Dossier in Haiti!

The Dossier made it to Haiti safely in 2 days, way to go Fed Ex!! It arrived last Friday, so it all begins....now it's just 12-20 more months. ugh.

Other good news, Charlene's Mom has returned from her village safely and has given Charlene's birth certificate to the orphanage, so now her paperwork can be processed along with ours. Yeah!

Next step...get approved by the US gov't to be able to adopt internationally. The paperwork is significantly less, so I'll send that off later this week or next.

For anyone who has been praying along with us, thank you for your prayers!! The Mom arriving back safely and the dossier arriving safely is a true answer to prayer!

I will continue to pray for the process and for Charlene's health and safety and all workers at the orphanage.

~L

EASTER

We got invited to Omaha for Easter to spend time with family and see Matt who is back from Iraq. A few days prior to Easter, Jack got sick and had an off-and-on fever, so Taylor and I left on Friday.


We stayed at (Great) Grandma and Grandpa's house and got to see Calvin and Donna too. What a treat! Taylor really enjoyed spending time with Grandma and Grandpa!

Saturday noon, we met Mom and Dad at Applebees for lunch. Then, Dad took Taylor back to the hotel and Mom and I went shopping. I finished off my Easter outfit, thanks to Mom's help. I'm totally fashion illiterate! I then took Taylor swimming, then Mom, Dad, Taylor and I went to eat supper and we headed to bed.

Sunday, we met Gloria, Ellis and Matt's at church for the Easter service. How nice to gather at church with family on Easter! And to have Matt's family there too, what a special treat that was! We all met at Gloria's after church and had John's and Randy's come over too. What a fun time for all. Great food, great visiting and a very fun egg hunt put on for the little kids by the big kids. 6'2 Casey hiding eggs for 3-7 year olds--he's so fun!! At least he was willing to lift them up to the high-placed eggs!

Mom and Dad drove home that night and Taylor and I headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house that evening. Taylor once again had fun with Grandma and Grandpa. She played with the automatic card shuffler and with the bird that can balance it's beak on anything. Taylor and Grandma compared their hands (78 years difference). Grandma told the story that Ryan once said her hands looked like trees!

Grandma also told the story that when Carson came over to stay for a day or two, he was having problems keeping his pants clean (potty training #2 apparently). Grandma told him how she just hates poopy pants. He never had a problem again. And Taylor thought it was hilarious. It has been re-told several times since she's been home :) Usually, any story having to do with various bodily functions right now seems to be pretty funny. Surely they'll outgrow that sooner than later :)

Taylor put herself to bed at 8:30pm that night, and we left the next morning for home. We made a pit stop in Benton, MO for lunch and Target and made it home safely. What a wonderful weekend!

~L

Jack says Mommy is fat

So, Jack was sitting on my lap last week, patted by belly and said, "Momma, why is your belly so big?" My answer was that I eat too much. He then said it was because I've had 2 babies in there.

Then, Taylor and I left for 4 days and Nathan asked Jack, "Did you really tell Mommy she was chunky?" His reply, "No, I said she was fat."

Ahh...the innocence and brutal bluntness of a precious 5 year old boy.

Diet starts tomorrow...ha.

~L

Dossier to Haiti!

Dossier was sent to Haiti today. YOHOO!

And, the gal (Vera) I had to send it to first to look it over said it was the best dossier she's ever received. I could've cried. I could say I put forth a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but it was mostly tears! What a relief that we didn't have to re-do anything, we caught all mistakes before it was sent!!!

So, the process begins. I got a sheet today that explains the process and the different gov't offices it goes to in Haiti and it seems the timeline is 10.5 mo - 29.5 months. I'm just hoping by Christmas of 2010 to have her. But, anything can happen, good or bad.

Now we need to work on USCIS (U.S. Customs and Immigration) and have the US gov't approve us to adopt! At least that's only about 10 documents, I can handle that!

~L

Jack/Charlene

Jack 's had a fever off and on for 3 days now. He tested negative for strep today (Taylor had it 2 weeks ago) but complains of headaches (possible symptom of strep). He has a fever again tonight with chills, so we'll continue the anitbiotics he got today and the tylenol. The doc. is sure it's nothing serious.

This afternoon, he got out a workbook (I have lots of workbooks for him, he LOVES them!) He's practicing writing his numbers and working on blends (ma, me, mo, etc). It's a preschool wkbk, but good for review. He loves practicing writing his letters and numbers. He's excited to be homeschooled next year and so am I. Both kids are so fun to teach, to learn from and have around!

Charlene
I had a long talk with Vera a few nights ago (when we discovered a couple of critical mistakes in the dossier) and she mentioned that Charlene's foster Mom has an email...and she shared it with me. Of course, I immediately wrote to introduce myself. She wrote back this morning with a little update on Charlene and a little info about herself. It was so exciting.

Vera mentioned they received 5 more babies recently at the orphanage, so LaWanna (the foster Mom) probably has more than 3 babies right now which equals no time for anything but caring for the precious children! Which makes the email all the more special.

LaWanna is from Indiana, so Charlene is being exposed to a 'white' lady who speaks English, yohoo! She also said Charlene is adjusting much better now, which is so great to hear.

~L

DOSSER HAS BEEN SENT!!!

HALLELUJIAH!!!!!!!!!
Of course, I have to stay somewhat close to reality here and not be in the clouds :) It still has to pass Vera's watchful eye, then get to Haiti safely!!! Still...........it's out of my kitchen. My poor printer gets a break! (And me too--ha).

~L

DOSSIER about to cross finish line..but not quite yet.

Each day, I think....today I get to send off the dossier. And each day, I find a new problem. It's actually comical now. It wasn't so comical last week :)

I thought I'd be able to send it today, but learned last night that the Home Study was to go to the Consulate with the other 10 documents. Didn't know that. So, that got sent out today. Also, learned we were missing some lab tests from the doctor, so I had those faxed to Nathan at the shop. He proceeded to send those to the Consulate as well (they were supposed to come home), so now I have to call the Consulate and tell them they need to disregard our lab tests. Doc. had to fax over results again...hopefully Nathan remembers to bring them home.

Also learned that all copies I made of notary signatures had to be re-done because they had to include the Consulate stamp too.

So, Mon. night I was up until 12am and last night until 1:30am--worked 8 hours straight last night.

I've got it ready now. The Consulate authenticated home study will bypass me and go straight to Vera in California and I will get the faxed lab reports tonight, make more copies and add them to the dossier. I have one original and 6 copies. Each set has 100 pages. My poor copier. I didn't know such a cheap copier could do so well!!!! (HP F4180)

Now, Vera will look it over and if it passes her scrutiny, it will be sent to Haiti. I pray nothing needs re-done. I feel confident that I've found some good errors before this has been sent off. Hopefully I've found them all!

~L

WORD FROM HAITI

Well, Jackie (from the agency who's been in Haiti for a few days and got to spend time with Charlene) called today!

I have pages and pages of notes. She explained orphanage life, and what Charlene does and what her foster mom is like (a retired gal from Indiana).

She told about visiting there, what to expect, where to stay, what to send, what to bring, when to travel.

She took lots of pictures and notes from talking to Charlene's foster Mom and hopefully will send them yet today. I can't wait.

I need to sit down and organize all my notes so I can tell Nathan and get it all clear in my head.

They are definitely waiting on our paperwork, but are also waiting on Charlene's birth certificate as well. Her mom had to go back to her village and get a birth certificate made for her so she can get a birth certificate made for Charlene, then she has to travel back to the orphanage, which, as I understand it, is quite a ways away. But it has been almost 2 weeks and she could return at any time. That's why I am doing everything I can to get this paperwork down there ASAP.

Jackie did say that FEdEx is pretty reliable in getting paperwork there, so that seems to be the plan for now.

I just got the translations (YES!) and he said he could translate the new Psych. letters fairly quickly, so that's good news too!!

I feel like I'm in a "hurry up and wait" mode. I was doing okay until I talked to Jackie and now I'm all worked up. I'm excited to learn some new information, but that combined with 1/2 cup of coffee this morning, I feel like I'm moving 90 miles an hour--or at least my brain is. (I know that sounds wierd, but my body (brain) is not used to coffee at all.)

This is where prayer comes in...I need to go back to God and trust Him to take care of everything in His timing. And rely on Him to calm me down!
~L

PSYCHOLOGY LETTER

I thought trip #5 to the Sec. of State yesterday was the last, but I was wrong. After driving to Strafford (30miles from our home) to have a notary fix her mistake.
Trip #4 was early Tue. morning to be told the notary didn't notarize the Psych. letter properly.
Trip #5 was after the cross-country trip to another town to have the notary fix her mistake. This time the Sec. of State approved the notary.

We then tried our best to get out to the shop before the UPS man to overnight these documents to the Consulate in Chicago, but we didn't make it. We prayed we'd make it to the shop before he did, but we didn't. Taylor was disappointed God didn't answer our prayer, but He knew exactly what needed to be done. We needed to miss the UPS man.

I Talked to Jackie today, who is back from Haiti, (more on that in a minute) and she siad there can be NO mention of the kids in the Psych. letter. Well, there is. I made sure there was no mention anywhere else (except a blip in the homestudy) but I failed to make it either known and/or clear it needs to be omitted from the Psych. letter. So, once again, we have to have the Psych. letter re-done.

So, this morning, not knowing yet, the Psych. letter wasn't right, I sent it with Nathan to the shop to overnight to the Consulate in Chicago. I get the call that we can't mention the kids, call Nathan right away and he is just handing it to the UPS man, so thankfully he was able to keep itl

Luckily we chose a Psychologist who is willing to keep re-doing and keep re-notarizing these re-dos. Hopefully this is the last re-do. I think we're all getting tired of it. So, tomorrow, I will get the re-done, notarized copy and go back to the Sec. of State to have them sign off AGAIN, then we'll be ready to overnight these to the Consulate.

I pray for this all to be done in God's timing. That was made clear to me today about yesterday. So cool.

~L