this week and to see the people who will walk up to this sale and give.

Adoption Fundraising Garage Sale!!!

In case you haven't heard, we are having a garage sale!
We've created a Facebook Event for the sale and here is why we are doing this:

"Originally this sale was supposed to go towards the adoption expenses for us to bring our son Jivenson home from Haiti. He would have been our second adopted child, joining two loving sisters. Unfortunately, his life was cut short by an illness. He was 17 months old.
Fortunately we had the chance to visit him several months ago and spend time getting to know him, as did many others. At a memorial service held at our home a week after his passing, we realized that the story of his life had impacted so many. Out of that we thought it would be fitting to hold this sale in his memory and give all of the proceeds to another adoptive family, Craig and Jeanne Smith. They are an absolutely wonderful family that we've met because of Jivenson. We've been in the adoption process during the same time frame that they have and they've been such an encouragement to us.
Kelencia and Jivenson were friends while living together in the same orphanage before she came to the States on a medical visa. The Smith's, along with their two other children, are in the process of adopting her. Knowing first hand the costs involved in adoption, we wanted to help in some small way, in memory of Jivenson.

Thank you for being a part of this and helping to change a child's life forever."

We have been collecting and collecting these last few weeks and this is what our living room and foyer look like right now and it's only a small portion of what we've got! We are so thankful to everyone who has wanted to be a part of this event either by donating items, volunteering their time or just spreading the word.
We hope to be able to raise as much money as we can to help the Smith's complete their adoption of Kelencia! We pray that God will use this to bless them!

unanswered prayer

I heard it said that God answers prayers one of 3 ways: "Yes", "No" or "Not yet". So I guess we got a NO then. This is not easy to have peace with, knowing that God said no to my pleadings and cries to heal Jivenson. I've experienced God not answering my prayers the way I wanted Him to before, but it was always for someone else. This time the prayers and pleading were for my own son and I felt like I was fighting for that precious life. Yet, I think that if I truly believe in God the Creator then I must believe that Jivenson's precious life meant even more to God because He created it. This is one of the mysteries of God that I am struggling with right now, the impossible pursuit to know God's mind and to fully see this world the way He sees it. With the limited capacity of this human body and mind, I never will.
This is where my faith feels strained, pushed to the edge and overworked.

Yet, inside that difficult and sometimes cynical place, God is. He just is.

Almost 6 weeks

This Saturday it will be 6 weeks since our SonSon left us. I cannot believe it's been that long, sometimes it feels like just a couple weeks ago.
Two weeks ago someone who had come back from Haiti brought us some of Jivenson's ashes. Along with them, she brought a poem Mallery read at the service where they spread his ashes. There were also beautiful notes to Jivenson from students in Rockford. They talked about soccer and how one day he could play and that he'd be a great soccer player. There were messages of Don't Give Up and Hold On. Beautiful words from precious children to a precious child in Haiti.

When our time of living without Jivenson began and life had to go on, we just went along, kind of stumbling through the days. The farther we get from that day the less we stumble and just survive. But there are moments that sneak up and tears come. Going to get his ashes was difficult and when we had them at home we sat at our table looking at them. Wesli put her hand on the bag and mine on top of hers and we were just quiet for awhile. She said she wished she could go get his spirit and put it back in his body and make him be here....I went up to my room, locked the door, sat in the rocking chair, rocked and cried. It felt so fresh, the heaviness in my chest.
Clothes and bibs we brought back with us from Haiti are still sitting on our dresser, I can't quite bring myself to put them away yet.
Someone we met when we went to Haiti for the viewing, an awesome intern who was working there at Hope House, returned home recently. At church she gave us one more onesie that we loved, one we had sent down and one we held him in when we were there in January. After church I held it close and cried.
He is still so present in our hearts. Even the girls have had, even recently, moments of grief and mourning again.

We loved him. We always will.

..And life continues. The sun rises and sets, there are dishes to be washed, the house to clean, summer fun with the girls, friends to spend time with, dates to enjoy, work to be done, family to see, times to laugh together, fireflies to catch and moments to remember.
We believe there is a future for our family and though it looks different than we had planned, we are trusting that there is something beautiful ahead.

God is ever present. Though I haven't wanted to talk to Him much these last 6 weeks, He has never felt closer.
He is a really big God.
If there's nothing else I know, I know that.

If you haven't checked this out yet, you should:)
http://wavesolutions.tv/jivenson.html

Melat's precious prayer this morning

" God I'm so glad Jivenson is with you...but I really wish he was still alive, amen."

It's not me

Some days I feel so angry that God took Jivenson from us before we even had the chance to have him with us. Some days I just feel so sad and don't want to see another human being. Some days I feel lost. I take each day as it comes and try not to think about tomorrow. With my two girls that's hard to do. Yesterday I was a mess but today was good, I saw a friend and her kids and she even took the girls for a few hours so I could have some time. I smiled and even laughed a little.
Any strength I feel or trust I feel in God's plan for Jivenson and for us, is not me. It's not Jessica. I'm telling you. It's the Holy Spirit, it's the prayers of those around us who loved Jivenson and love us.

Our family

Remembering Jivenson

On Saturday we held a memorial service in our home to remember our son with those who knew and loved him. It was such a beautiful time of sharing and worship. We loved hearing the memories people had of him and we were reminded once again how incredibly special he was.

Saying Goodbye

Tuesday morning we flew to Haiti in our funeral clothes. When we arrived there, we drove to Hope House, saw Mallery and Frentz and met the amazing medical team that has been serving there this week and was with Jivenson when he passed away. We then went to the Viewing. Some of the nannies who work at Hope House met us there. We walked into this room with some chairs set up and flowers arranged around a small white casket. There he was...lying there. It was so surreal and I felt like I was outside of myself. People got up and talked about how much they loved Son Son... he was like one of their own, like their own flesh and blood. One nanny sang from her heart and others spoke beautiful words. I couldn't believe we were sitting there and I wanted to be anywhere else but there...but in the same moment I never wanted to leave. When it was time, I just looked at that sweet face once more. In Haiti, when someone dies they wail and mourn. They also take a picture of the deceased and keep it with them, but never look at it again. The reality in Haiti is that the time of mourning is short, because life goes on there in a crushingly real way. In part, I don't want to move on. I'm not ready to do that.
We've already been asked a couple times if we're going to look for another child to adopt.
Not now.... I can't even imagine wanting another child and the girls want Son Son as their brother. But that is not to be.... we do believe that God has put adoption in our hearts and it has taken root. We will wait and trust that growing our family will be in our future and we pray God will bless us with another child, whenever that may be. I have imagined Jivenson filling that chair at the dining room table, sleeping in that spare room and him playing on the living room floor for too long to imagine another child in those places. It was him. Jivenson, we love you so much and always will

Grief

These last 2 days have been a blur...tears, heartache, weeping, anger and then we had to tell the girls. They had their first ever dance recitals yesterday so we waited to tell them until after and when we began Wesli asked if Jivenson was very sick. No, he's not sick, not anymore. He went to heaven, his little body is free from the pain. Tears, questions...why? He was too young, he should have been older before he died, when he comes home will he still have died? Oh, and now he gets to be with Great Grandpa. Yes he does and there is the Hope. That's it. Inside of all the crushing emotion, there it is, in some moments just barely. The hope that death is not the end because Christ took away the hopelessness of death, it's sting is gone. We hold fast to the promise that God is in the business of redemption, He is making all things new. He healed this child that we loved so deeply, but not how we hoped, not how we wanted. And there's the anger...we can say that yes he's in a better place and that God just wanted him back but I don't want God to have him now WE WANT HIM! I don't want him in heaven, I WANT HIM HERE IN MY ARMS! And God can handle it...all the questions, anger and sadness.
We leave for Haiti tomorrow, the funeral will be on Wednesday. Being here so far away is surreal, we just imagined him in all these rooms, we "met" him right here in our kitchen on my computer screen. But there in Haiti, at the airport, at Hope House, that's where we held him for the first time, the last time.....

Our Son

This is the first picture we ever saw of Jivenson and when we saw it we knew, we knew that he would be ours. And he was ours but only from afar....now he is gone. He slipped away from us yesterday for forever and i can't believe he's gone

"Not flesh of my flesh nor bone of my bone, but still miraculously my own. Never forget for a single minute,
that you grew not under my heart, but in it."
~Author Unknown

praying even harder

We just got a call just 15 minutes ago from Mallery who told us that yesterday Jivenson was once again having diarrhea issues and was very weak and not able to feed himself. Today he is unresponsive....the nannies tried gently shaking him awake and calling his name. They took him to the closest hospital and they are putting him on an IV. His unresponsiveness could possibly be due to the fact that he is so dehydrated but the doctor who was seeing him wasn't very forthcoming yet. We are waiting to hear more from Mallery soon. This is incredibly heartbreaking to hear and I am now crying and desperately praying. Please join us in praying for our son!

Prayers

Jivenson is sick....he's been sick for a couple weeks now. He's had blood work done this week and had another specialized draw yesterday; the results of which we will find out on Tuesday. If the results of this 2nd draw are what the first one indicated, it would explain many things. Jivenson had a very rough beginning in life and was practically dead; his family and those in his community called him Lazar, as in Lazarus come back from the dead. God worked a miracle in this child's life.
He has some delays and is very sensitive to things in his environment, among a few other things. Whatever the results are from this blood draw, there is no doubt that he needs to come home and as soon as possible.
We are just waiting now, just waiting and praying. We knew from the moment we looked at Jivenson, that God had a plan and that we were supposed to be a part of that plan. When we look at his face everyday, we don't just see a boy in Haiti, we see our son!
So we are praying for our son and wishing so desperately that we could be the ones taking care of him right now. We will do all we can to help him from afar and we could not be more thankful to Mallery and Frentz with HFAP and Hope House who are working so hard to make sure he is in a healthy environment. She has been calling us to keep us updated and it's such a comfort to know how much he is loved.
Would you join us in praying for our little man?

Running for Hope

This past saturday the girls and I ran a race (Kev too...he helped Melat finish) that benefited HFAP. I ran the 5k and the girls ran the 1 mile kids run. It was a very cold morning but the girls were such troopers and hung in there waiting for me to finish and they even got to have some hot chocolate. It was Melat's first race ever and though she was pretty tired at the end, she enjoyed it a lot...both the girls did. It was awesome to be able to be a part of a community event that benefits something we care deeply about and that ultimately benefits our son and other children in Haiti. And it was even more beautiful that we could do it as a family.

I LOVE good news!!!

So today we got some! We found out that the lawyer in Haiti is more than willing and able to help us with our adoption and says the age discrepancy is not going to be an issue. Soooo, we can actually move forward!!! I talked with the agency we'll be working with http://www.allblessings.org/ .
They are very excited that this is going to happen! Got our preliminary and formal applications today and filled them out immediately!;)
This past weekend I had been feeling so discouraged about this whole process. We have been in a holding pattern these last weeks, just waiting and not knowing how we could move forward. It was driving me crazy that there was nothing we could do, we had no control. When Melat has been in school I have felt so useless, like I could be doing something productive to move things forward but there was nothing to do.
Earlier this week I just began to feel a peace about just waiting and letting God control it instead of me....
And now today he has answered our prayers and we could not be excited!

Discouraged

Talked with the contact at the agency we are planning on using for our adoption. Walked away from that very short phone call with tears streaming down my face. We were told last week about our eligibility and today I was told something else. Haiti has policies on how old parents must be do adopt and how many children they can have in the home. As of this moment, according to who I talked to today, we do not qualify. Heartbreaking....but not the end. Not by a long shot. We'll wait till were of age if we must or get letters together proving we can provide financially or whatever it may take to bring our son home. What was encouraging last week in terms of time line now has turned into a much longer wait. But all waits come to an end....so there is an end to this story.
We believe very strongly that we serve a sovereign God who trumps governments. If this is His journey for us, then there are more steps to be taken. Now were just praying to know which direction we go from here.

Moving....

This picture helps me remember what the warmth of the sun on my skin feels like and how much I wish I was under that sun right now!
So the process has inched forward, if only for now.
Our Home Study is complete but has not been handed over to us officially yet because we have not had a placing agency to name. Because we don't have our official HS that means we cannot file our I-600A form; which is for USCIS. This is our next big step and one that we are ready to take. We just got word last week that Hope House now has a lawyer who has processed hundreds of adoptions and is willing to work with us! We also found out that an agency in Kentucky is willing to work with us and to process our adoption! These are both huge steps and we are so thankful!
We will be connecting with the agency today and authorize them to contact our social worker so she can complete and release our Home Study; then we can file the I-600A form....it can take up to 3 months to get approval. When we receive that approval we can then submit our dossier to Haiti and be officially waiting. We've been told the wait time could be as short as 10-18 months but we also know there are other circumstances that can prolong the process. This is where faith and trust step in...
One step closer is one step closer and for that I am happy.

We were at the Children's Museum last night and I was watching the girls play with the bubbles when out of the corner of my eye I saw a little one, who looked just over a year old. Tears welled in my eyes...I was picturing Jivenson there instead, watching his sisters play. He'd be laughing and trying to get his hands on the bubbles and they'd lift him up so he could touch them. I feel his absence so often but never more than when I see a child his age...

Disclaimer

For the very few of you that actually know about and read this blog, I feel like I must make a disclaimer. Mostly because of past fears of adoption mores or in some cases, laws. Ethiopia is very strict about posting pictures of children that have not been declared by their court, legally the child of the adoptive parents. I assume most or all countries have some guidelines regarding this. We know of no such guidelines in regard to Haiti but are treading carefully to ensure there are no issues. Jivenson's picture is already on HFAP's blog, his sponsor's personal blog and many others Facebook pages and blogs, people who have been to Hope House in Haiti and met him and the other children. Because his face is already out there in cyber space it seems like it would be fine to post it here, so I do....but limited. We've only told a handful of people about this blog so we feel that it's a safe place to share our pics of him. I say all this because it feels so far from Jivenson legally being our son and there are still so many bridges to cross...but we are continuing this journey with confidence that God knows and has us all in His hands.
So I will post more pics of Jivenson, in limited amounts, and await the day when he will really be ours and proudly post his face for all to see!

Haiti Day #2

Great day! Sorted donations( picture above is the "donation" room with TONS of donations) with Elaine (she and her husband were serving at Hope House for 16 days) We had lots to do and didn't feel like we accomplished too much but got some donation bags done for a distribution we'll be doing on Saturday. We also cut a bunch of paper for the Journal Program.
We met Jivenson's birthmother today. She was here for the journal program. She was very quiet and shy and sweet and it was lovely to meet her. Tomorrow we'll go to her house.
We also went to the new property and cleaned a room in one of the containers (it's like the trailer of a semi truck and hopefully will be temporary housing) then Kev and I cleaned the floor and he laid down the carpet. We took some things over to store there.
Last night and tonight Jivenson was so serious and like a little lump until a little after 6pm; then all of a sudden he perked up and was jabbering and laughing and smiling! So adorable and fun! Oh it was awesome...he lets me hold him and cries if I set him down or if he sees his favorite nanny:)
Holding him tonight, he was playful and cuddly, I just started seeing him in our house, in a crib in his room, playing with toys, taking him places...having him in our daily lives and I started to cry....because we have to leave him here and God only knows when he'll come home....I am falling in love.

Haiti Day #1

This is from a journal I kept everyday of our trip, thought it would capture what was going on around and in us more than recall:

Tired and warm but it's been a great day! After yesterday's craziness with going to the ticket counter at the airport and being told we couldn't go to Haiti because Kev had the wrong passport and running to downtown Detroit twice, it ended up being a nice day (after new passport was in hand) with a nap and seeing a movie. When Kev had ordered to renew his passport, there is a choice to have a card or book. He chose the card cause he thought it'd be easier to carry around but upon arriving at the American Airlines counter to check our luggage, we learned that the card is only good for travel by land and sea or into Canada! I could not believe what was coming out of her mouth..we could not go to Haiti! She was very helpful though and told us people have gotten a new passport in one day and that we just needed to go to the passport office, which thankfully is in Detroit where were flying out of. So we made an appt. online, got there before 9 and were able to pick up his new passport at 11:30! Amazing and very stressful! Thank you God!
Today we woke up again at 3 am to catch our 6 am flight and this time Kev's passport worked, thank God! We made it to Haiti around 1pm..full flight into Port Au Prince and a crazy aiport but we found out luggage fairly easily. Mallery and Frentz were waiting for us in the parking lot with Jivenson!! So I got to hold him all the way back to the orphanage! He was very sleepy and when we got there, he cried if I put him down...he loves to be held! He was lethargic and a little feverish but then around 6 pm, when the sun goes down, he all of a sudden perked up and was smiling and laughing and so sweet and funny! He's so awesome! I saw him get his bath and I think tomorrow I'll be able to do it and they said he could even sleep with us..
Haiti is beautiful mountains, water, sky, people, alongside rubble and trash in the streets- the air is warm and filled with the sounds of dogs barking, roosters crowing and people singing. We are sleeping on the floor on the second floor by the open door to the porch. Had a wash down with a bucket of cold water tonight..hope I get to wash my hair soon:) There is no elecricity hooked up or water at this point...they do have a generator that will run for a small amount of time each night...so bucket showers and flashlights for now...
God you are so good!

In love!

We are absolutely in love with him!!! What an amazing trip...when I feel myself and feel more grounded I will post more pics and updates about our trip....

Christmas in Haiti

We leave in less than 2 weeks to meet our son in Haiti and it does not seem possible! Mallery and Frentz Neptune, Founder of HFAP and her husband, came over yesterday with all sorts of gifts for the children at Hope House. We took toys out of packages and labeled all the items for each child then packed it all in a suitcase we are taking with us. We are so thrilled to have the opportunity to have Christmas in Haiti! We will rewrap all the gifts there, make pancakes and cook bacon and share in a sweet Christmas morning, right there in Port au Prince with our son:) God is so good!

What is an adopted child?

I just love this!

Natural Child...any child who is not artificial.

Real Parent...any parent who is not imaginary.

Your Own Child...any child who is not someone else's child.

Adopted Child...a natural child, with a real parent, who is all my own.

~Rita Laws