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!!!!