The year in review

Each family received a video like this one.  It has all the pictures of Dieunifer from the day she arrived at the orphanage gate.   There are a few pictures of her we have never seen, including some cute thumbsucking ones.  As we head into 2013 we are hopeful that by this time next year she will be home.  We are hoping and praying that President Martelly signs our dossier so that we can make our first trip for court and move to the next step.  Thank you for sharing this journey with us!

Where things stand...

This adoption would be paid for if I received a quarter for every time someone asked, "Why does it have to take so long?"

Haiti is trying.  They unfortunately do not have a first world government in place and things take a long time.  Timeframes are unexplainable and unpredicatable.  Another family who is adopting from our orphanage got their papers there one month before us and they are almost ready to bring their little boy home.  We still probably have a year to go!  There is not a whole lot of rhyme or reason.

We are confident that Dieunifer is being well taken care of.  She is happy and growing right now.  A family can provide her with the individual care, love and attention that she might not be getting with 150 other kids.  Hopefully, the system will move a little.  Whenever our file gets out of IBESR we will make our first trip to Haiti...for about 4 -5 days.  Because we have biological children, we need that extra signature from the President of Haiti.  Rumor has it that he signs in piles.  Hopefully our file is in that pile and he will sign before the end of the year.

Other families are moving a little and children are starting to come home.   In the meantime, Dieunifer is starting to speak more and more Creole so we really should start learning some!

November update...Merry Christmas!

This is what we were told about Dieunifer during the month of November:

This month we took hand and foot prints of all the kids at the Main House.  I do my best to have this done about every three months so you have an extra treasure to take home with you when you come and pick up Dieunifer.   Each child reacts a differently to having their hands and feet painted and then pressed against the paper.  Most of them are intrigued by the different feel and will closely examine it while others will want to eat it.  Dieunifer seemed to enjoy the hand and foot print process.  She was curious about the paint and allowed her volunteer to paint and press her hand into the paper. 

Developmentally Dieunifer is advancing well.  She is a very verbal little girl who will repeat at least one or two words of anything she hears.  She loves to look at books, especially the ones with flaps that can be lifted.   She knows that the box of toys you have sent is hers and will guard it closely when another child comes close to it.  With other toys she is generally very willing to share but she seems to know what toys are for her specifically.  She is really enjoying the egg carton with eggs in it.  She loves to play with it and explore how it all fits together.  When she wants or needs something she will point and make what she wants clear. 

You may notice in her photos that Dieunifer has a rash on her face and arms.   It appeared at the end of October and got bad over a couple of weeks (this is when I took the photos) but our pediatrician prescribed a couple of different medications and the rash has cleared a lot and is currently almost gone.  Even though she was likely itchy from the rash and annoyed with the cream that she had to put on at least twice a day she was always in a jolly mood.  She did not let it get her down at all and allowed the creams to be put on her without any problem.  

October update

Each month, each adoptive family receives an update on their child and life at GLA.  This month we received a long update telling us about Dieunifer, her birthday, her routine and her personality!  It makes us so much more anxious to see our file move, at least a little bit!

This is what we were told:

Dieunifer is such

a happy and loving little girl.

She is almost always found with a smile on her face.  She loves to go to the balcony and play

for a while in the evenings with a group of the other 2 year olds in the

nursery.  She will run and play

with all the boys (she is one of the only older girls). I have found Dieunifer

to be a tender hearted little girl.

When I have directed her to stop doing something or say “no” to

something she is doing she will almost immediately cry or whimper but as soon

as she is consoled she is back in action.

This makes her easily correctable but it is so hard to correct her

because her feelings get hurt very quickly.  I truly enjoy spending time with Dieunifer!  She loves to talk back and forth while

learning and exploring something new.  Her verbal skills are improving by the day!

Dieunifer is

healthy and growing:

Height: 86.5 cm

Weight: 26 lb 4.5

October birthday pictures

Dieunifer turned two!  God's Littlest Angels has a party for all the children who have birthdays in that month.  In her update they told us she did not like the cake but they were able to get her to dip some smarties in the frosting.  We send down the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear because that has always been a favorite in this house.  We also sent a egg sorting/matching toy which we were told she really loved to play with.  Each of the kids has a bin that is kept separate from the rest of the toys and the special things their family has sent.  We try not to send too much because many children don't have families yet so they don't have  a"special" bin :(

Happy Birthday!

      Dieunifer turned two yesterday.  It was sad to think there was no mommy to light the candles or help her open her gifts. I think of all the special things we do on birthdays and it made me sad to think that she isn't here.  On October 17th it will be two months since our dossier entered IBESR.  That two month mark has been thrown around in Haitian government as the "expected time" it should take for a dossier to travel through IBESR.  So maybe we will travel before the end of the year?  But, then I hear of families still waiting in their dossier has been there since January, 2012....

So hoping and praying when Dieunifer turns 3 she will be blowing out the candles right here at our kitchen table!

September pictures

We are so thankful that God's Littlest Angels thinks it is so important to send the families monthly updates and pictures.  Here are Septembers!

IBESR

Somewhere within the confines of this building is our stack of papers matched with Dieunifers papers.  We need to get 4 signatures here and then the file gets signed by the President of Haiti and returned to IBESR for a final signature...and then we get to make our first trip to Haiti.  It is really hard to know when this might be.  We are in the 20400's as far as a receipt number and we have heard they are working on the 20100's right now.   Maybe by the end of the year for the first trip?  But your guess is as good as mine!

IBESR

Right now we are in IBESR.  We entered IBESR on 8/17/2012.  The time spent here is pretty much unknown.  We had to wait 3 months from referral to entering IBESR because they temporarily closed while they tried to catch up on the backlog.  They only reopened for 1 month.  God's Littlest Angels did a fantastic job of matching families and getting about 50 dossiers into IBESR during this timeframe.  They are now closed again and will reopen October 1st with new guidelines.  No one is really quite sure what the new guidelines will be so it was very good to get in prior to the closure.  Of course the US Department of State issued a warning that all dossiers between May 7-Sept 15 are subject to a case by case review.  Because we have biological children we will need an additional signature from the President of Haiti.  This tends to slow things down quite a bit.  The timeline of where we are right now is best described here:

IBESR Approval and Dispensation (where we are now)

What Happens: Case is assigned a number and reviewed by social worker, lawyer and other government personnel specializing in certain areas. Questions must be resolved before moving to the next person. IBESR submits the file to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and the MOJ gives it to the President for approval. Once approved by President Martelly, notice of approval is published in a government newspaper (Le Moniteur). MOJ gives the file back to IBESR for final approval by the IBESR director.

Estimated Timing: 2-18 months

Birthday presents!

We were able to send a little birthday present to Dieunifer via Nebraska  (thanks, Dawn!).  At the orphanage, the children have little bins for storing gifts that they have received from their families.  Dieunifer will be turning 2 on October 6, 2012.  We had fun picking out a toy (stacking eggs and color matching) and a favorite board book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear."  Its great for our kids too so that when they see pictures of her with her gifts they know that there is definitely a connection.  Hopefully there will be lots of families traveling to GLA in the near future so there will be lots of chances to send little gifts.  Ben had fun wrapping it up and taking it to the post office...."so the mailman can take it to Haiti."

Dieunifer (Jennifer) at God's Littlest Angels orphanage

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Why are you trying to save the world?

Clearly, we alone cannot save the world.  I know that. But I like to remember the saying "You cannot change the world, but for that one child the world will change." 

Entered IBESR August 17, 2012

     Shortly before we received our referral on May 17, 2012 Haitian Social Services (IBESR) closed to new families.  They said they wanted to clear the backlog as some families were sitting in IBESR for over a year.  They were supposed to reopen on August 1, 2012.  This did not happen.  The future of Haitian adoptions is unsettled at this time.  They are trying to get ready to be a Hague compliant nation. 

     They did decide to reopen for just a few weeks to accept families whose dossiers were all set to enter (us!).  We received news late on Friday that our dossier was officially entered into the system and we received our number.  This of course is great news! 

    We were told by Bethany that for families who need dispensation (waiver for having biological kids) that the time in IBESR could be 9-12 months.  After we exit IBESR we would make our first trip.  Of course we are hoping for a much quicker time in IBSER as they are trying to finish up all of these "old" cases before the Hague laws go into effect.  We are hoping that we get all four signatures quickly.  At the same time, we know that God's timing is perfect and as we wait it gives us time to prepare to add this little girl to our house! 

     In our update at the end of July we learned that she LOVES shoes and is the first one up to the balcony to try them on.  She is also very aware of other kids needs and is the first to report to a nannie or volunteer that they need help.  In a blog post of a volunteer who recently returned from GLA she was described as "one of the happiest kids in the nursery." 

     So in the next few months we will do our "homework" from Bethany as we read and learn about how best to care  for her.
                
                                         

Picture Post

Haiti ratified the Hague

We have heard a lot about Haiti moving towards becoming a Hague country.  We made sure our homestudy was done through a Hague agency here in NJ.  We are also working with a Hague agency (Bethany).  Becoming a Hague country will probably be good for Haiti in the long run, but we have been told that if they ratify before they are ready to implement all the new laws, the US could see them as not abiding by the Hague and close adoptions.  This would be terrible for us, but more so for all the children who would have to wait in orphanages indefinitely.

A joint meeting was held on Monday afternoon between the Senate and the House of Deputies in Haiti. We received the following press release from the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

“I am pleased to inform you that Mr. Guillaume (Lawyer - Project Manager, IBESR) and UNICEF have confirmed that the Haitian Parliament approved the Decree for the ratification of the Hague Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption yesterday, Monday 11 June 2012. However, for the ratification to take effect at an international level and to consider Haiti as a State Party to the Convention, Haiti must deposit its instrument of ratification before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (the depository). The date of entry into force of the Convention will be the first day of the month following the expiration of three months after the deposit the instrument of ratification.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour has been designated as the Central Authority.
UNICEF informed the Permanent Bureau that the President of the National Assembly promised the inclusion of the approval of the Draft law on Adoptions into the legislative agenda in the following two weeks. The new challenge will be to ensure that the new Draft law is in accordance with the 1993 Hague Convention.”

We have been told by Bethany that they really do not know how this will effect us.  At this point Haiti needs to deposit the document in the Netherlands and three months later the Hague will be in effect.  We are hearing now that they may take a while to deposit the document while they try to get things in place.

Referral!!!!

On May 17, 2012 we received a call from Bethany with our referral of a beautiful little Haitian girl named Dieunifer.  She was born on October 6, 2010 and arrived at God's Littlest Angels orphanage when she was four months old.  She is seems like she will be the perfect fit for our family.  We had to sign a few acceptance papers, notarize them and send them to Bethany.  They would in turn sent them to GLA.  We are now waiting for them to prepare our papers so we will be ready to enter IBESR when it reopens on 8/1/2012.  They had closed from 5/7/2012- 8/1/2012 to hopefully clear the backlog on their desks.  IBESR is known to be the longest part of the process, taking anywhere from a few months to over a year.  We will need a dispensation (a special signature from the President) because we already have biological children. 
  Here she is!!

Waiting, waiting, waiting...........

I knew the wait during this adoption would be long.  I just thought most of the waiting would be after the referral (which it still may be).  Today is one of the days that I am tired of waiting.  Our papers arrived in Haiti 10/31/11.  We have heard next to nothing since then.  At the end of March, Bethany said "it should be soon, not sure if it will be April, but it should be soon."  When we wrote to Dixie in early April saying we would consider the babies with Down Syndrome she said she had already chosen the child for our family but would pray about it.   It is now May 14,2012 and I feel like I felt when I was nine months pregnant....I can't wait one.more.day.!!!!!!!! 

Well, I can because I know that God already knows which child will be added to our family.  In fact, he knew before we signed the first paper.  That is comforting to me as we wait.  I know the waiting will take a whole new turn when we have a name and a face.  At this point, our papers cannot move to the next step,IBESR until 7/31 anyway.  They have put a hold on accepting new dossiers because they are trying to work through the backlog.  Hopefully, this will make things move more efficiently when they do resume accepting dossiers.

So for now, I am trying to use this time to pray for the sweet girl who will make the trek from Haiti to New Jersey.  Ben asked me last night what cubby she will have in the closet.  It just so happens there are 6 already there.

isn't five enough?!

I was at the playground the other day and I was introduced to another mother.  Of course we had to go through the usual "This is Kristin, she has five kids."  It was then followed by "and this is the little boy she babysits."  The mother stood there and nodded and rolled her eyes and said "ugh, as if five isn't enough?!"  Needless to say, we moved on to the swings! 

Seriously though, what would she have thought if I blurted out "We are also adopting from Haiti in case you were wondering."

So isn't five enough?  Well sometimes I think so...like when I am folding laundry or washing dishes!  Really though, this is not about increasing our family size.  We have always felt strongely about adoption and foster care.  Not everyone is called to adopt, but we feel strongely that God has directed every step of our journey.

When I think it has been 17 years since we walked through the halls of a Russian orphanage and all that has brought us to this point, I could not be more convinced that this is exactly where we should be.

Scared?  At times!  I think of all that could go wrong, how it will affect the kids, what if its too crazy here?  I could barely make it to the store to get milk today! 

Certain?  Absolutely.  As soon as they agreed to accept families with up to five kids, we didn't even hesitate.  We signed the papers the next day and have never looked back.

We are still waiting for a referral.  I know little girls are the most "requested" so I knew there would be a bit of a wait.  I was hoping it would be sooner rather than later.  There is also a lot that needs to be done on the Haitian side to get the paperwork for the kids ready so they can be proposed to a family.

It is a exciting to know that God has just the right child for our family.  Just today we emailed Dixie at the orphanage and told her we would be willing to take one of the three Downs Syndrome babies.

This isn't something we had considered earlier.  Lately I have been feeling like we should look into some of the harder to place children.  The ones that won't just be scooped up by a family.  Because our kids are all so close in age it was harder to look into older children so we started thinking about some of the medically fragile children.  True, we have five kids that already take a lot of time but at the same time, the child would already have a built in support system (thank you ALYSSA!!)

  So we will see if anything comes of it.  At this point we said we are willing and if God thinks we can handle it than it will all work out.

Opened the mail and WOW what a birthday surprise!

Yesterday was my birthday.  When I went to the mailbox there were no birthday cards but one single envelope addressed to Matt and I.  It was from the organization "Show Hope".  Back in October we applied for a grant from them.  I really figured it was just a long shot and maybe we would get a hundred dollars or something so it was still worth applying for.  So when I opened the letter and read this:

You can imagine my surprise!  $5500.00!!!!!!!!!!  Wow!  That will pay for a huge part of the adoption.  It was completely unexpected and we are very humbled by it.  It was furthur confirmation to us that we are exactly where God wants us to be.  We have five kids and live off of one salary so it wasnt like we exactly had $20,000 plus sitting around.  We felt strongely that things have always worked out in the past and if we waited until we had enough money to do what our hearts desired we would never end up doing anything!    Of course adoption isn't for anyone, but obviously some people still feel strongely about adoption that they gave generously to the Show Hope fund.  Now we await our referral!

January 12, 2012 Passports Arrive!

We used some money we received for Christmas to buy our passports.  Although we do not plan on traveling to Haiti in the very near future, we are known for waiting until the last minute and having to pay extra!  So over Christmas vacation we submitted our passport applications.  We were told the wait would be 4-6 weeks.  We received the passports by US mail exactly TWO WEEKS from when we submitted them!  Hesitant to say that everything is going so smoothly, but it is!

2012...What do you have for us?

Well, its New Years Day, 2012 and the Christmas decorations are down and packed away, the tree is at the curb and a whole new year lies before us.  I couldnt help but wonder several times throughout this season "What will next year be like?"  Although I think it will be too soon for us to bring a little one home, it is quite possible we will have made a trip or two to Haiti.  Or not.  We kind of have the "who knows, mentality."  Our papers got to Haiti on 10/31/11 and we were told it would be at least a 6 mth wait for a referral for families waiting for a girl.  We are okay with that because I think, as long as things in Haiti keep progressing we will be fine with that timeframe....whatever that really is!

So we look ahead with excitement to see exactly what God has for our family in 2012.  Maybe I should buy that extra stocking anyway!