Saturday in the park...

Here's a very small sampling of the "Pictures in the Park" that our friend Todd took today.

A year ago...

I just realized that it's been a year ago...May 12th to be exact when I sent off our dossier. It arrived in Haiti on May 17th. Wow...it's been one wild year! Although I really want my children home now...I am thankful for this journey & everything I have learned so for. A big thanks to all of you who have been so supportive to us during this past year. Thanks to a wonderful group of ladies who have listened to me vent, cry, pray, & even snore :o) I don't know if I would have been able to get through this journey thus far without you all. I thank God for giving Randy & I the strength & resources to do the "crazy" & adopt 3 children at one time. It will not be easy when they come home but his grace is sufficient.

News!!!

I got word today that all 3 birthparents showed up yesterday for their Parquet birthparent interviews & they all went well. Praise God!!! Thank you for all of your prayers!

Happy Birthday Angela!

I know you have a lot going on right now & a lot to think about but I wanted to let you know that I am thinking about you & that this family will never forget you! We love you! Happy Birthday my friend!

She's growing up!

My little girl graduated from preschool Wed. evening. I can't believe it!

SS...

Okay...I thought it was necessary to announce to everyone that I have given someone a "nick name." Well, not really a nick name but initials. I hope you don't mind Stephanie but seeing as you currently make the 3rd mama Stephanie at 3A's I felt it necessary to come up with some way to keep myself from being confused. If you already have a nickname that you would prefer me to use, please feel free to let me know. Welcome to the family & congrats on your beautiful daughter!!!

Haiti scenes...

Praying...

I want to share the following devotion from Dr. David Jeremiah about praying for our children as well as to ask everyone to be in prayer about our Parquet birthparents interview that is scheduled for tomorrow. Please pray that the interviewer & all 3 birthparents show up & that the interviews go well. The birthparents should be arriving to the orphanage some time today. Thanks!

A Mother's Prayers

She continued praying before the Lord . . . . Her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.
1 Samuel 1:12-13


Recommended Reading
1 Samuel 1:8-18


Someone once said, "It's not easy being a mother. If it were easy, fathers would do it!"

That's especially true for mothers torn between work and home. Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir put it this way: "At work, you think of the children you have left at home. At home, you think of the work you've left unfinished. Such a struggle is unleashed within yourself. Your heart is rent."

But Christian mothers have a secret weapon—prayer; and the "patron saint" of praying mothers is the biblical hero named Hannah. In half of all the verses about her in 1 Samuel, she is praying; and her prayers produced one of the greatest heroes of the Bible, her son Samuel.

You can pray for your children when you're at work. You can pray for them when they're at school. Your prayers can pursue them to college, to Iraq or Afghanistan, or to the far corners of the world. Your prayers can mold, shape, protect, recover, and enrich them. And in praying, you can trust the Lord with their welfare and remain hopeful for their success.

In an age of "Hannah Montana," it's time to rediscover the original Hannah and to emulate her example.


Praying Samuels come from praying Hannahs. . . . Praying leaders come from praying homes.
E. M. Bounds

Randy's trip part 3

Randy's trip part 2

Randy's trip part 1

Fixed...

Our computer problem is fixed so now I can go back to my "normal" blogging self :o) I have a lot of thoughts & feelings running through my head & heart right now but can't seem to put anything into a comprehensible sentence at the moment. Randy & the rest of the team arrived home Friday night. It was a great trip & I am so glad that Randy was able to go. I will be posting some pictures of the trip & I hope that they will speak volumes since I wasn't there to give a "real" commentary on them. I was very surprised that Randy took as many as pictures as he did, however he did take a lot of "scenery" pictures so not as many of the children as I would have liked. There are a few pictures with other children other ours in them but not a lot. He did however spend a lot of time playing with the other children whose parents were not on the trip or who do not have parents yet. I asked him how he pulled that off with Samara around & he said, "I did it when she was at school." :o)

Mother's Day...

Here is a picture of Mother's Day cards from my precious children starting from the oldest to the youngest from left to right. Phoebe did a couple at preschool & one with Daddy so that's why I have 3 from her. I am looking forward to when I can celebrate Mother's Day with all of my children.

At the library...

I apologize for being MIA without any warning. I had planned to post before Phoebe & I left for Missouri early Saturday morning but I didn't get a chance to. I don't have computer access when I'm there. Phoebe & I left right after Randy left to go to the airport to go to Haiti. We went to MO to spend time with the "G force" aka...grandparents :o) So we came home last night & I was eager to get on my computer to type a new post & get caught up on all the blogs that I read. Well...I was able to do half of that. I can read things on the computer but I can't do anything that requires me to use the keyboard. I haven't figured out if it's the keyboard connection that plugs in the hard drive that is bad or if it's the entire key board. So until Randy is able to take a look at it & decide what to do, I will not be commenting on the blogs because this library computer is slow as molasses :o)

Randy & the rest of the E team are scheduled to arrive home tonight. I can't wait to see him! He called me once while he was there. He wanted to let me know that our birth parents Parquet interview had been rescheduled for Wednesday. I found out today after he arrived in Miami that the interview had been scheduled for last week & all 3 birth parents showed up but they had to reschedule the interview because the person who was suppose to do the interviewing didn't show up :o( So they rescheduled for this past Wednesday & only one of the birth parents showed up. And for some reason foreign to me...instead of interviewing that birth parent then...they are rescheduling the interview for next Wednesday & are hoping that all 3 show up...along with the interviewer. So please pray that everyone will show up & the interviews will go smoothly & will will exit Parquet quickly after that. Thanks! :o)

Now to show some real excitement as well as thanks & praise for God answering our prayers for movement..........................Yeah, yipee, yerah, wooooooohooooooooo, Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, & of course last but not least....a very big & extreme HBWD for Michelle, Angela, & Fiona exiting MOI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please pray that their final steps will go very quickly & smoothly & that they will be bringing their kids home very, very, very soon! Also ditto all of the above happiness for Kristina who is celebrating their presidential approval that they have been waiting a very long time for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully I will be typing a review of Randy's trip tomorrow on our computer as well as posting some pictures. He says the kids are doing well & that he really enjoyed his visit with them.

Pray for movement...

Please pray for movement for all Haitian adoption files. It has been slow going to say the least even on a good day. The recent unrest in Haiti had brought everything to a screeching halt. Things have calmed down now but we have not heard of much movement with adoption files. Please pray that everyone who has been "stuck" in IBESR, Parquet, & MOI will move out of whatever office they are currently in & quickly move to & through the next step(s). Thanks!

So much a like...

Here is a picture that fits into the "they look so much a like category." When I first saw this picture I was amazed. I'm too lazy to root back through hundreds of Phoebe's younger year pictures but if I did I could find a picture of her when she was 1,2, & 3 & put them next to pictures of Samara at 1,2, & 3 & you would swear that these two are biological sisters. I can't wait to see how they interact with each other. Phoebe had a friend come over to play this morning. Phoebe wasn't awake when she got here so I had the friend climb up the bunk bed ladder & wake Phoebe up. After the friend had went home, Phoebe said, I thought Samara was waking me up this morning. What a sweet thought! I can't wait until she can!

Shakira's side view...

I thought I would post a picture of Shakira since I haven't done it in awhile. I like this side view picture of her. I love you Shakira!!!

Not yet...

I just wanted to tell those of you who commented on my last post that I am not ignoring you about the Starbucks post. I have learned the "hard" way that with "hot" topics you just don't unload everything you think, feel, & know about said topic but that you wait for the Holy Spirit to guide you to speak so that you will say the right things & that hearts & minds will be prepared to receive what you say. So that post will have to wait until I am led to write it. Thanks for your patience & understanding!

I am...

Sorry that I was a day late posting this Colleen...I got side tracked :o)

I am: a child of God!
I think: that I think too much.
I know: that I know that I know that God is alive & loves me very much!
I want: my children to come home very soon!
I have: a wonderful family & friends, plenty to eat, & enough stuff.
I wish: to hear from my father that I haven't heard from for almost 20 years.
I hate: taxes & root canals.
I miss: my mother.
I fear: not being the person God created me to be.
I feel: constipated...not really...but I couldn't resist :o) I feel: thankful!
I hear: almost every noise in my house. I have very sensitive hearing.
I smell: nothing...my nose is stopped up :o)
I crave: chocolate almost all the time.
I search: for God's truth & will for my life.
I wonder: what the first week after the children come home will be like.
I regret: many things but do not dwell on them.
I love: Almighty God, my wonderful husband, my amazing children, my mother who is in a class all of her own, other family, friends, cats, dogs, & birds.
I ache: to hold my Haitian children again.
I care: about doing the best I can do with what I have.
I always: brush my teeth several times a day.
I am not: tall & thin :o)
I believe: Jesus Christ is my Lord & Savior.
I dance: not as much as I would like to. I use to dance a lot when I was younger.
I sing: with all of my heart.
I cry: during Hallmark commercials.
I don’t always: ask for help when I need to because I'm very independent & stubborn.
I fight: like a man :o)
I write: because I find it easier to express myself that way.
I never: go to Starbucks.
I listen: the way I liked to be listened to.
I can usually be found: at home 75% of the time.
I need: chocolate, milk, peanut butter, & sushi :o)
I am happy about: Randy getting to visit our Haitian children very soon!

Spring Time...

Chicken pox...

There have been active cases at the orphanage for awhile now & Caleb has finally gotten them. Please pray for his comfort & that he will heal quickly. Thanks!

Samara's stomach...

Please pray for Samara. I got a report yesterday that Samara "always has stomach pain but today she is ok." This is the first time I have heard about her stomach pain & have never noticed it when I was with her so I don't know how long this has been going on or any other details right now. Thanks for your prayers!

Almost...but not quite!

My little man is 11 months old today! One more month & he will be a year old. I can't believe it! He was 3 weeks old when we started the adoption process with him. I am so blessed & thankful to have been able to see him twice already. The first time at two months & the second time at 6 months old. We have been praying that he would be home by his first birthday but it currently looks like it will be after that. I am glad that Randy will be seeing him in May & can celebrate his birthday with him although it will be 2 weeks early. We can't wait for you & your sisters to come home!

"All shook up...literally!"

Well, if you haven't heard by now, our area was awakened with a "jolt" this morning. An earthquake that measured 5.2 on the richter scale with the epi center in a town in Illinois which is 45 miles away from our area happened this morning at approximately 4:37am.

I have never lived or have even been to California so I don't know what it's like to live in "earthquake country" but I was raised in a town about an hour & a half north of New Madrid...on the New Madrid fault line. We would have "small" earthquakes from time to time that would last maybe 10 seconds or so although we were always warned to be prepared for the "big one" that may happen any day.

The last earthquake that I can remember other than a couple of tremors we felt while living in NC, was in the early 1990's in Missouri. Randy & I were married & living in the upper rental unit of a house. Randy was at work & I was at home getting ready for school. I was in nursing school at the time. The walls started shaking, my knick knacks started moving & a couple of things fell off the wall. It lasted about ten seconds.

My zoo trip the other day sparked a pretty significant allergy episode which has resulted in a lot of drainage & coughing. Our bedroom is downstairs. I couldn't go to sleep last night laying flat due to all of the coughing & drainage so I decided to go up stairs & sit in Randy's recliner to see if I would fall asleep. It's funny because his chair is very comfortable & he falls asleep in it all the time but I could not fall asleep. I dozed off from time to time but really never fell asleep.

So at about 4:30 I decided to move to the couch to see if I could fall asleep there. I was just about to doze off when I heard & felt a "rattling." At first I didn't know what was going on & I thought that someone was trying to get in the front door. Then I sat up & saw that the walls were shaking as well as our very large & heavy entertainment center. I stood up & at this point this is where the earthquake would have normally stopped but it kept going so I started praying fervently as I walked to Phoebe's room. She was sound asleep on her top bunk. I stood by her bed & held onto it & then the shaking stopped. I thanked God & then headed toward the basement. They say that the basement is the last place you want to be in an earthquake.

For those of you who know Randy's sleeping habits you know that he can sleep through anything...severe storms, tornadoes, floods, crying & screaming children, vacumming right by his head, you name it! I got to the top of the steps & looked down to the bottom to find Randy standing there looking at me as he asked, "Did you feel that?" Ugh, yes, I sure did!!! We did a quick once over to make sure everything was okay inside structurally & then we turned on the TV. The first local station we turned on had a commercial so we flipped to the next local station. Ironically enough the man was doing the weather. We listened intently to see if he was going to say anything about the earthquake but he just went on & on about rain heading our way. Then he went back to the desk where his co anchor was. They just looked at each other & then he said, "We're waiting for more information to come in but I think we just had a pretty significant earthquake for our area." Then they started taking calls from viewers & one lady who either still lives in California but was visiting or who use to live in California called in & said she had been in a lot of earthquakes in California but never one that had lasted as long as the one this morning.

We have had a couple of aftershocks so far & may have some more through out the day. Please pray that we will continue to be safe. Thanks!

Caleb's ears...

Please pray for Caleb. My little man has an ear infection. He is currently on antibiotics & tolerating the medicine well. Please pray that he will heal quickly & will not get any more ear infections. Thanks!

A glorious spring day at the zoo...

Highlight of the evening...

Everyone had a very good time Friday night but this was probably the highlight of the evening! Thanks Madelyn & Derek! :o)

April Gathering...

These are pictures from our Haitian Adoptive Families Gathering that was held last Friday at my church. There are 9 families but unfortunately 4 of them were unable to attend.

Can you do this???

I don't know why this is turned the wrong way. It's the right way on my computer album but not here. Sorry about having to do the head turn thing :o)

Costly Adoption...

That was the title of the devotion that Randy & I read this morning. I was the one reading it aloud & I could barely get through it. I had to stop a couple of times & recompose myself. It really spoke to me & I hope it "speaks" to you as well. This is from Wed. April 9 out of the CPH "Portals of Prayer."

"See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God." 1 John 3:1

We met a new family member at the reunion this year. She didn't resemble any of us, yet she delighted all of us. During a work assignment in China, my cousin took his family to tour an orphanage. They noticed that no one was attending to one particular newborn's needs. The family was told that because she was so tiny, she was destined to die. They begged the staff to allow them to take the 3 pound baby home to care for her. Finally, the staff agreed.

After months of love, nurture, & sleepless nights. Angel was restored to health. The family grew to love Angel & wanted her to be a part of their family. The adoption process was painstaking. It took two years of frustration, financial drain, & perseverance. But now, Angel belongs to them.

What the family did for Angel is what God has done for us. While we were yet in our helpless sinful condition, Christ came to our rescue. Our adoption cost Jesus' life. We contributed nothing. We simply were given a marvelous gift of love. We can do nothing to repay Jesus; we can only thank Him for what He already has done. In Christ, we live lives that bring honor to God.

"Jesus, thank you for making such a costly sacrifice to make us children of God. Amen."

Sweet Shakira...

Please pray...

for our children's birthparents & their Parquet interviews that are scheduled for Wednesday. Please pray that they all show up & the interviews go smoothly. Please pray that God's peace & comfort will fill their hearts as they have to go through yet another "interview" to complete the adoption process. Please also pray for their safety as they travel to & from the interview. Thanks!

Sweetness...

Peek a boo...

Be still...

One of my favorite Bible verses has always been "Be still & know that I am God" even though I'm not the best at being "still." For the past few weeks this verse has been playing over & over in my head. I've been trying to be still & listen to God speak but apparently I haven't been still enough. So for the past 5 days I have basically been in bed all day being sick & very "still." I am thankful that I have been out of bed all day today...thank you Lord! The following is a devotion by Dr. David Jeremiah on being still.

The Cushion of the Sea
Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
Recommended Reading
Matthew 11:28-30

A number of years ago, a submarine being tested had to be submerged for several hours. Upon returning to harbor, the captain was asked, "How did that terrible storm last night affect you?" Surprised, the captain exclaimed, "Storm? We didn't even know there was one!" Their submarine had been so far beneath the surface that it had reached what sailors refer to as "the cushion of the sea"—a depth in the ocean where the waters below are never stirred despite any commotion on the surface.

In our fast-paced world, it is a challenge to slow down and remember that God is in control. We are a society of "do-everything," "go-everywhere," "get-it-done" people who mistakenly believe we can handle everything if we just keep going. In reality, we need to become so submerged in God's peace that no matter what's happening in our lives, we are able to remain as calm as "the cushion of the sea."

If you feel overwhelmed, bogged down, or burnt out, add one more activity to your daily schedule: Spend time with Almighty God. It is the only way to reach the depth needed to find true calm in the midst of any storm.

In the name of Jesus Christ, who was never in a hurry, we pray, O God, that You will slow us down, for we know that we live too fast.
Peter Marshall