Sunday, July 05, 2009

Last First On The Fourth

So the kids have been home 11 months now and we realized on the 4th of July that it was the last first Holiday we would experience with them! Pretty cool. We decided to take a gamble and stay home, hoping that we would be able to see a firework show from our home (being new to the area we had no idea if we would be able to see some or not). We scored big. Not only did we see a firework show, but from our view point we saw FOUR going at the same time. Way Cool!!

We also made a fire and enjoyed some gooey smores while we waited.
We found that the best place to catch the show was from our bedroom balcony. It was great to be huddled up together to keep us all warm. After the fireworks we busted out sparklers. It was a first for all our kids. The highlight was setting off tons of party poppers in the house that left confetti all over. The kids thought that was a blast!

Today, Sunday, we went to a bbq. The kids had a blast swimming. This great photo caught Jude mid-flip.



Tuesday, June 30, 2009

A Very Happy 6th Birthday!

A very big Happy 6th birthday to our darling Luke! He managed to get 3 different days of celebration this year~



This evening was our family birthday celebration. At Luke's request we dined at Pizza Hut. Then we returned home for SpongeBob cake and presents.



Earlier in the day we had a very special treat. Friends of ours came to see us during their move back to the US from Spain. The Brownwell family is one of the sweetest, funnest, and most adventurous families that we know. They have 3 daughters adopted from Haiti and the oldest, Kerline, was at NLL/HFC with our children. I had the honor of traveling with Kerline and her Mom as she was being brought home to America. What an honor that was! It was a sweet reunion.


Kerline and Lovenie~ Lovenie would not leave her side.



The Brownwell and Laughlin kids together. Just as soon as they left we all were saying we wished they would come right back and hang out with us some more!



Over the weekend we took the family for Luke's birthday activity request~ Glow in the dark miniature golf at Super Franks!~






























Even before these celebrations, Luke had a little celebration at his Nana and Papa's house as well. One of the highlights was that 6 is the jackpot age that he is no longer, by law, needing to use a booster seat. He sat for the first time with only a belt buckle and grinned all the way to the pizza parlor. I'm pretty sure he thinks he's all grown up now. His presents were WII games he really wanted so the boys have been given permission to stay up all night playing together (as long as they are quiet enough to not wake up Mom and Dad)!















Friday, June 26, 2009

Adoption Adventure Continues On

Adoption is a roller coaster ride. In the last week or so we have certainly been reminded of that again. We are plugging along with the adoption of Jacques. His adoption is especially tough because he is 16. 16 is the magic age that kids are suddenly no longer adoptable (by law) so we had to be at certain stages of the adoption before his 16th birthday. Because of his age we have had to file his immigration forms before his last birthday and if they are denied we will not be able to refile. We've got one shot with no room for anything to go wrong. So what happens?... Things start looking like they could go very wrong very fast!

When we turned in Jacques' immigration forms we were told we would only need to submit a couple more things of paper work, including a home study update, and an adoption decree (which we can not get until the adoption is complete in Haiti). We were told that we were automatically given one year to turn in the remaining paper work, but if we needed more time it would be no problem to extend that.

Fast Forward several months~ We moved from Southern CA to the Bay Area so we had to transfer our file from USCIS (immigration) office in LA to San Francisco. The transfer went just fine. Once we were moved into our new place, and got everything settled for Stephanie, we were now finally able to move forward with getting our home study update done. I spent some time researching the many adoption agencies in our new area and eventually chose one to begin the process with. We needed a simple home study updating the changes to our last home study update. At least... that's what we needed according to the USCIS website and the letter we got from the LA USCIS office. A quick home study update still usually takes about 2 months to complete and we had only 2 months until we needed to have our paper work turned in. Knowing that it was going to be a very close call I contacted USCIS and asked them how to go about getting the extension for more time (as we were told by the LA office). The SF office responded and told us that they would not give us an extension. We were very disappointed but also motivated to hurry up and complete this update. USCIS also sent me a long list of additional information that they wanted (some of it were things that we do not receive with a Haitian adoption, and most of it is not what the instructions say to include). Ah, the stress! If only that was all that happened~
So I got my hands on the home study paper work and started in on it at record breaking speeds! During the week we received another blow when the agency called and said they contacted USCIS and were told that they would not accept a home study update from us but were requiring us to do an entirely new home study! A new home study done quickly usually takes 2-3 months at least. We didn't have that long! What can we do? We had to give it a shot. So I got back to the paper work and making contacts to gather everything asked from us. I was just wrapping up the majority of the paper work and feeling really encouraged when we got another phone call from the agency. They told us that they suddenly realized that, due to a new law that affects their license, they might not be able to complete our home study at all. Are you kidding me? So all the work was a waste and we were back to square one. In my last conversation with them they told me that our home study was so complicated that they didn't think they would be able to have done it in time for us anyways. Nice! So now all the work we had done was unusable, very valuable time had been lost, and we needed to start all over again. We also learned that the decision of USCIS that we needed a whole new home study was due to the agency misrepresenting the home study we did have. :(

With a sense of dread I started calling around agencies to see if any of them thought they could complete a whole new home study in just 7 weeks or less. At last I spoke with someone totally unfazed by our deadline. They are working with us in an attempt to complete it in just 3-4 weeks!!! And, by the way, they are willing to do it for us for less then a third of the cost then the last place. My jaw dropped and I was so relieved. So here we are again, working non-stop on our new home study but this time without feeling as stressed about it. We still do need to receive all of the paper work, including adoption decree, from Haiti before the deadline. If everything does not fall into place on time then we will have a legally adopted son in another country with no way to bring him home.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

A twist on the fairy tales~

video

The boys try to reach us as me and Lovenie await our rescue from our balcony.

The funniest part is the look on Johnny's face and when he cries out "Be careful guys, we're going to tip up here!" BOOM!!!!!

My First Shoeshine


The day I left Port-de-Paix, Haiti, was an emotional journey. I spent the last hour or so in a room alone with Stephanie. We talked, prayed together, and sobbed through our goodbyes. I was still ill and, combined with the emotional drain, I was totally depleted of any energy.

video

I climbed into an SUV for our trip to the Port-de-Paix airport, along with 3 pastors. I was certainly in good hands! ;) As Keith and I were dropped off at the airport, the very kind Pastor Andy looked me straight in the eyes and told me that Stephanie was going to be just fine. I was so thankful for his kindness but had to jump out quickly before bursting into tears. You know the law of tears... once you let 'em loose it's hard to keep them from continuing! We got checked in at the tiny little airport and then were sent behind the building to the "waiting area". Never before had I seen such a beautiful waiting area. It was outdoors and looked like a little spot of paradise! While we were outside waiting a young boy approached me (I'm guessing he was about 11 years old) and asked me if I would like my shoes shined. I politely told him no thank you. I was so wrapped up in my own exhaustion and sadness that it did not occur to me that this little boy is probably in great need of the money for food and is only seeking work. As he walked away it hit me and I wondered why on earth I would have told him no. Then I looked down at my shoes and thought "YIKES!" they were caked with mud from walking the wet dirt roads.

After quickly asking Keith how much I tip for a shoe shine I went after the boy. He sat down and spread out his supplies. He took off the first shoe and I had no idea where to put my bare foot until he put down a rag and motioned for me to put it there. Honestly the ground probably would have been a cleaner spot to put my foot down, but the little boy's act of kindness was heart warming. The shoeshine boy was quiet and shy so did not speak much to me. While watching him work another boy came over to chat with me in English and Creole. He was so cute~ wanting to know what it is like in America. I enjoyed chatting with him and hearing about his life in Haiti. The shoeshine boy continued to work on with my shoes. When he was done I was blown away. They looked better then new! They were spotless and shiny black! I tipped him generously and told him what a wonderful job he did. He was all shy grins. I have been home now for a month and my shoes still look better then new. Every time I look at them I think of the sweet shy boy making it on his own and say a prayer for him. He has likely forgotten about me but he will remain in my memories forever. There was just something so special about that little bit of time with him.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Lovenie's 5th Birthday Celebration

I think it's safe to say that Lovenie had a FANTASTIC 1st birthday in America and with her family! It started with lots of primping to make her Princess Lovenie in the morning. She was then on her way to her last day of preschool. I had heard they were having an ice cream party for the last day of school so we picked up these cupcakes and I left them with her teachers.

They were kind enough to take some photos for me of her celebration with her classmates.


Already on a sugar high, we also had this cake for the family party.

















I keep marveling at how big our baby girl is getting... at least I was until I saw this picture of her with Chuck E Cheese. She looks so tiny!



I think the following photos prove that by the end of the day the tiara and attention started to go to her head~




Lovenie

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Princess Lovenie turns 5

What happened to the little tiny girl we brought home just 10 months ago? She's all grown up and five years old now. What a very special and wonderful day when we at last get to hug, kiss, and spoil rotten our little Lovenie on her birthday!

We have some fun things planned for her today. These photos are from this morning before school. How fun is it to have your birthday on the last day of school?! Score, a double celebration today!!!












Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Mama said there would be days like this

Yesterday I laughed when I found Lovenie crashed out at the top of the stairs. It's so exhausting being 4 years old!

Tomorrow will be Lovenie's 5th birthday. It's so hard to believe! It's so wonderful to finally get to be together on her birthday.