Missions Trip, Blessings, & Confessions

I don't even know where to begin so bear with me this could be a long one...

Not only was I blessed with the opportunity to go on a missions trip with four other people from our church, one of whom is one of my closest girlfriends, but I got to see my kids again!!!

I have so many wonderful stories to share.  I'll start with a followup from our last trip.  In one of my previous posts I mentioned that I didn't feel safe in Haiti and that I didn't find the Haitian people to be all that friendly.  I tend to smile and say Hi to people, all the time, and Haiti was no exception.  Last trip I gave up because I didn't get any response from most people.  This time I decided to give it another go and to my amazement it was totally different.  Almost everyone I waved to or smiled at, either waved or smiled back, gave a head nod, or acknowledged us in some way.  It was a wonderful thing.  I have to wonder if the location had anything to do with it as that was the only thing that was different.  I'm pretty sure we were staying in a MUCH nicer part of town.  That brings me to the Guest House.....

Wow, very nice place and wonderful hosts.  Thanks so much to Tim and Aimme Wilson who made us feel so welcome and taken care of.  Very nice accommodations and amazing views of Haiti.

 Check out the foreground as well as 

the background in these two!!!

On our second day in Haiti we were on our way to the Orphanage and were almost there when our truck died in the middle of the road.  Fortunately it started again and we made it to a gas station.  Phew...off we went, or so we thought, it chugged and spluttered again and again it died but this time we pulled off the road.  This happened a number of times and we were praying we would make it and not be stranded.  We were almost to the turn off road to the Orphanage and we decided to pray out loud that we wouldn't break down on that road because our driver on the last trip to Haiti wouldn't allow us to walk that road due to there being a gang that he had heard of living down there somewhere and he didn't know who they were of where they were but he wasn't about to let us walk!  This wasn't a road we wanted to be stuck on.  We prayed and I kid you not, that truck drove us up to the door of the Orphanage and then never started again!!!  Needless to say we had to get alternative transportation home that day.  Our God is Mighty!

 Broken Truck...

New Truck!  (Next day)

This was an emotionally charged trip for me and on Monday when one of the Nannies told me I could take the kids back to the Guest House with me for the week I think I almost had a heart attack, right there on the spot.  She must have seen the look of shear shock and panic written all over my face, I think I sat there looking at here for about 1 full minute before I actually came to my senses and said to the translator "What did she say?"  Gathering my composure I replied, very cool, calm, and collected like, "Umm....well.....is that even allowed....I mean can I just take them.....???"  "I'll have to check with someone about that.......I mean....really....you want me to take them?"  Well I didn't know what to do.  I was completely taken aback, completely unprepared for such a situation, and to top it all off MY HUSBAND WASN'T THERE!!!!!!!  I was about to freak out.  I should have been excited at the prospect, but I wasn't and I struggled with that.  That night Aimee said don't worry I'll text Michelle and see if she thinks it's okay.  Well Michelle replied back and said, why yes of course you can, if the orphanage approached you, sure you can.  Not what I wanted to hear.  You may be wondering at this point why on earth didn't I want to have my kids with me for the week and you would be right to think that but let me just tell you what I was feeling in that moment of shear shock and panic....

Here I am on a "Mission Trip" to the Orphanage I'm adopting two precious children from (which, by the way I can't wait to bring home) without my husband.  I had ideas of what the week was going to look like and it was a HUGE bonus that I got to spend the days at the Orphanage with my kids.  I've met my kids once, my boy is afraid to even venture out of the safety of his wee room, he keeps getting told this white woman is his Mama, which clearly in his almost two year old mind is just absurd, and our four year old daughter, I can't even begin to imagine what she's thinking about this whole crazy situation.  

So you've got an emotional adopting Mama without her hubby, two kids she doesn't really even know (let alone know how to communicate with) and they don't know her either and now you want me to take them back at the end of an exhausting day?  I didn't bring anything for them to wear, I had no snacks or anything necessary for taking care of kids.  It was something I was completely unprepared for and then at the end of the week what will I say to the kids?  Oh, nice seeing ya, we spent days and nights together but now I'm outta here?  I just wasn't mentally in the right frame of mind to do that.  If Joe had been there, I think it would have been a completely different story but I didn't think I could handle that alone.  Thankfully God didn't either because no one asked me again the entire week.  The next time we go down I'll be prepared for such a situation and I'm waiting with great expectation on the LORD's timing for that day.  

I've just bared my soul to you, I've been transparent with you about some feelings I struggled with because I want you to know that I'm human, I have emotions and sin in my life and I'm not a good person.  I'm a person saved by the blood of Jesus Christ.  Anything "good" that you see has to be about Jesus and not me, I have nothing to offer without Jesus, this is not something that Joe and I are doing out of the "goodness of our hearts".  I don't have it all together as some may think.  I may look good from the outside, like I have it all together with my three wee kiddies and two on the way, homeschooling, housekeeping, I could go on and on it sounds so lovely doesn't it?  But I'm here to tell you that I don't have it all together.....not.....at.....all.  I'm broken, weak, and struggling in the battle.  Life is hard, parenting is hard, marriage is hard, and adopting is hard.  BUT I have hope.  I have hope that God knows exactly what He's doing and in trusting Him minute by minute, I will know what to do with each and every day of my life.  So I will follow Him as He leads and I will cry out and ask each day, (multiple times) "LORD what do you want me to do today, now, right this minute", because that's what it means to walk in the Spirit.  Any strength I have comes from Him, if not for the Holy Spirit I would have succumbed to the flesh long ago, I am weak.  There is such freedom in knowing that I don't have to have it all figured out.  I only have to follow God right now in the present, I don't need to concern myself with tomorrow or any other day, other than today.  So join me in the journey, let us follow hard after Jesus, the one to whom all blessing and honour and praise belong for it is He that is Holy and worthy to be praised!

This got way longer than I anticipated and I have so much more to share so...

To be continued.......

!News Flash!

Our Dossier has moved on into the next phase!!!  Is is no longer in MOI (Ministry of Interior).  I really don't know exactly where it is right now but we will soon enter into the passports phase and you all know what that means.....

Whoop Whoooooooooooooop!!!!!!!

How to Help Families when they bring their Child Home

Here is a good article for us all.  When the kids come home they are our priority but that doesn't mean we don't still love you all, we do!  I'm trying to get as much info. as possible before the big day arrives so if you come across anything worth while let me know!

Will do another update soon including info. about our exciting mission trip to Haiti in 20 more sleeps!!!

http://dreamingbigdreams.net/2013/09/09/how-to-help-families-when-they-bring-their-child-home/

From an Adoptive Mothers Heart

Here is a wee taste of what it's like to go through the adoption process.

This lady sums it up so well.

http://wondermentetc.com/2013/08/02/dear-friends-of-waiting-adoptive-moms-some-things-to-know-also-were-sorry/

Presidential Dispensation June 25!

How do I even begin to tell you how it feels to have our paperwork signed by the President of Haiti???  It's just not explainable.....our paperwork has now entered the Haitian court system and the projected home coming date is by Christmas!!!

I was just going about my daily business, actually that's a lie, I wasn't going about my daily business at all I was doing the grocery shopping with my kids, which I very rarely do so it wasn't daily business for us, it's just so much easier without them but we really needed food and I wanted to spend the evening with my family instead of filling my trolley with food (do you get the irony here? filling my trolley with food....anyway I digress) I had just purchased five new pillows for our five kids and was about to head on over to Walmart for one last errand before Woodman's (I know, I said grocery shopping but that means errands as well!) when my phone rang.  It was Joe, no big deal right, my hubby was wondering where the heck we were cause we weren't at home.  

Joe:  "Our kids are out of IBRD!!!"

Me:  Speechless......my mind couldn't quite process what was being said (actually shouted down the phone with a lot of excitement) "Our kids..." well our kids are in the van with me, my heart was skipping some beats so I checked to see if in fact my kids were in the van with me, yep they were, right were I left them last, "...are out of IBRD", what the heck is IBRD???  OH I GET IT!!!!  Our Haitian babies paperwork had been signed and was now out of IBESR.  "What!?!?!??!"   (I had worked it out by this stage but my mouth hadn't quite caught up to my brain at that point and I said what!)

Joe:  "Michelle called and our kids are out of IBRD!!!"

Me:  "Whooooooooooo, Whoooooooooo,  Whoop Whoop!!!  Seriously???  Our paperwork is signed?  That's such great news, I can't believe it, actually I can, God is soooooo good!  Whooooooo!  So...how do you know?"

Joe:  "Michelle called me at work and left a message because you weren't at home."

And on it goes, with a bunch for whoo hooos and shouting and questions that Joe couldn't answer because it was just a message he listened to and I just couldn't wait to get home and call Michelle!  It was the fastest shopping trip ever and I'm pretty sure the kids think I'm crazy.  The kids that were in the van with me that is.  

So that's where we're at as of right now.  I can't wait to wrap my arms around those two babies again, our October mission trip just can't come quick enough.  As far as the rest of the process it looks like the paperwork goes through the courts pretty quickly but then it goes into MOI (Ministry of the Interior) which has a bit of a backlog right now which is holding things up.  After that it looks like the kids get their passports and 6-8 weeks from getting their passports we go get 'em!  The kids that is and their passports!

Thanks for praying and journeying with us.

God is good!

Well I have a few updates to give.  First off the spaghetti dinner was wonderful, thank you so much to all the people involved in putting that together for us we felt truly blessed.  There were so many people that helped, donated, served, and we can't thank you all enough MBC church family and friends!  The dinner itself raised $1,600!!!!!  After everyone who couldn't make it but wanted to contribute had given to us, the grand total was over $2,000!  That's incredible!!!

We also have a wonderful friend from our church who did a cookie drive for us and sold cookies to raise money for our adoption.  What a blessing.  And these weren't your ordinary cookies they were the best cookies I've ever eaten and I don't even care that much for cookies but they were so good I went back for seconds immediately upon finishing my first!  Yep that's right I and I could have eaten two more!  And then there was the bake sale at our Church's annual Stuff Exchange which a number of people baked for and many people contributed to.  Wow!  I just wrote a note to someone saying that just when I think my God is so great He does something that shows me that I really have no idea just how great He really is!!!  And He continues to do it.  Even in my sinful state the God of the universe still loves and blesses me.  It's mind boggling.  The cost of this adoption is nothing to my Heavenly Father and that is none too apparent in this adoption journey.  He has shown us over and over again that it is HE who puts the fatherless into homes and I can't wait to see the blessed day when this adoption is completed and our babies are united with their forever family!

So when will they be united with their forever family?  I've asked myself that question many times and while God knows, He's still not telling so I'm going about my business and trying not to focus in on the things which I do not know.  Our paperwork is still awaiting Presidential dispensation in Haiti and once that's done our paperwork will move into the court system.  I believe that's a three to six month process but don't quote me, so we've still got quite a wait ahead of us.  Please pray that the paperwork would be signed soon so it can get moving along.  On the bright side, Haiti could have stopped adoptions all together while they go through the Hague process but they chose to think about the children and keep pushing adoptions through even though it's slow.  I'll take it!

BUT I have a wonderful distraction right now and that's the mission trip we are planning to take to the orphanage in October!!!  A team of six people including myself are going to go and help out at the orphanage for a week.  Joe will stay home with the State side kiddos and I'll get to love on the Haiti kiddos while we're there.  It will have been seven months since the kids have seen us and while our wee man may not remember me I'm pretty sure our girly will.  We have some fun things planned for the kids and hope to be able to help out with some manual labour about the property while we're there too.  If you're interested in joining us it's not too late we don't leave until September 29 so let me know!

So that's about it for now, thanks for praying and joining us on our journey.

Spaghetti Dinner Benefit

Thanks to our dear friends and church family for going over and above to serve our LORD by assisting us in helping financially to bring our kids home from Haiti!
May God receive the glory in this.