There it is. We have been waiting over 3 years to have this picture taken. I was surprised by the emotion as we walked towards our family. It was so great to see everyone and be reunited with Calvin, Emma and Caden. They looked so big despite us only being gone for 5 days.

 

We were so blessed to be welcomed by our family. Jeb's brother Michael and Kristin and their kids made it to the airport as well. Gideon had the biggest smile and freely spoke to everyone. My mom said we have all been praying for you Gideon. We have been praying you home. He said, "Me too."

 

We are so blessed that he speaks English so well. I got to be a part of all of his firsts flying home. On the airplane before we took off he turned to me and put his hand on his heart and with a big smile said, "My heart is going boom, boom, boom." He was really nervous. The next two take offs were nothing. I also got to see the big smile and the giggle when a paper towell was dispensed with just a wave of his hand and when we stepped on the escalator and the people mover and in his first elevator. Jumping on the trampoline for the first time was fun to watch. Seeing him fly down the street on a scooter and watching his face as he slid down his first slide. Their have been so many firsts.

 

After 2 weeks home this is how I would describe Gideon. He is goofy, happy, fun and full of smiles. He is smart, kind and generous. He is a great sleeper! He likes to learn.

 

Here are some highlights. He has started a bag of snacks to send back to the orphanage. He had a reward of goldfish (which he loves) and he immediately ran over and put it in the bag. Cal and Emma made popcorn for a movie night and Gideon noticed I did not have any. He told Emma she needed to make mom some. She ignored him :) He brought his bowl over to give me some. About 10 min later he inched his way over again and held his bowl out for me. He told me about many things at the orphanage, one thing he said was when his sister would get spankings he would say give me the spanking not her. He added "she would cry but I would not cry." Caden Gideon and I were looking in Cal's room for a shirt when Gideon noticed Cal had only $2 on his desk. Gideon went to his room and grabbed his jar of money (which we had given to him) and set it on Cals desk and said "I give my money to Calvin." He seemed to think Cal didn't have enough. Gideon has come to work with Jeb and I several times all ready. He has cleaned several pool filters. He doesn't want to sit back. He wants to help. We cleaned 20 pools last Tuesday. I told him before we left to not whine or tell us he wanted to go home because we had to work. At the end of the day I praised him for how great he did not complaining or whining and being so helpful. He said, "Well, you told me (not to)." I was thinking, yeah but that wouldn't have mattered to the other kids.

 

His favorite thing to do at this point is watch tv. Luckily, he allows me to turn it off without much of a fuss. We have not experienced one tantrum or even seen him angry. No stomping or slamming or yelling. He has had moments where he has become quiet. After a minute or so he is back to his smiling self. We asked him why he is so happy all of the time and he said it is because he is not sad. Ok. Sounds good to me. We obviously want to be sure he is in touch with his feelings. We all get angry but he seems to be very much in touch with other's feelings and expresses concern. We will see.

 

It has only been 2 weeks. We have a long way to go and obviously are in a honeymoon phase but we will take it in and enjoy every moment.

 

I remember so many times being encouraged by the Lord. So many times we wondered what would come next, what we should do next. I saw the Lord answer prayer over and over again. He spoke to me in bigger ways then He ever has. What a journey to get here. I am so thankful that He made it clear that this was his plan. I might not have made it otherwise. For some reason God chose Gideon to come to America and be in our family. I am so glad I get a front row seat to see why. Gideon is a special boy. I have no doubt God has big plans for him :)

 

You might be wondering what Cal, Emma and Caden think. Cal has always been a great big brother and he is happy to continue that with Gideon. Emma loves having this "little cutie", she is starting to see how he could get annoying though (like any good little brother should be.) She is quick to throw in that she knows she can be annoying too. She loves being a second mom. Caden loves having someone littler then him around. He is constantly wrestling him and tickling him. He said he was fine losing his computer privledges over the summer, "I'll just play with Gideon."

 

first road trip

                                                                 First chinese food

I am free and happy!

 

God is good :)

 

I left Gideon once again. I wonder what a 7 almost 8 year old thinks. A little boy who lives in a crazy part of the world.
 

I took this trip to Haiti to file a form at the US Embassy there. This form tells the US we would like to adopt a child and bring him to America. They begin to do their investigation of several things once this form is filed. They then add the information they gather to all of the information Haiti has gathered (once Haiti has gathered it all) and (hopefully) approve a Visa and then we travel to Haiti and bring Gideon home. We are hopeful we might make this trip before spring of next year.
 

I could feel so many prayers on my journey. I was not as nervous as I thought I would be. God even sat an older man (probably 55) from Ohio next to me, who does missionary work in Haiti. He helped me get my bags and go through immigration and get to my driver. I would have made it fine but having him their made things less tense and unsure. Definitely an extra blessing God gave me.
 

The hotel was an oasis. It had beautiful trees and a wonderful atmosphere. It had a beautiful pool with water flowing. It was very nice. Soon after I arrived Gideon arrived and we spent several days together.
 

I was slightly concerned about spending the time just Gideon and I. One on one time made it so we could really get to know each other. What if he made me crazy and I was glad to get away from him on Friday? Well, no worries. That was not how it was. He was amazing. He is still the kind, gentle, generous, goofy little boy he was last October when we met him. He brought granola bars with him to give to our server at dinner. He told my mom on Facetime that they are hungry so we need to give them something to eat. Calvin Emma and Caden are going to love having him around. He is so sweet and fun! I can't wait until we bring him home.
 

Feel free to give me a call. I would love to tell you more details about my trip.

Please keep praying. We feel like we are in the home stretch.

 

God had been telling me for awhile to update my blog and ask people to pray. I pray every day but I was feeling like I was being told to step it up and ask others to also, so I finally got around to asking others to pray with me, right now. Guess what! I got a call today that we are out of IBESR and on to the next step- Parquet. Obedience (prayer) brings results! Thank you all so much! Keep praying things continue and please keep praying God's blessing on Gideon and all of OLTCH (the orphanage he is at). We are praying Gideon will be home by his 8th birthday (December 22nd)!

Time to get Serious

 

We received the signature we needed from the President of Haiti on our paperwork and we were printed in the Le Moniteur. These are two big steps! We are now waiting for a couple of signatures and we will be out of IBESR. We have been told it could take months to go from the President's desk back to IBESR. Three other families from our orphanage were out within 2 weeks but for us, we are going on 9. A family can never compare their paperwork to another families paperwork. Their are constant questions and rarely any answers. The only thing to do is wait and pray.

I was just telling a friend the other day that if I wasn't sure God had called us to this I would be scared to death, I would be completely discouraged, I would give up. That is a big statement though- God has called us to this. He has shown himself trustworthy. He has shown himself present and He is a blast to do this life with. I don't know how anyone does it any other way. He speaks to me. He brings to mind all of the times He has answered my prayers in ways I couldn't imagine, even after I worried and worried. He has said many times, "When are you going to stop worrying and just know I've got this."

Instead of worrying we pray. It is time to get serious about praying. I would like to ask you to join us in a prayer push. Please pray that our paperwork would move forward. Please pray that the evil that surrounds so many of these adoptions would be held back. Please pray for Gideon. He has had so many friends leave the orphange. We have not been able to skype with him the last few months so we do not know how he is. Please pray that he feels Gods presence, peace and patience. That he would keep his joy and big smile and that he would know he is being thought of and fought for every day.

What a trip!

December 22, 2012

Gideon's 7th birthday

 

Wow! What a trip we had. We travelled for @ 24 hours to arrive in Haiti. The airport was hot and more primitave but not as scary as I thought it was going to be. We were picked up by the man we were told would be there and off we went in an unairconditioned Ford Bronco. The drive is about 40 miles. It took us 1 hr and 30 min to drive it. I was in awe of what I saw. I saw everything you see in the pictures, the garbage, the small plastic covered boxes families live in, really skinny dogs, people selling all kinds of things. I also saw beautiful people. They were all beautiful in their own way. It was hard to see but I loved that I was there and tried to take in every sight to not forget it.

As we pulled up to the orphanage I tried to take in everything around the concrete wall. I wouldn't see outside of these walls again for 5 days. As we drove in the gate their were many children all around. I saw Gideon right away. I was scared for this moment when I would first see my boy but once I was there it wasn't scary anymore. It was natural. It was beautiful. I hugged him. I looked at him. I said "Hello Gideon" and touched him gently, "I am so happy to see you." The children immediately took all of our bags. They would not let us carry any of them. They took them to where we were sleeping. It was a bunk room with screens for windows and no electricity. A board came down to lock the door. It was great. In the past people slept in tents so this was fine.

Driving up- Gideon in red

The boys taking our luggage

 

We spent the next five days seeing how our Gideon lived. The food was plentiful. It was different then what we are used to but it was good. It was hot. You wanted to sit and get away from the heat but there really wasn't anywhere to do that. You just had to sit still in the shade. We got used to it but really enjoyed our nightly shower in the cool water.

Calvin reading to the boys

 

The kids gathered each night and sang worship songs and then a good night song. Then they would gather in their bunk room while someone read a story. Gideon had over 15 boys in his big room but he got to be with us while we were there.

Gideon was great. It was easy to see him fitting into our family and running around our house. He is generous, he is caring and thoughtful, he is smart, he is fluent in english which made things really easy. He was translating for us when others would say things. He loved playing games and watching movies. He loved being silly and laughing and smiling. He called Calvin "Coalvin" and water "Rotter" and lunch "lunsh", because of his accent. Calvin and I repeat those words often just like Gideon was with us.

It was hard to leave. I really don't know when we will go back. It was not an easy journey, physically, mentally or financially. What do you say when you say goodbye? I told him Haiti will tell us when we can bring him home. I told him we would take him right now if we could. Does a 6 year old understand that? I walked him back to his bunk with all the other boys. Those boys were so precious. They all clung to us all week. They were all asleep now except for Gideon who curled back up on his bunk with everything we gave him in an envelope and a bag. He knew as I did that one or two of the other boys would be taking a lot of it from him once they woke up and we were gone. We cried but it is as it is right now. I left knowing I would see him again, knowing God orchestrated every moment of this, knowing God is good and he loves this little boy so much. He has a plan and a purpose for this little boy and He is allowing us to be a part. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord that you did not allow me to sit back and be comfortable in our easy life. This life is not about being comfortable. You give us life to the full. Life to the full is not a comfortable life.

We wait now and pray. We pray that Gideon feels Gods presence. That he always knows God has a plan and purpose for him, that he will walk in peace through the waiting. We pray that God would move our paperwork through the Haitian adoption process quickly. We received the birth certificate we had been praying for. We are now waiting for 4 signatures and then it will go to the President of Haiti to sign. These steps can take months. After these steps are many more steps. We are expecting to be waiting for more then a year for the Haitian side of the process and then it will take many months for the US to do what they need to do for us to bring Gideon home. In the mean time all of the paperwork we have done to this point will expire and we will have to have it redone as each expiration date passes.

 

As crazy and complicated as it sounds I wouldn't change a moment of it. I listened to a broadcast on Focus on the Family. It was a couple who had been married and them divorced, found the Lord right after the divorce and then were remarried 7 years later. The woman said she didn't know why the Lord waited 7 years to bring them back together but she reflected on how she was taught new things by Him each year. She said, "If we would have remarried at year 3 I would have missed out on all I learned year 4-7". I wonder how much better her life is with her husband now because they got remarried at year 7 versus year 3? I want to learn more. I want to be exactly where God wants me when our son comes home!

"Lord, I never asked for this."

We are moving forward. God has been so present. I can't wait to see how this unfolds. When we received our dossier back from the translator it seemed there was no urgency anymore. It seemed nothing would happen if we got it done now or later. However, we wondered why we felt we needed to get it done before? Was God saying something different now?

No, it didn't seem like it.

I went and saw Beth Moore speak at our church. She has been a huge mentor of mine. She spoke on two stories in II Kings 4. The first was about a woman who was told to collect jars from neighbors. The more she collected the more oil God gave her to save her and her son. This was a story God had brought to my mind when I prayed about if we should continue our dossier. he was telling us if we did the hard work He would perform the miracle. The second story was of a woman who was fine and didn't feel she needed anything. The prophet Elisha wanted to give her something so he told her she would have a son. She had this son within the year despite her old age. Several years later this son died and she found Elisha immediately and asked "Did I ask you for a son, my Lord? Didn't I tell you, don't raise my hopes?!" It occurred to me that this is what I have been saying lately as adopting Gideon seemed to be slipping away, "Lord, I never asked for a son, you were the one to raise this hope in me!" Elisha went and brought the boy back to life. God will breathe life into what He has given us. What an encouraging word

So Jeb took the dossier to FedEx Tuesday night and paid a lot to overnight it to the Haitian Consulate and included a return envelope for them to send it back legalized. When he got back I asked why he paid so much to overnight it when it didn't matter how quick it was done? He said "I thought that was our plan?" Coincidence that I wasn't there to talk him out of overnight? I had planned to go with him. I was concerned about all of the money and that night we were told our fliphouse sold for cash. Coincidence? In the meantime we went to get passport photos at Costco. I thought we needed 6 each but Costco would only sell sets of 4 so we had to get 8 each. When I was putting our dossier together I realized we did need 8 each. Coincidence? As I said the fed ex was sent Wednesday and we had it back in our hands legalized Friday morning. This timing allowed us to overnight the finished dossier to our friend in Missouri who will take it to Haiti on Monday. Coincidence?

What will God do next.

By the way, we are flying to Haiti next weekend to meet our little boy :)

Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait...

It is hard to do. It builds ones faith. I wish I didn't need my faith built. Do I trust that God is good? Do I trust that He loves Gideon more then me? Yes I do but I forget and I fret and I stumble and then I remember and then I wait.

We were waiting and not doing anything then we felt we should get our Dossier done (our Dossier is the paperwork that is sent to Haiti to be approved for adoption). Many things needed to happen to get this done and it all seemed to fall into place. As I type our Dossier is en route to us through the mail from South Carolina, sent from a kind hard working translator that grew up in a Haitian orphanage. Once we receive it we need to send it to the Haitian consulate in Chicago to be "Legalized". We don't know what this does but it is another step and several hundred more dollars to spend. As soon as that step is done we can send it to Haiti. The problem is... we have no one to send it to.

Haiti is changing things. This should be a good thing for future adoptions but for those of us still at the early steps it is not good. No one knows what these changes are. No one knows if these changes will really happen. No one knows how this will effect us. Possibilities are: we can adopt from OLTCH but we will need a lawyer, we can adopt from OLTCH but we will need to go through an adoption agency (at this time, no agency works with OLTCH), and the worst possibility of all is OLTCH will no longer be able to have children adopted from it. The thought is that we should know the answer in mid- October which will mean we will have a lot more questions.

We can wait a few weeks more to find this out, but... we have another problem. We are flying to Haiti the end of September to meet our sweet boy Gideon for the first time ever. We are so excited to see Haiti and meet him but... should we go? Gideon knows of us and asks for us to come but what if he meets us and then we can't adopt him? It seems impossible to imagine but it is a possibility. We are praying constantly about whether we should go.

Please pray for this process with us. There are a lot of precious families still waiting for their kids to come home. Please pray for wisdom for us to know what steps we should take in moving forward and pray that it will be clear to us if we should go to Haiti as planned.

Thank you for taking this journey with us. It is a wild one!