A quiet, relaxing day.

Sunday.  We all slept in.  A night with AC allowed us better sleep.  Christina woke up happy and full of energy.  She excitedly looked over the clothes I brought and decided she needed to wear a yellow top and blue skirt.  She was very happy to pick out her own clothes.  We let Sam sleep and went to breakfast, which was pancakes, juice and coffee.  Christina ate her usual container of yogurt as well.  

After breakfast we played on the back patio.  Christina picked flowers and put them in our hair.  Then she wanted flowers in her hair.  It was a sweet, sweet time with her. She took pictures of us, we took pictures together.  We got a taste of who she really is -- a delightful, playful little girl.  

Putting flowers in our hair.

The kitten returned and this time Christina was willing to watch Weston pet it.  She would slowly approach the kitten, but if the kitten moved towards her she ran away, squealing.  

Sam finally woke up, so he ate breakfast and we all got ready for the day.  I had a chance to ask him how he felt about Haiti, the orphanage and our trip so far, now that he had some rest.  He said he loved all the kids.  But of all the kids there, he knew that Christina was meant to be ours.  And he missed his brother and sister and was ready to return home.

We didn’t have any plans for the day and we weren’t sure where Sonia was.  We played with toys, I pushed Christina in a stroller we found, and we basically just had a relaxing, quiet day.  Weston napped a bit and I played matching games and building blocks with Christina.

In the afternoon we went outside to the back patio again.  Sonia arrived home, she had been working all day to secure a missing signature on our IBESR paperwork.  Although we have officially been approved by IBESR, one signature had been missed accidentally. And we needed the signature in order to file our paperwork at the Embassy the next morning.  Sonia doesn’t like to drive (I don’t blame her, I wouldn’t want to drive there either!), but because it was Sunday her driver was off and she had to get behind the wheel and brave the traffic herself.  After driving to the person’s house and waiting for hours, she was successful and our paperwork was signed.  I was so impressed with how hard she was working on our behalf.

Playing on the patio

Over ice cold Sprite and pear juice we looked over the paperwork, making sure it was filled out properly.  We asked Sonia the question I am sure she dreads: when does she think we will be able to finally bring Christina home?  

We were told the next step in the process requires a signature from a judge who happens to be on vacation for a month.  Rats.  But we were finally given a loose timeline.  Before when we asked, we were told “who knows”, but this time we were told anywhere from October to January.  (I am afraid that October is probably out of the question, we haven’t moved at all since we entered Parquet Court, but I think Christmas is actually quite possible, which makes me smile!)

We talked a bit about all of the new kiddos in the orphanage.  Sonia says IBESR has been sending her new children, many of them older and not adoptable.  A few weeks ago she was told to take in three teenagers that IBESR found living on the streets.  Sonia doesn’t have the facility to take care of older children.  She has to keep them separate from the little ones.  And she doesn’t run a jail.  She can’t force the older children to stay in the orphanage, and the older children have no desire to be there.   They keep leaving the grounds, causing the nannies to have to search for them.

Her hands are tied.  If she says no to IBESR she will no longer be in their good graces.  She has no choice but to take in the children and then try to find a facility better suited for them.

I can’t imagine how difficult it is for Sonia and all the other orphanage directors in Haiti who are trying to do the right thing, play by the rules and still have the children’s best interest at heart.  Must be very frustrating.

We had a final dinner of traditional chicken and peas on rice.  Very yummy.  After dinner Christina played a few more minutes and then looked at me and said “mwen fatigue” (I’m tired).  So I took her back to the room, gave her a quick bath, put on her pjs and she motioned she wanted me to pick her up.  Snuggled into my shoulder when I picked her up and was fast asleep within minutes.  I carefully sat down on the bed and just snuggled her.  This is the first time she requested snuggles from me.  She has always been agreeable to snuggles given to her, but never initiated them. 

While I snuggled her Weston took a shower.  We had to leave for the Embassy at 6:00am the next morning, packed and ready to go to the airport.

Sam got ready to take his shower to discover that the water had been turned off.  So no flushing, no showers.  Hopefully it will be back on in the morning so we can be clean for our travel day tomorrow.

More pictures of our day:

On to Parquet Court!

God continues to amaze me with His sovereignty.  More new from the adoption front, which is awesome.  But even more awesome is the gentle reminder (or perhaps loud thunk on my head) that He is in control, and has been since the beginning.

Just days after the long awaited phone call from our agency telling us our dossier received dispensation we received an email telling us we were OUT of IBESR and moving to Parquet Court.  I was not expecting to hear this news so quickly!  

With this news came a flurry of activity -- more paperwork to fill out on our side, court dates and Embassy appointments to schedule.  We were informed that we needed to be in Haiti within the next 2-3 weeks for two court appearances and one trip to the Embassy. I had just booked a trip to Haiti less than a month earlier for the end of July--Friday through Monday-- perfect timing!  Or so I thought.  Turns out we need to be in Haiti for 4 business mornings in order to accomplish all the court appointments.  No big deal, I can just change our trip to include a few extra days, right?  It's not that easy.  July happens to be the busiest month of the year for Weston’s business.  And the week we need to be in Haiti for 4 business days happens to be the busiest week of July for him.  The rest of his year hinges on the summer, with July being the most important month.  He simply can not afford to be out of the office for 5 days, much less be out of the country with no access to internet or phone.  

After 8 months of waiting for our dispensation we are told we now must head to Haiti during the one and only week Weston really needs to be in the office.  Seriously?!?

I immediately started praying that all of Weston’s business would miraculously be taken care of before we had to leave on the trip. Please Lord, I prayed, make it so we can be gone for 4 business days!  

After a few emails back and forth with our agency and a phone call we were told it would be no big deal if we needed to change our trip to sometime in August.  Traveling in August meant changing where we stayed in Haiti and having another orphanage director take us to our appointments because our orphanage director would be out of the country (which is why we booked our weekend July trip in the first place, to be there when the orphanage director would be there).  We were so grateful for the flexibility and accommodations being offered by both our agency and the orphanage directors in Haiti.  We were also told our delay in going to court would only delay the adoption process by the extra couple of weeks it took us to get to Haiti, which made me feel better.  I mean, after 8 months of waiting, to then find out you are delaying the next step?  That was stressing me out!

I found new flights for August and was ready to book them when I figured I should quickly run the dates by our agency just to double check and make sure our travel week was acceptable to everyone in Haiti, before I spent money to transfer our tickets (a pretty penny, I might add).

I received an email back the next day -- We don’t have to appear in court because we have already been to the lower courts. Our paperwork can be submitted directly to the higher courts.  We don’t have to change our trip, and we don’t have to be in Haiti for 4 business days.  I almost cried.

How in the world did that happen?!?  When we made our first trip to Haiti our orphanage director took us to a building where we signed some paperwork in front of a witness and then to an appointment to see a “Dean” where we were asked a lot of questions and had to show a picture of us with Christina.  We had no idea we were going to have these appointments, nor did we really understand what they were.  Those were our lower court appointments.  

God knew.  He knew when our Dossier would be released from IBESR and that we would need to be in Haiti the exact week Weston needed to be at the office.  And He handled it.  My prayers were totally answered, but in a way so much bigger than I could have possibly imagined.  Miraculous.

We were able to make an Embassy appointment for the morning we leave.  Our appointment is at 7am, our flight leaves at 1:15pm.  We don’t even have to change our outgoing flight.  Another miracle!

I have no idea how much longer the process will take.  It feels like everything has sped up considerably, but the truth is it could all stall again.  Our paperwork could languish on another desk.  But the last couple of weeks have given me hope on so many levels.  Hope that the Haitian system does work.  Hope that our adoption will be finalized and we will bring Christina home.  But mostly, it has bolstered my faith.  Faith that God has it all under control.  That He is in charge.  And He answers prayers.  But in ways far beyond what my brain could even think to imagine.  Although I know this to be true in theory, I love it when He shows me in a tangible way.  Sometimes I just need that reminder!

I will have new pictures and new stories of Christina in just two weeks -- can’t wait to go back and love on her!