Something I Forgot About My Trip

I can't believe I forgot to put the most important thing about my trip to Haiti. On this trip Wadner called me Mama for the first time!!!! He actually called me Mama a few times. Let me me tell you, those are the sweetest words you will ever hear. It almost brought tears to my eyes. I could not believe how happy inside it made me when he said that to me. I have wanted to be a mom for the past 3 years and when he said those words, it was more than I could have ever asked for. It was absolutely incredible!!!

Second Trip to Haiti

I got back just over 1 week ago from my second amazing trip to Haiti to see my precious kids. I would have written about my trip sooner, but I have been pretty sick since I returned.

Mike did not go with me on this trip, to save some money and because he did not have vacation time to take, however, my mom came with me to see her first grandchildren. It was so neat to get to experience a trip to see my children with my mom. It it something her and I will always share and I think it will mean a lot to Wadner and Mia that their grandmother went to visit them in the country they were born in.

This trip there was a lot of adoptive parents that went with us too. We stayed in the same hotel, Hotel Kinam, and it was nice and again, the staff members were very nice to us and the children. I felt so bad for my Mia during the whole trip because her eczema is so bad, she was just itching and uncomfortable the whole time. I just can't believe how good she was considering she is 2 and in so much discomfort. We had medicine for her and by the end of the trip, she looked much better.

Our plane was late and we got to the Big Kid orphanage just as it was getting dark, to pick up Mia and the rest of the kids (except Wadner because he is at the baby house). Mia was tired and she came right to me and fell fast asleep in my arms. Jamie was there (the woman from the states that lives in Haiti) and she went to pick up Wadner since we needed to be getting to the hotel. She was not gone long and I looked up and there was my boy!!! He was a little shy, but I could tell he knew who I was. We went back to the hotel and I showed Wadner some pictures from our last trip and right away he got a huge grin on his face. We ate dinner and then spent some time with the kids before we went to bed. I believe my mom fell in love with the kids the minute she met them!!!


Our first full day there was Thursday, 9/13/07. We went to the orphanage that day to spend some time with the other kids. Poor Wadner, he would not let me put him down for the first few hours we were there and I think it was because he was afraid I was leaving. Even when he finally let me put him down, he would not leave my side. It just broke my heart because I knew in just a few short days I would have to leave my little boy. Later in the day we took the kids to the pool. Thanks goodness for my mom being there. I don't know how I would have held both kids in the pool by myself :)

The next day, Friday, a few of the families had to go and file some paperwork, so my mom and I stayed behind and took the kids to the pool again. I just can't get over how much my princess loves the pool! Mia is definitely a water baby.





On Saturday all the adoptive families including my mom and me took the kids to a missionary that also had a small zoo. They had a slide there and the kids (except Mia) got to go down a slide for the very first time. It was so great to see Wadner have so much fun. The kids all loved the animals in the zoo. I can't wait until Wadner and Mia are home and I can take them to a real, big zoo. They will love all of the animals!

Sunday was the worst day because we had to leave. I started crying from the moment I got up, just thinking about leaving. We had seen Jamie on Saturday night for dinner and we had her explain to Wadner in Creole that I would have to leave the next day, but I would be back. I felt better that he was a little prepared, but I could tell it had made him sad. We went to the Big Kid house first and all of the other families got out of the van and stayed to start saying good-bye. My mom and I took Mia and Wadner to go and drop Wadner off at the Baby House. The minute we stepped out of the van Wadner started crying. This of course just made me cry even more than I already was. I had our driver again tell Wadner I would be back and I loved him very much. I hugged Wadner and told him in English how much I love him and I just could not let him go. Finally, after a few minutes, I knew it was time to let go. I brought him over to the nanny and she had to pick him up because he would not let me go. He started screaming and crying trying to get to me. This I have to say, was the worst moment of my life. Leaving your child is the hardest thing anyone can ever ask you to do.

Now it was time to go back to the Big Kid House and drop off Mia. All of the parents were ready to go and I gave Mia to a little girl that my friend is adopting because her and Mia are very close. Mia started crying because she wanted me and I gave her a kiss and had to walk away or else I was not going to leave. I wanted more than anything to just stay in Haiti with my angels until the day they can come home with me for good. As hard as it is to walk away, I would not trade a moment of it, but it still doesn't make it any easier.

I am so glad my mom got to meet my children. It was a wonderful trip and I can't wait until I have Wadner and Mia in my arms again.

A Little Update On Mia

I received an email a few days ago that Mia got scabies again (she has gotten it many times in the past few months and I have been told she gets it pretty bad), so they had to cut her hair because it got on her scalp. You can see in her picture her hair is short like a boy, but I still see my beautiful little girl!! If you look on her face, specifically above her lips, you can see where the scabies is still trying to go away. They have a medication cream to put on them to make the scabies go away. What is so hard for me is seeing her with the scabies and knowing she is in pain and itching all the time and I am all the way in Colorado and cannot do anything to comfort her. I know the nannies are taking good care of her, but it is not the same as a mama's love :) I just can't wait until she is home and never gets scabies again. Scabies is passed very easily from skin contact and very few people in the United States ever get it, so once she is home, it would be unlikely she would get it again.



As you can see from Wadner's picture, he looks like he is having a great time!! I really miss his smile; it can light up a room!

Hurricane Update

There is an adoptive mom in Haiti right now (hopefully bringing her daughter home with her soon!) and she sent a post to our chat group that the hurricane did not cause any damage there. She was there when it hit. This is a huge relief to me, although I will feel much better once I am holding my babies in my arms seeing for myself that they are okay :) Thanks to all those who prayed with me!!!!

Please Pray With Me

Since I live in Colorado, they don't talk much about the hurricane's on the news. I have been doing my best to find information online, plus to ask my mom for updates since she lives in Florida. I am a little concerned at how close Hurricane Dean is going to be to Haiti. From what I can tell from the projected path I found online, it seems as if it will be going south of Haiti, with the outer-bands of wind and rain hitting the southern part of Haiti. This is very close to Port-au-Prince, where my precious children are, along with other adoptive parents children. Please just take a moment to say a prayer that all of our children will be safe and all of the people of Haiti will be safe and not badly affected by Hurricane Dean. It is very hard for me to know this type of thing is going on and I can't be there to protect Wadner and Mia. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Nothing New To Report

I have not posted in a while because I have not received any new information or pictures. There have been a few people who have gotten out of IBESR (Haiti Social Services) in 4 months, which is much better than it used to be. September 10 will be 4 months for us, so we are praying we are out by then, or maybe even before that!

I can say that I desperately miss my children. Now that I have gotten a taste of what it is like to hold them, it is so hard to not have them home with me. My heart hurts sometimes just thinking about all this time I still have to go without them. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my life and I love my husband, but when I was with my children, I knew they were the one thing I was missing in my life. I smile thinking about the cute things they did on our trip; the little smiles they gave us, Mia singing before bedtime, Wadner being silly to make us laugh. I just cannot wait until we get to experience those things everyday. I continue to pray the wait is not as long as we think and they are home sooner than expected. It does comfort me to know that God has a plan. A couple of weeks ago we had a guest speaker at church and he talked about how you make this plan for your life and then can get upset when things don't go the way you planned. He said, you have to remember that God is the one who made the plan for your life, and whether something good or bad is happening in your life, you must trust that God is taking care of things the way he sees fit. That in time, you will start to see all of the little things adding up to His big plan for you life. I have been really trying to trust that He is watching over my children and they will be home when the time is right (not that it makes the waiting much easier!!).

Look at that dimple!!!!

These are some new pictures we got the other day. I just love Mia's dimple!!! I have decided that I like red on her (and she looks so darn cute in dresses!). I have noticed that in all the pictures before our trip that Mia looks sad, but in all the pictures I have seen of her since our trip, she is smiling and happy. I know it is probably not true, (although I would like to think it is) but maybe seeing her Mom and Dad had something to do with that. I sure hope so. I really love seeing her smile!


Here is a cute one of Wadner!



Here is another cute one of Mia!!

Second Fundraising Project

We started our second fundraising project. We have sent out an email titled: Fenwick's One Dollar Adoption. We got this idea from some friends of ours who are also adopting. I will post the email below so you can see what it is about. We want to keep everyone updated on how much money we have raised, so to the right side of my blog page, I will post how much money we have raised and from what project the money has come from. For the One Dollar Adoption, since that number is hopefully changing everyday as people donate, I will update that amount as it changes. We also wanted to say a big Thanks so anyone who has donated. It really means so much to us for everyone that wants to be a part of the adoption. If you want, you can copy and paste the email below and send it on to everyone you know or email me and I will forward it to you. HollyFenwick@comcast.net (no spaces) The more people that see the email the better, so spread the word!!!! Thanks! Here is the email:

INVEST $1.00 AND HELP CHANGE TWO LIVES!!!


We are in the process of adopting two beautiful children from Haiti and need 30,000 people to donate $1.00!

Meet Wadner and Mia
Wadner is our son and he is five years old and Mia, our daughter, is two years old. We have just had the pleasure of meeting these two angels and they are such amazing and happy kids. Right now they are living in BRESMA orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Wadner has been living in the orphanage for over 1 1/2 years and Mia has been there just over four months. We are hoping to bring them home in the next 7-8 months.

What you can do to help
We need $30,000 in order to complete the adoption. Everyone can part with just a buck, so please send this email on to everyone you know and we can see how far a buck can go!!!!

How to donate
You can visit our blog page, read about our journey, and in the upper right hand corner, you can click "donate" to make your contribution. It will go into a secure paypal account. The website is: http://www.fenwickadoption.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much for your donations and support!!!

Holly and Michael Fenwick

First Trip to Haiti

Mike and I just got back on Tuesday evening from our first trip to Haiti to visit our precious children. We were there from Friday afternoon to Tuesday. It was so amazing to meet them for the first time. It is just so surreal to have seen their pictures so many times and then to be there face to face with them. I have to say, my love for them has grown so much deeper now that I have held them in my arms and spent 4 wonderful days with them.

So, about the trip. We arrived on Friday afternoon and got off the plane onto the runway. We then entered the airport, had to go through customs, and then off to get the luggage we checked. Then some people had to go through the tots we had brought for the orphanage to make sure we did not have anything in there that we weren't supposed to. Once we got out of the airport, there were lots of people wanting to help us carry our bags in order to get a tip. We located our driver, Dennis, and he helped us to the car and told the people we did not need help. From there we went to the orphanage to pick up the kids. We first went to the baby house and got Wadner. At first he was very shy and reserved, but he did let Michael pick him up and then he put his arms around Michael's neck. Once we were back in Dennis car, we gave Wadner a toy, which he was happy to hold. We then went to get Mia and the other kids of the family's that we had come with. Mia went right to me and put her arms around me. She was smiling and happy.

We then went to the hotel and checked in. Once in the room we let the kids go through all of the toys we had brought for them. It was then time to eat. The kids did very well at the dinner table.

On Saturday we just hung out at the hotel and went swimming in the pool. Wadner was a little scared of the pool the first day, but warmed up to it by the second day. Mia on the other hand loved the pool. She sat on a raft while I held her and was having a great time. By this time, both kids had really warmed up to us and we were having a great time being their mom and dad.



We did much of the same thing on Sunday. We played in the pool, played with the toys we had brought with the kids in the room, let Wadner watch TV and play with the remote (his favorite thing to do!).

On Monday we went with the other families to the beach. There was also a pool there with a kiddle pool, which is what Mia liked. Mia and I played in the kiddie pool and Michael took Wadner down to the beach. They found a canoe and Wadner liked being in there!!



Tuesday was the hard day. Leaving my kids was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. Both kids cried, which I was not expecting. We had Dennis, who speaks both English and Creole, tell Wadner we will be back. When we went to leave, Wadner ran after us and they had to pick him up and he was screaming and crying. I was crying so hard after leaving them I was shaking and could not breath. I felt like I was having a heart attack or something. My kids are the best things in the world and I just pray that they are home soon.

Happy Birthday Wadner!!!

Today is Wadner's birthday; he is 5 years old! I can't believe he is having a birthday and I am not there to celebrate it with him :( Just wait until he is home for his birthday next year, he will be spoiled rotten with all of the gifts and have the biggest birthday cake ever!! I miss him and Mia so much and hate to think that they keep getting older everyday and I am missing it. The good news is though, there has been movement in Haiti and 2 kids from our orphanage have gotten passports issued. This means they will be home to their families very soon. So, we are praying everyday that things keep getting better in Haiti and all of the waiting children go home to their families in record time!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET BOY!!!

My Happy Boy

Here is Wadner with his buddies!


Answered Prayers (which is a humanitarian group) went on a mission trip the beginning of June and got back last week. We just received some pictures that were taken during the trip. We received a few of Wadner but none of Mia :( The good news is, that Wadner looks so happy in all of his pictures. I love seeing him with his friends!

Tagged by Laura

I saw my friend Laura's blog page yesterday and have found out I have been "tagged" to give 7 little known facts about myself. I have been giving this some thought and it is not as easy as it sounds. Hopefully my answers are not too lame!! Here they are:

1. My favorite colors are blue and pink. For many years it was just blue, but over the past year or so, I have been obsessed with pink too. So, as many of you can imagine, as soon as I knew about Mia, I went straight to work getting things for her room that are all pink!!!!

2. I am NOT a computer person. I mean, don't get me wrong, I work with computers for my job, I love to email people, and I do pretty well with my blog. However, anything complicated, like all the fancy things people have on their blogs (songs playing, pictures flashing, etc.) I have not the slightest idea on how to do those things.

3. I am VERY scared of snakes. I can't even watch them on TV. In Florida we had a screened in porch and a snake got in there once. My dogs were outside and I could barely utter the words to get them inside because I was so paralyzed with fear.

4. When I was younger and thinking of what I wanted to be when I grew up, I had two dreams. The first was to own my own daycare (because I love kids so much) and it would be called "Holly's Happy Kids." My other dream was to own a bakery with my mom. Both my mom and I love to bake and I get along with her so well that I thought it would be fun to own a bakery together.

5. I have been with my husband since I was 17 years old. I know I was young, but I guess when you have met that special someone, you just know it, and I happen to meet mine when I was 17. I look at it this way, it is that many more years I will get to spend with him!! I love you Mike!!!!!

6. Along the same lines as knowing someone for a long time, I have been best-friends with my best friend Katie for 18 years. She knows everything about me and I know everything about her. We have no secrets. We have always been there for each other and I know that she and I will be best-friends for the rest of our lives. My children will be lucky to have Aunt Katie in their lives :)

7. Last but not least, my name could have been Monica. When my parents were trying to decide what to name me my dad wanted the name Monica. Well, since I ended up being born a couple of weeks after Christmas, I got the name Holly!

There you have it, 7 things you may or may not have wanted to know about me :) I am supposed to pick 7 people to "tag" but instead I will copy my friend Jennifer and anyone who reads this and has a blog can consider themselves "tagged" by me and must do the 7 little known facts about themselves and then you are supposed to leave me a comment that you did this so I can take a look at it. Have fun!!!!!!!!

In IBESR (Haiti Social Services)

We received some good news this morning; we are in IBESR!!!!! This is Hatiti's version of social services and the first major step towards bringing our children home. Diana from the adoption agency emailed us that we went in last week, on May 10, 2007. Our file numbers are #15090 and #15091. I have a link on the right to my favorite blogs. There is one that is for IBESR updates and it updated by someone that puts the file numbers of files that have come out of IBESR. So, we are able to look at this blog and when numbers close to ours have been out, we know that we should be out soon. We have been told that an approximate time to be in IBESR is about 5 months. Right now, the post-IBESR part of the process is taking about 4-6 months, but they are working on it to have it be faster. Then our kids come home. So, right now we are looking at about 8-10 months until they are home, but we can hope they fix the post-IBESR part and they are home sooner!!! I guess we will see. We will have a much better idea of the time frame once we are out of IBESR. What is funny is we wanted so badly to get into IBESR and now we will wait on news that we are out :)

Last night Michael and I watched the series finale of "The King of Queens." On last weeks episode the main characters, Doug and Carrie, decided they wanted to adopt from China because they had never been able to have children. Well, this being the last episode, they of course got that phone call to go and pick up their daughter. First, it made us kind of upset that they made adoption seem so quick and easy, which neither of those things are true. But, I do realize it is television, so I was able to deal with it. Second, I got very upset and cried for awhile because when they received that call to go and pick up their daughter, it made me want so badly to get that phone call to pick up my own children. I just feel like that time is still so far away. To see that happening to someone (even if they are characters in a show!) made me ache for that to happen to us.

First Fundraising Project

The first project we decided on to start raising money towards our adoption is a garage sale. We received a newsletter from our Home Owners Association that they are having a community garage sale the weekend of June 2. We thought this would be a great time to have ours, since community garage sales usually bring in more people. So, if you have started your spring cleaning and have furniture, household items, or any other items you are looking to get rid of, just let us know and we would love to take any donations. We are asking to have all donations by May 19. Please put the word out and if anyone you know may have items to donate, please tell them about our cause. If you have items to be picked up, you can email me privately at: HollyFenwick@comcast.net. Once the garage sale date gets closer, I will post the times I plan to have it, in-case you would like to come by and shop for that special treasure you have been looking for! We thank you for your support!

Brother and Sister Together

We just got some pictures with Wadner and Mia together. I love seeing them in the same picture. Can't wait until we are all together as a family :)

A Smile From Our Girl

It's funny, as I was leaving work last night I had this image in my head of Mia smiling. Then today, we are sent her very first picture with a smile on her face. Looks like she is enjoying her snack!

Missing My Children

A new picture of my little girl. They say she is shy and does not like to smile for pictures. I can't wait until she sees her mom and dad and then we can get a smile on that face!



Look at our boy, so happy and looks like he is having so much fun!



I have really been missing my children lately. I try not to think about it too much and I have my good days and my bad days, but it seems like recently I have been having more bad days than good. I am getting down because a lot of people on the chat group I am a part of keep putting posts that every step in the process seems to be taking longer than expected. It also seems that Haiti keeps adding steps to the process making it longer. I was so sure we would have our kids home by December or January, but it seems that every day that passes, those dates of them coming home keep getting pushed out more and more. I feel like I am putting out my arms to hold Wadner and Mia and they keep getting further away. What keeps me going at the moment is that we are planning a trip to visit them in June, so in two months I will be holding my sweet angels in my arms. I just think about holding them and loving on them. And of course, to take lots of pictures with them as a family to keep us going until they come home. Sorry for going on, I just miss them so much and I desperately want them home so I can mother them. I LOVE YOU WADNER AND MIA!!!!!

Ladies Man

Apparently we are going to have to keep an eye on him!!

Maybe Mia's B-day and An Update

We have not received a copy of Mia's birth certificate yet, but from what I was told, Mia's birthday is today and that means she has just turned 2. It's hard that she is not home with us to celebrate this occasion. I just pray that Wadner and Mia are home before their birthday's next year. We already know we will miss Wadner's 5th birthday since it is in June. It is just so hard to have these special times come and go without my children here. Easter was another hard day for me. I was able to spend it with my family here in Colorado, which was so nice, but watching all of the kids look for Easter eggs and not seeing my children there looking too was tough.

I emailed Diana at the adoption agency just to ask for an update on Mia's papers and she told me the staff in Haiti are pushing to get all of her documents in order and to get them legalized. She also said that they are due for a batch of files to go into IBESR (Haiti social services) and will hopefully have good news soon that we are in IBESR and our file numbers. I am praying it happens really soon, as we still have about 8-10 months of waiting to bring our children home after we are notified that we are in IBESR.

Second Referral--For Our Little Girl

We received a phone call yesterday afternoon from Erin at our adoption agency that the blood work FINALLY came back. Everything looks good and we were given the referral. Mike and I had a doctor look over the results and then we wanted to talk last night before we gave the news to everyone. We officially said yes this morning, and Mia is our daughter. I don't have many pictures of her yet, but above are two that were taken of her about 2 weeks ago. We also haven't been given a lot of specific information, I know for sure that she was born in 2005 and I have been told her birthday may be April 13, so she will be turning 2 in the next couple of weeks. As soon as this information is confirmed, I will post it. I am happy beyond words that this little girl is our daughter; we had the same feeling about her as we did the first time we saw Wadner's picture. I know in my heart that these 2 children are my son and daughter. I will post more pictures when I get them. I am just enjoying the moment!!!!

More Pic's of My Boy

There is a wonderful woman named Sue (I have a link to her blog page to the right) and she took a trip to see her beautiful daughter last week. She is on the chat group that I am a part of, along with anyone who has or is in the process of adopting from BRESMA orphanage. While she was there, Sue tried to take pictures of all of the children for the parents who are on the chat group we all belong to. She told me that she made a point to make sure she asked where Wadner was so that she could take some pictures of him for me. The pictures she took are above. I am so grateful to her for doing that, because until he comes home to me, pictures are all I have of my baby. Sue, if you read this, thank you again!!

Back To Being Stressed

I was doing so good for awhile not stressing myself out over this situation with the lab results on the little girl they are looking at for us. I received an email from Diana yesterday (at Lighthouse Adoptions) that she asked for the lab results again. She emailed me today that normally the place they get the tests done is pretty "Americanized" in that they get them done quickly. She has no idea what the hold-up is, if they lost them or what. Diana said she is continuing to look into it to find out if they are delayed or lost and if they are lost, she will have them done again right away. She has assured me she will contact us as soon as she hears anything, but not to expect anything today. I hate when I see that answer, because it takes away any hope for that day that we will find out who are daughter is. I feel like I am never going to find out who she is. I know that I am, but right now I feel like it is taking so long and it is so hard not knowing.

I am trying to look at it this way. There will be a day, when my kids are running around with their cousins and having a great time, and I am taking pictures and laughing with them, that this day will seem so far away and unimportant. But right now, it is my life. My life is wanting my kids home, wanting to see them, to hold them, wanting so badly to be a family with them. I just can't stand everyday that goes by it another day I will never have with them.

Okay, enough with all the sadness and stress :) I will just keep on praying that I hear something "soon." And, at least I have gotten some updated pictures of my boy, that always makes my day!!

New Pictures of Wadner

These are some pictures that were recently taken and sent to us by Jamie, who is currently living in Haiti to help look after the kids and take pictures for the moms and dads to see while they wait. I think he is so cute and I love him so much!

Looking for a home for Jimmy

Jimmy is a little boy who has been at the Orphanage for over 3 years. He has been waiting for a very long time for a family and we are hoping to help his family find him. A friend has put together a video you can view on YouTube, so please take a look at (you can get to it from the link below, just copy and paste the link into your web browser) and please forward it on to anyone you think might be his forever family. Be ready to cry!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_XjPcUque8

Less Stressed

We still don't know who are little girl is yet and I just wanted to post a quick update, since in my last post we were hoping to know who she was before the weekend. I received an email yesterday from Diana (the programs coordinator for Lighthouse Adoptions) that she is working very hard to get the lab results on the little girl they are looking at as a possible daughter for us. My fingers are crossed that we find out before the end of the week.

I put as the title of my post "less stressed" because I am feeling much calmer this week than I was last week about not knowing who my little girl is. I think part of my problem is that I am scared to death that something is going to go wrong and my children won't come home. I am afraid that Haiti will stop adoptions or something won't get approved, etc. This weekend Michael and I bought some things for Wadner's and our little girl's rooms' and I think it was a way for me to say "I am buying these things because THEY WILL COME HOME." Ever since then, I have felt much better about the situation. I have made a friend who lives about 2 minutes away from us and their family is also adopting from Haiti (and they are using the same adoption agency as us). She is wonderful and in an email she sent to me the other day, she told me that she often reminds herself that God has a plan for all of us and we just have to trust Him. That is what I am trying to do. Of course I am hoping His plan is to have them home sooner rather than later :), but I am trying to trust that He knows what He is doing. I am not the most patient person (as many of you know!) but, usually when I am upset about the way something in my life is going, later on I see that when I look at the big picture, things happened for a reason. I just don't always see that when I am caught up in a situation.

So, hopefully I will be posting some good news soon about our little girl, but until then I will try my best to be patient :)

Nothing yet

We still have not heard anything about our little girl yet. I am going crazy not knowing who she will be. It is all I think about and I have not been sleeping well because my mind won't stop going; wondering who are daughter will be and how Wadner is doing, etc. I am really praying I find out today or tomorrow about our little girl, because I can't imagine going another weekend not knowing. I have been feeling lately like I need to just sit and cry it out for awhile, to get rid of the emotions that are bottled up inside of me.

Some good news though....another family who lives in the same city as us just brought home their 2 little girls yesterday!!! So....it does happen. They do get to come home. It's just getting to the part when they are coming home that seems to take an eternity!

Wadner seeing his mom and dad

I just received some pictures from Candy of Wadner opening his gifts from us. This is a picture of Jamie showing Wadner pictures of Michael and me. Jamie is someone that Lighthouse Adoptions hired to live in Haiti for 1 year to take care of the infants and other children with critical needs. She is staying there with her husband and friend. We are so lucky to have Jamie staying in Haiti, because with her there we should be getting more updates on our children.

I was hoping that we would be entering IBESR (Haiti social services) last week, but we found out that they want to wait until we have the referral for both of our children. So as soon as we know who are little girl will be, we will then go into IBESR and start the LONG wait. We have been hearing some good news that things should hopefully get faster, so we are praying that the process starts to speed up so we can have our children home sooner!

On our little girl, Diana emailed us that she is trying to have the lab results rushed so hopefully they will be back next week. Once the lab results come back we still have to wait on an evaluation to be done and for them to figure out if it is the same little girl Candy saw on her trip. We are hoping to know by the end of next week if this is the little girl for us, but it may not be until the following week by the time all of this gets done. It seems like a lot of steps, but they are doing this to make sure there are no "surprise" special needs that we are not aware of and that she will fit with our family. I can't wait to know if she will be our daughter :)

Candy's trip to Haiti

I received an email from Candy yesterday that she showed Wadner the pictures of his new mom and dad. She said that he did not quite understand we are his new family, but that will come with time as he looks at our pictures more and more.

Apparently he really loved the bag of gifts we sent to him. She said that he did not want any of the other kids to touch his new toys. Later on she saw another little boy with the dinosaurs we sent him and she figured he had wrestled them away from Wadner. Come to find out Wadner and this little boy are friends and he shared his toys with this other little boy. I wish I was there to witness this adorable scene.

About our little girl. Candy did look at a little girl when she was there that will be 2 next month. Diana, from Lighthouse Adoptions, emailed us yesterday that she received information on a little girl but all she knows is she was born in 2005. Right now they are waiting on lab tests to come back and an evaluation to be done on her and then they will see if it is the same girl that Candy saw on her trip. Then they will decide if she is the right little girl for our family. We are hoping that the lab results come back next week and that a referral comes soon after. So on a little girl for us, we probably won't know until late next week or early the following week. I will post as soon as we have any information.

My Son

I have been a little scared to let myself really feel this was real, because I am always worried, "what if something happens and we don't get to bring our children home." I keep a picture of Wadner at my desk at work. I don't know when it happened, but I came into work one morning last week, looked at Wadner's picture, and said to the picture "I love you." I don't know how to explain it, but all of the sudden, I feel this over-whelming love for this little boy I have never met. I feel like he is truly my son and I cannot wait to meet him and hold him in my arms. I think about him all the time; I hope he is safe, loved, warm, happy. I want so much to take him home and be his mother. I know the time will come....I just hope it comes quickly.

I also have an update. I received an email yesterday from the adoption agency that all of our paperwork came back from legalization and will be sent to Haiti. This means that we should be going into IBESR soon!

Gifts for Wadner

Last Saturday our adoption agency had a get-together for all of the adoptive families, including their children. Some of the families are like us, waiting for their first children from Haiti. Other families have children from Haiti and are going through the process for a second time. It was nice to get to meet these families.

We were also able to give Candy, a woman who works at Lighthouse Adoptions, some gifts and things to bring to Wadner when she goes on her trip to Haiti in March. We sent him a couple of shirts, some under ware (always needed at the orphanage), matchbox cars, plastic dinosaurs, side-walk chalk, and a photo album with some pictures of us, our house and animals. This way Candy can show him who his mom and dad will be:)

Shortly after Candy gets back from her trip we should find out who are little girl will be. I am so excited! There are two houses at the Orphanage, one called the "Big kid house" that has all of the kids about 5 or 6 years old and up and a "Baby house" which has all of the toddlers and babies. Wadner is in the baby house, so he should know who are little girl is and they will be able to spend time together before they come home.

Stats on Wadner

I forgot to put some information that we received about Wadner on my last post. We found out that right now Wadner is 34 pounds and 98 centimeters (which I calculated is about 3 feet, 2 inches) and wearing a 4T. So from what I can tell, he seems to be pretty much right on track with his age. That makes me really happy to know he is healthy and happy!

Update on Second Referral

I talked to the adoption agency yesterday and we are going to wait until one of the staff members of the agency takes a trip to Haiti on March 2, to get our second referral. They have gotten in some new baby girls at the orphanage and they would like her to evaluate them before making a referral for us. The woman going is named Candy, and her trip is only until March 6, so we should know when she gets home who are little girl will be. I can't wait to know her name and see her picture, but it does help a little bit having Wadner's referral, we are passing the time with getting copies of his picture made, buying him a few toys and clothes, etc.

There are a lot of steps and it is very confusing to keep up with all of it, but everything seems to be moving along smoothly so far. Our paperwork will be sent to be legalized this week, which takes about 1 week, and then it will be sent to Haiti. We are hoping that are paperwork is in Haiti by March 1st, and then Diana, the program director of the adoption agency, said it should go into IBESR (Haiti's version of social services) right away. We are happy to hear that because from what I understand, once your documents get to Haiti, it could be several weeks until it goes into IBESR. Once we are in IBESR and assigned a file number, I will update with our file number and about how long are file will be in IBESR (from what I have heard recently, this part of the process is taking about 6 months). I am keeping my fingers crossed that everything continues to move as well as it has seemed to so far!

Another Picture of our boy!

Here is another picture of Wadner that was sent to us by the adoption agency.

First Referral

Well, we got our first referral today!!!!!!!!! It is for a little boy named Wadner and he is about 4 1/2 years old. His birthday is June 13, 2002. When Mike and I first went on the adoption agency's website, we saw his picture and read about him and immediately fell in love with him. I am so happy that Wadner is who are agency felt was a right match for us. I cannot wait to bring my little boy home.

We are still waiting on the referral for our little girl. The agency will be gathering some more information on the waiting girls and we should be getting the referral for our daughter in the next month or so. As soon as we get her referral, I will post the information.

I am putting a picture from the adoption agency's website of Wadner on this post so you can see how cute he is :)

Quick Update

I just received an email from the adoption agency that all of our paperwork has been translated (into French so the people in Haiti can read them) and right now our paperwork is at the state of Colorado getting authenticated. After that, they will be sent for legalization in Chicago and after that they will enter the black hole of Haiti, where things move very slowly and we will be having our patience tested while we wait. That's all the information I have for now!

First Post

Hi, this is my first time ever setting up and using a blog....so please bear with me as I learn :) I wanted to find a place where our friends and family can go for updates on our adoption process and this seemed like a great place to do that.

For those of you who may not know, we are adopting from Haiti. We are hoping to adopt a little boy around 5 years old and a little girl about 2 years old or younger. Michael and I have been talking about adopting for a long time now and know that adoption is the right path for us and we are so excited to be starting a family.

We are still in the beginning stages of the process. We have already found an adoption agency, sent in the application, was approved, and we completed the only part of the process we have any control over---our dossier (which is all of the paperwork we have to get together and notarized). I got these documents together as fast as I could, it took me about 6 weeks, which is pretty fast. (I look at it like this, every day I put something off, is another day I could have had with my children). We officially started the process in the beginning of December. At this point, we are waiting for the referral of our children. This is where we find out which children will be joining our family. This hopefully should be happening in the next week or two. From there is the really hard part......waiting and waiting and waiting some more. From the time we accept the referral's the wait will be 9-12 months while Haiti's version of social services does there thing and everything gets approved. We of course our hoping it to be more on the 9 month side (or maybe a miracle will happen and it will be faster than that)! We are hoping our children our home before Christmas.

Michael and I are thank full for the support we know that our family and friends (and any one else who happens to come across this page) will be giving us. Feel free to post any comments on this blog page that you would like us to see, we will be checking it every day. I will try to update the page every few days or when we receive any updates or new information. We will also inform you of any fundraising we will be trying to get started in the near future.

Thanks again for your support and pray for us that the process will go faster than 9 months, we just can't wait to bring our children home!