While We Wait.

Adoption is all about waiting. So, we wait and we live and we wait and we pray and we wait. They tell us we are nearing the end, but it is little consolation to the waiting. We want to be united. We want our family together. We are preparing and the Lord is preparing us and them. Our adoption coordinator was in Haiti this week. She told our girls we will be coming to get them soon. This made Geslande smile. LeAnne says Geslande knows I am her "White Mama." It makes me sad that I have to be her White Mama, that the disparities make it so that poor black children are given to rich white people who can feed them and provide them with the opportunities their real parents cannot hope to give. I want to post a link to an organization who is working to change that. It is merely a drop in the bucket, but raindrops make floods. Please check them out if you have a minute. www.sustainablehaiti.org Consider supporting them financially if you are able. Maybe we can bring up the next generation of Haitians in Haiti. In the mean time, pray that our girls come to us soon.

New Life Link Video

We were given this link to our girls' orphanage. Geslande can be seen at the end of the first hallway by the top of the stairs. We are unable to see Joravena. However, it gives you a great impression of their environment and the cleanliness of the facility.

Waiting for us.

Here is a link to a video that was put together by one of the other waiting adoptive families. All of these kids are waiting to come to their new families in America this year. You can see our girls (hint...right around 2 minutes.) Please be in prayer for all of these families and their children. P.S Be sure to mute the music on the player on the right or you'll hear both.

Stretched like taffy.

Have you ever seen a taffy pulling machine? It pulls taffy and turns it and pulls it and turns it and pulls it. I fell like God does this to me sometimes. I have decided it is good that I am gooey and flexible instead of rigid. It makes me more likely to keep going instead of shattering into a million pieces. I have stepped out in faith that the Lord has opened doors in front of me over the last two years. I know that an open door does not necessarily mean we walk through, but I have felt his nudgings. On most days I have felt His energy and it has confirmed that it really was his nudgings and not my own ambitions. There have been a few days where I have thrown my hands up at Him and said "Really, God?!? You really think I can handle all of this???" I know His answer is always "Yes, rely on me. Use me. I will help you if you only let me." I need to remember to take the time to let Him help me. Please pray that I would make the time in my already "too busy" day for Him.  If I don't I have nothing to complain about.  Here it is. To the great taffy puller from the taffy...stretch me over and over again if that is what makes me pleasing to you.

Another first!!

Well, as you can imagine, we have had many "firsts" in the last five and a half years since Josiah was born. Some of them have been really hard on me and others not so much. However, this first made me cry! Josiah lost his first tooth last night. He was surprised by how painless it was. He was very brave. He said he didn't want it to come out until it was "hanging by a little tiny string." I told him it was nearly so and that I would only try once and if I didn't get it we would try again later. So, he gave it a try first and that didn't work. I gave it a swift pull and out it came. No matter how hard we tried to convince him, he did not want to sell it to the tooth fairy. He said he wanted to keep it in his treasure box. He has a little pirate treasure box in which he keeps little things he picks up here and there. He won't let me arm wrestle him for it either...He has decided today, on his first missing tooth day, that it makes a perfect hole for a straw!!! Elijah is pretty sure his tooth is coming out also, as you can see. He so much wants to be like his big brother. We keep telling him "Wiggle it all you want. It will come out someday." He seems satisfied by this.

New Bathroom

We have needed to freshen up the look of our bathroom for the eight years we have lived in our home. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a bathtub freak. Jamie and I have top ten pieces of marital advice that we give out to newlyweds. The #1 is, when life gets rough take a bubble bath (together if possible)! The irony in this is that the first bathroom Jamie and I had contained a very large bathtub and each one since has gotten consecutively smaller. That doesn't keep us from cramming ourselves into our tiny little tub though! So, that's the long way to say that my bathroom should be my haven. Well...finally it is getting closer. I painted it and we changed out our old mirr0r for a new one with a cabinet. This leaves room for absolutely nothing to be left on the counters!!!! I have an orchid, candles and decorations. I am so excited. So, the pictures are below, but the colors didn't turn out so well. Anyway, you get the idea. It is just a special treat for me to have our bathroom uncluttered!

Our newest update photos

These are the newest photos of the girls. End of month updates are always bitter sweet. We are so excited to see another photo of them and how they have changed each moth. However, each is a reminder that another month has passed by and we still cannot go get them. We are sure they are receiving the best care possible in Haiti, however we feel this is no comparison to the love and care that their parents can give. We are praying for paperwork to be processed with lightening speed! In the mean time, I just listen to Elijah say he wants to see the pictures of his sisters with presents on their heads!