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 :)