Monday, April 30, 2012

We Have Been Invited to Visit!!!

We are happy to announce that we received a phone call last week to let us know that we are invited to come spend our first moments with our twin boys! We are invited to be in Haiti from June 11-15th. It is a relatively short trip, but we are looking forward to soaking up every moment.

We will be flying out of Sioux Falls some time on the 10th and heading to either Miami or Ft. Lauderdale. We will then jump on a plane and head to Port-au-Prince early the morning of the 11th. We are busily trying to make sure that we have all of the immunizations that we need and are beginning to discuss whether to bring Aftyn, Haley and Aiden along on this first trip. I spoke with Erin today and found out that we could bring them along this time if we could work that out. Most of the time will be spent at the hotel with the twins and it would be wonderful bonding time all together. It would also give the kids a chance to see why it is that we are making this choice and for them to have a taste of the twins' culture.

We hope that we will have confirmed our plans in the next day or two so we can get the rest of the pieces lined up. Please pray for clarity in this decision and for wisdom in our planning.

The most recent update that we received on the twins shared the following:


The boys are well.  Boy A was sick last week into this week, but seems to be doing better right now.  Boy 1 is MOVING everywhere!  They are both eating well, and growing.  I don't think there are any teeth yet...but I should check.


We can't wait until we can check on these things on our own. I have a feeling that we will take 5,000 pictures just to capture as many moments as we can. I am really looking forward to spending time as a family!

Thank you for your prayers,
Rebecca

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

April 2012 Update

We are going to be receiving monthly updates on the boys to give us an idea of how they are doing and to get the updates on their growth and development! (Not to mention the adorable photos that accompany the updates!) Before I go into the updates, though, I think it is important to mention how precious it has been to be able to share our boys with our families and friends! We are so thankful for them and the future that we will have together, and it is such a joy to share that with everyone!

The message we received yesterday was brief but sweet. It said (and I apologize for not being able to share their names at this point):

Little Boy #1-Spent some time recovering from diarrhea, but that didn't stop his sweet smile. He didn't gain weight this month, but he's become more active.

Little Boy #A(Craig won't let me label him #2 because he needs to be at the top of his list too)- Continues to move all over the room using his sweet commando crawl. He's working to push himself up on all 4's to continue the movement. He grew a lot this last month, and you can see it in his cheeks.

There were 6 photos included of the boys and 4 of them were of the two boys side by side in their high chairs. It is amazing how quickly they change! They are obviously fraternal twin,s and we are also amazed by how each is his own little man! I can't wait to learn their personalities.

It looks as though Craig and I might be included on the June trip to the orphanage. The May trip is almost full, and we haven't received an invite yet. The June trip is a bit shorter which is a bummer...but the blessing is that it is only two weeks after the May trip so we won't have to wait too much longer! Please pray that we will receive our invite so we can begin our planning.

The excitement is almost unbearable!!! I can't wait to snuggle my two littlest boys!!!!! Until that time, I am soaking up the snuggles with my three biggest angels!! It will be hard to be away from them when the time comes...but I am sure that they won't even miss us because they will be slumber partying at their cousins' house!!!

We will continue to bring you updates as we receive them. The process is sort of at a stand still and much of our "adoption time" is spent figuring out the remaining finances and figuring out our family's plan as we are going to be filling up our house before we know it!!! God has blessed us beyond belief with this beautiful family of SEVEN!!!!  :) What an amazing dilemma!

Abounding with Blessings,
Rebecca

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

It's a YES!

After very little deliberation, but bathed in prayer, Rebecca and I accepted the referral of "our twin boys" today!

I sent the e-mail to Erin at CAN this morning and it still makes me teary-eyed to think of them... all day. We're both SO excited to get the invitation from the orphanage to travel and meet them in Haiti for the first time. We're hopeful that we'll be invited to travel in May or June to see their precious faces in person. Our referral acceptance today, and that first trip down there, will set the Haiti Government's paperwork in motion for the long home stretch. As mentioned in our last update the average wait time from today until we bring them home is 10-12 months. This sounds like a long time and many people get frustrated with that answer and ask, "but why?" My answer is always, if the US were adopting kids out to other countries and going through the legal rig-a-ma-roll it would take us 10-12 years to adopt kids out. So for a 3rd world country that still deals with a lot of paper, instead of computer files and e-mails, that's not so bad. Plus we knew the time frame going into this whole process and we're right on track so we're ok with it.  If God wants us to bring them home sooner, He'll make it happen. Which I pray he does... :)

So, that's it!  We're still learning from our agency and from the orphanage how much we can share about the boys; names, photos, etc so as soon as we're cleared to do so, we'll share; trust me!

Thanks for all of your prayers!

Excitedly,
Craig