The Gotcha Week in Review!!!!

Oh my....I knew that this was going to happen. I just knew that we would be sucked up into the mission trip and adoption whirlwind and the blogging would go by the wayside. Tonight I am feeling a bit sleepy...but I suppose that I should begin to put my thoughts down before the memories begin to fade and the details are lost.

This last week has been surreal. That is the word that I have been sharing with everyone that asks how it is going. The mission trip that we participated in from July 15-22nd was simply amazing. We went with a team from our church and were joined by a few others along the way. Together with the Haitian Mission Haiti Youth Group, we were able to travel 5 1/2 hours from Port-au-Prince by bus, hike three hours up and down the mountainous terrain, and witness through vacation bible school to 280 children and many, many adults and youth. It was amazing. Many new relationships were formed and more than anything, I was reminded that God's beautiful family includes people from all over the world. It makes missions seem all the more vital to our Christian walk.

On Tuesday, July 22nd, the mission team drove us to our twins' orphanage. Because they had to fly out at 9am, we left the house we stayed at in Port-au-Prince extra early (5:00am) so the team would be able to spend time seeing our boys and their orphanage before getting to the airport in time to check in. It was such a blessing to me because the team requested this. After a week of serving in the mountains, we were all tired...but the team saw the beauty in seeing the humble beginnings of our boys to the point of sacrificing their sleep so they could all be a part of our re-introduction. My heart swelled with love for this team and with love for our church.

We arrived at the orphanage and of course the boys were still sleeping because it was early (5:45 am). The staff had us stay out in front of the orphanage as they woke and readied the boys. I am sure that they were lifted out of a deep slumber, stripped of their wet cloth diaper, set in a cold bath with eye-burning lye soap, dressed in a fresh outfit (shoes and socks included...which the boys are not used to) and brought out to meet us. I don't know for sure how long we waited, but it felt like forever.

Judah Elysee was brought out first and he was quiet but content. He was placed into my arms and the photos began. The team did a beautiful job taking photos and videos of this reunion. We were re-united to Elijah James shortly after, and he was not so content from his early morning waking. He was tearful but quieted eventually in Craig's arms. There were teary eyes and lumps in throats...but with a joyous heart....it was nothing but a blessed moment!

The team took a quick tour of the orphanage but then had to leave to head to the airport. We said our goodbyes and remained on the porch as they drove out of the gate. We planned to stay at the orphanage for much of the day and then had our flight for four later that evening to Miami.

We spent the day reconnecting with the boys, and they seemed to connect with us very quickly. We snuck in every snuggle we could and couldn't help but wish the time to pass so we could be on our own with the boys. We met a few of the missionaries that were currently at the orphanage and spent some time capturing photos of the other children at the orphanage so their parents could have a little piece of the joy that we were feeling. (From past experience we know that it is terribly difficult to sit at home as you know that other parents are with their children at the orphanage, and somehow it makes it a bit easier to know that your little one was loved on a bit in your absence, and to get updated photos is always a blessing.)

We had been praying for years that we would have the privilege of meeting the boys' birth dad. We knew that we wouldn't know for sure until he actually arrived, however, we knew that the director, Pierre, had contacted him. About two years ago prior to our first bonding trip, I had compiled a list of questions that I had for the birth dad, just in case we would be blessed with this opportunity. I still had that list and had brought it along with me. Praise God for that, because at one point during the morning at the orphanage I chased Judah out onto the porch and knew immediately that the man who had come in the gate and was seated in the wicker chair was the boys' birth dad.

I was speechless. There was another man on the porch as well and he was an interpreter that had come to the O just in case. He stepped in immediately when I found my voice. I introduced myself and asked if he was Elie and Elysee's birth dad. He said yes. His name is Jean Robert.  I quickly told him that I needed to go get my husband from inside. I came back with Craig and my list of questions. Through the course of our visiting, we learned that the boys' birth father is soft-spoken, handsome, relatively short, lives on the streets of the most dangerous and poor area of the capital city (actually the most dangerous neighborhood in all of the world), and he misses the boys and their mom every day of his life. Heartbreaking.

The love he felt for the twins was very evident...and he made it very clear that he could see the love we had for the twins as well. We had a beautiful conversation with him that lasted almost 2 hours! We learned about him, the boys' birth mom, how they met, what their birth was like, who was born first (Eli at 10am at home, Elysee 4pm at a hospital), where they were born, how their mother died, what the names of their half-siblings are, that they don't have any known family illnesses and that they were named after Isaiah and Elijah in the Bible because their mom was a Christian.

Praise God for that bit of information. That was the most painful thing that I was afraid to learn. I feared visiting with their birth dad and finding out that their mom was not saved. We are hopeful that someday the boys will profess a love for the Lord, Jesus, and I know that they will be relieved to know that one day they will be reunited with her in Heaven.

I took that opportunity to ask Jean Robert if he was a Christian. He said no. I am thankful for his honesty but wasn't content just knowing this fact. I shared the truth of Jesus with this broken man and expressed how important it is to me that he know the Lord, so he not only is reunited with the boys' birth mom someday in Heaven, but so that he can be reunited with his sons as well, and live with Jesus! I wish I could say that he gave his life to the Lord right there...but he didn't...so we will continue to pray for his salvation and ask that you all pray as well.

(If any of you reading this have not accepted Jesus as your Savior, please contemplate the eternal ramifications of taking that decision lightly. I would love to celebrate with all of you as one HUGE family in Heaven someday. Please contact me if you have questions, or visit this site.)

So saying goodbye to Jean Robert was difficult for us, and we could tell that it was difficult for him to pull himself away as well. We said our goodbyes and promised to send photos of the boys to the orphanage so they could deliver them to him, so he would be able to see where life brings them and that they are healthy and happy. We promised to provide for their basic needs, provide an education and most importantly to love them unconditionally. We hugged and said that we are family, forever.

After he left, we continued to play with the boys, ate lunch and then it was time for baths and a quick retreat to the airport. We found out at the last minute that the normal orphanage van was not available, and we would get to take a tap-tap to the airport. Really? Well...if that was the only way...why not leave this country Haitian style? It was a little unnerving to pile into the back of a pickup with a wooden board to sit on and nothing to hold on to with two toddlers in tow...but we made it.

Once we got the airport...it was a whirlwind of paperwork and getting whisked to the front of lines. It was amazing how many people came up to us and commented that what we were doing was a blessing and thanked us. In many ways, this broke my heart. This country is so broken that the people are grateful when perfect strangers take their young to raise them in another country. What a broken world we live in.

One of the people that whisked us to the front of lines tried to scam us at the very last minute, and I have never been more grateful for my husband and the way that he defended us and guided us on our way. This man said he was going to help submit our folders of exit paperwork for the twins to leave the country, and that he needed the paperwork and $40. Craig said he would pay him inside the security lines and give the paperwork to the counter that needed it. He could tell the man wasn't allowed beyond security so we just headed for the security guards ourselves.


We made it to the gate and spent more than an hour there getting acquainted with the twins. It was there that we realized that the twins knew how to pee on the potty! They didn't tell us when they had to go, but if we placed them on the potty, they would go! Oh, happy day! We could also tell that the boys were already connecting with us.

We were a bit apprehensive about the flight but were thankful that we were only traveling the first leg of the trip on our day. The flight proved to be the simplest endeavor yet! The boys both got sleepy and after a quick snack, Judah slept for the rest of the flight and Elijah just played quietly.

Immediately when we got off the plane in Miami, another mom adopting from our orphanage greeted us from behind a thick window and took video of our boys on US soil for the first time!!! What a blessing to meet her and share in her excitement as well, as she was headed to Haiti to pick up her adopted son from the same room and orphanage as our boys!

After the flight, we headed through customs and immigration. It took roughly 50 minutes for us to process all of our paperwork...and probably 20 minutes just to get the boys to the correct area of the airport. Eli literally cried for the ENTIRE time through this process; and continued to cry while walking to the boarding area for the shuttle to the airport (via walking to the completely wrong floor first), while on the shuttle, while checking into the hotel, and all the way to the room. Judah joined in as we rode in the elevator. I have to admit that at this point I thought, "Oh, boy! Now we are in for it!"

I muttered a quick prayer for patience reminding myself of all of the changes that the boys had been through in the last 8 hours and was shocked by the transformation in their behavior. We sat them down for a snack and immediately we had little boys throwing food and giggling wickedly! Again, I thought, "Oh my!"

Thankfully shortly after snack, we were able to lotion the boys up and cuddle them  into pajamas. Judah's thumb headed straight for his mouth, snuggling began, and we were quickly listening to the slow and deep breathing of two beautiful little boys.  Oh my, God is so good.

We quickly realized that we, too, were exhausted. We got ourselves ready for bed. We slept solidly from 10:00 pm to 8:30 am. We literally had to wake the boys the next morning so we could head to breakfast in time to make our morning shuttle to the airport. They ate fairly well, but Judah did much better than Eli.

We headed back up to the room and realized that our time was very short. We hurried Craig and the twins through the shower, got dressed and headed to the elevator in record time. We made it to the shuttle with ten minutes to spare, and of course Elijah cried the whole way to the airport!

The flight to Chicago was pretty uneventful. Both boys slept about an hour and a half on the way, and once at the airport, did well with waiting during the short layover.  When we boarded the plane to Sioux Falls, it all began to feel very real. Unbelieveable. This journey we had been on for three and a half years was coming to a close...or was it just beginning? It was a mix of nerves and excitement...but mostly excitement. We knew that our friends and family were going to be waiting for us on the other end of this flight, and I was beginning to be filled with anticipation.

The end of the flight was a bit rough. The twins were beginning to act like they needed a nap. Uh-oh. Not good timing. This was the most important part of the journey...and I so wanted them to enjoy it! More prayers and a deep breath...and we were headed off the plane and towards the double doors I had been longing to walk through since we watched another little Haitian boy come home to his forever family earlier this year.

We got to the doors, pushed through, and the emotion bubbled over! The sweet cluster of our immediate family waiting for us was beyond words! A huge welcome home banner, my three smiling big kiddos, the two little kiddos in our arms and all of the people that had prayed so faithfully for us all gathered together. Many tears were sparkling in eyes crinkled shut with smiles. The hugs and sweet words are a treasure to Craig and me.

 We had several photos taken capturing this family reunion...and then it was time to venture to the lower level of the airport to greet and introduce the twins to our prayer warriors. We headed down the escalator and my breath caught in my chest. I knew that there was going to be several of our friends and extended family...but the crowd gathered there literally took my breath away.

My eyes saw friends from all areas of our lives. Extended family, college friends, the closest of family friends, prayer warriors from our church, the team from our mission trip, our kids' elementary classmates and their families, coworkers, our bosses, and even another adoptive mom that barely knows us but has been a quiet prayer warrior all along. Craig's coworkers, a Mission Haiti friend and even Craig's boss were behind cameras capturing every aspect of our homecoming!!!

Unbelieveable. That is what that moment was like. Unbelieveable. Truly surreal. If I could choose to stop time or bottle up moments of my life, this is most definitely one that would qualify. It could not have been more magical. We introduced the twins to all of the people there and soaked up the well wishes.

After the crowd had dwindled, we realized that the KELO-TV people were at the airport. We knew that this was a possibility...but did not know that they actually had a live shot of our homecoming on the news as we got off the plane! They interviewed us for the ten o'clock story, and then we were headed to our car. Our complete family of SEVEN loaded into the Pilot and settled in for the short ride home. We caught up on the happenings of the big kiddos and soaked up the first sweet moments of our forever family.

Once home, we realized quickly that there was going to be a serious issue with our dog. The boys were terrified of Griffin, and we had to put him in the kennel in order to get into the house and that was certainly still with much drama. (We later found out that one of the nannies at the orphanage told the toddlers that if they misbehaved or didn't move fast enough that the dogs at the orphanage would eat them...so needless to say, in a two year olds mind....being terrified makes complete sense. Not too pleased with that nanny.)

We went inside and I was overcome by emotion. Coming home after a mission trip is always an emotional time. On a mission trip a person's heart becomes raw, our abilities are stretched, our bodies are fatigued and that is even without bringing home a beautiful set of twins! My emotions were over-flowing. I sat in my living room on the floor holding the twins and just cried. Huge, cleansing tears. I squeezed all of my beautiful children, was kissed on the head by my champion of a husband, and dried my eyes!

The real adventure was about to begin...no need to cry!!!

So then began the transition to home. We had a few family members join us at our home that first evening and we headed to bed relatively early. We got all five of our kiddos set up for bedtime in the twins' room. Aiden in the top bunk, the twins in the bottom bunk, and the girls in sleeping bags on the floor. It was heartwarming watching them bond!

I will share a few of the highlights from the week following our arrival home.

It was the next morning that I realized that my beautiful friend and my sister-in-law had both gathered some supplies for my fridge and what a blessing that was. Craig and I were both feeling under the weather as our digestive systems attempted to adapt back to normal. It was such a blessing not to have to cook a meal that first day! We had the boys' first doctor's appointment that day and later found out that they both have a bacterial infection and have now begun treatment. Other than that, the doctor said that they were beautifully healthy!!! Praise God!!

 On Thursday, we stayed home most of the day bonding but had the opportunity later in the day to take the twins to see their Great-Grandma Mary. She is now in a nursing home because she fell just prior to our leaving for Haiti and broke her pelvis in two places. It was a blessing to bring the boys to visit her. She has been fighting Alzheimer's Disease for quite some time now, and it was a blessing that she immediately knew who the boys were and spoke to them so sweetly.  We also were able to bring the boys on their first wagon ride later that night. Unfortunately we had to cut the ride short because we saw a dog up ahead and knew it was either turn around or prepare for a serious meltdown.

Friday was the perfect opportunity to introduce the twins to Mr. Connor's pool. He was on vacation and we were able to head to the pool with Jaron and Heather (Craig's brother's family) and spent the time getting the boys used to being in the water. They were very scared...but warmed up a little by the end of the night.

Saturday was warm and we decided that it would be good to spend much of the day outside playing and then later headed to Connor's pool again. Craig was feeling pretty ill this day, and I was encouraged that I handled five children mostly single-handedly without too much trouble.  The boys were more comfortable with the water and were playing by the end of the night.

Sunday was a huge blessing. We loaded up our vehicle and headed off to church. We were greeted by past Mission Haiti team members, prayer warrior and friends! It was such a joy to introduce them to the boys. The boys did quite well during the church service. They were mostly quiet, and I even was able to soak up some of the message. During the service, they showed the sweetest video of our team at the orphanage when the boys were presented to us. The music spoke of God's faithfulness. Indeed.

After the service, we had trouble leaving the church. We visited with everybody and enjoyed our JB cookies and the boys got to have their first JB cookies...and they LOVED them!!!

We ran by Great-Grandpa Richard's apartment so he could see the boys and then headed home for some mowing. The twins did fairly well with this, and Eli rode around in my Tula back carrier as I pushed mowed the trim, and Judah rode around on the riding mower with his daddy. They were nervous at first but warmed up with time.

On Monday, we ventured to the mall. Both boys appear to be bonding well, and we felt ready for a challenge. They were like champs at the mall. We got the couple of things we needed and headed home to play outside for much of the day. Judah said his first English word on this date. When the girls helped him outside the front door to find me, they shut the door and he loudly said, "O-pen!!!"  "O-pen!!!" So cute.

Tuesday, July 29th, we woke with a knock on our door. I should tell you all that we are BLESSED with sleepers. (These twins can sleep in like no other child I have ever had under my roof!) We looked at the clock and it was 8:45am! I went to the door thinking one of our big kiddos would be there...but no, it was Eli, needing a fresh diaper. He had just woken up and came straight to us without big kiddo assistance! Unbelieveable! I changed him, and then we realized that, "OH NO!!!" We had a doctor's appointment for Judah at...of course...8:45am. No joke. So, after a few phone calls...we had set up our appointment a little later and worked to get out of the house.

We were able to get to the appointment and actually had both boys evaluated. They are both going to have minor surgeries, and we were able to schedule them for August 21st. I was thankful that we are able to do the surgeries while both Craig and I are off with the boys.

After the appointments, we were able to take our first stroller ride straight through the Great Plains Zoo. We had no idea how this adventure would go provided that the fear level of a household dog was at the terrified level still. Surprisingly, the boys did very well at the zoo and were attentive and interested in all of the animals. They really did not show any fear. Interesting.

The twins also learned a phrase from Craig today and have said it consistently every day since. That is the phrase "Oh man!" So for example...Elijah was running around with a blanket over his head and ran right into the doorframe and appropriately said, "Oh man!" Pretty stinking cute.

On Wednesday, the 30th of July, we stayed home for most of the day and soaked up just being a family. It was wonderful. The normal routine is beginning to fall into place. We received a dinner invitation to Jaron and Heather's and headed over there in the evening. The kids all had fun playing and the twins warmed up right away. They were skittish over Wembley, their small dog, but were more content by the end of the visit. Eli even touched her paw! Progress in the dog department.

The kids also had the opportunity to jump on the trampoline and the boys were cautious but appeared to be having some fun with this.

Thursday was a quiet day at home. We spent time together inside and outside and soaked up all of the snuggles we could.

Friday, the 1st of August, (today) was a little bit sad because we knew that the big kiddos would be headed for an adventure to Minnesota and Wisconsin with their Grandpa and Grandma Skalsky for five days. This was our last day all together until we all would meet up in Northern Minnesota on August 6th. So we made the most of it. We enjoyed the morning at home...and then headed out to Terrace Park Pool and then later met up with friends for the Milky way Ice Cream experience. Mmmmm.....

I realize that this blog is long and rambling, but I hope that it give a little insight into our adoption. We feel very blessed that the transition is happening as smoothly as it is. We prepared ourselves by thinking that it would all be difficult and that bonding would be complicated. It has not been. The language barrier has been tough, and we hope that someday they will love their dog, Griffin, but for the most part, we have nothing to complain about. Life is certainly busy, but it is blessed. Greatly!

We hope that you will continue to pray with us as we continue to bond together. Pray that the English language will gradually become familiar to the twins, and that Craig and I will continue to be able to grow our abilities to speak in Creole as well. Pray for the boys to feel loved and for them to continue to be comfortable with us. Pray that when we finally begin our transition back to work, that it would go smoothly. Also pray that their little systems have nothing else going on that we have not yet discovered. Pray for their birth dad, and pray that he will find work. Pray also that our big kiddos would enjoy their time away but that the reunion would be smooth. Mostly, give God praise for the beauty of the work that he has done in our family and pray that He would get all of the glory. His will for us and our lives is nothing but beautiful.

Feeling greatly blessed,

Rebecca

"X" days, and counting!

The excitement is simply bubbling over right now!!!! I can’t believe it, but the countdown has begun and the planning is in full force. I am running from one activity to another and in all of the in-between moments, I am soaking up snuggles with Aftyn, Haley and Aiden. Not only am I working on packing for the trip to Haiti, I am finalizing plans with three fabulous women for a retreat at our church, leading thirteen 5^th graders through a week of vacation bible school, packing 800 snacks for vacation bible school in the mountains of Haiti, packing for our kids to stay at their aunt and uncles for when we are gone to Haiti. And just to round out the craziness…we are headed out of town this weekend to camp with two families from our church!!! So pretty much…life is fabulous…but it is crazy.

After the little ones are tucked into their beds at night, it is my time to flit around the house and prepare for the twins to come home. I listen to praise music and pull out the supplies that we will need. I have stacks of little socks, shoes, shorts, jeans and snuggly fleeces all laid out and prepared to pack. I set out the twins’ teddy bears on their beds and vacuumed their room one final time. I can’t wait to see their little footprints smooshed into the carpet. I polished the fridge today and look forward to the tiny finger prints that will decorate it soon! These are the things that I think as I am preparing my nest.

The countdown has begun….but is difficult to know what number to use. It is THREE days from our departure date for Haiti. It is FOUR days from the time we will be reunited with the staff and children at the Mission Haiti orphanage. It is FIVE days from our mountaintop experience at Toussaint, Haiti working with the children and staff there. It is TEN days from being dropped off at the orphanage and being reunited with the twins!!!!! This is the GOTCH DAY that adoptive families speak of. It is the first day of the rest of our lives together! And then finally, we are ELEVEN days from arriving home to reunite our family at the Sioux Falls Airport!!!!! Unbelieveable. (I get choked up just typing this.)

We are thrilled to tell you that we are anticipating an incredible homecoming that night at the airport! I know I shared this already, but we welcome all of our family, friends, coworkers and prayer supporters to join us there. We will be arriving from Chicago on American Airlines Flight #3469 at 5:20 pm. We are asking that all people wait for us at the bottom of the escalator. (Except for our kiddos, Craig’s immediate family and my immediate family, and some photographers.)

As we are traveling home that day, we will have access to Facebook and will keep you all posted if there is any change in our plans or if we are delayed in any way. We plan to greet the people at the airport but want to gently remind everyone that the boys are going to likely have quite an overwhelming day. They will be experiencing many things for the first time. We are not sure what their reaction will be but want to be certain that everyone remembers my blog from October of 2013 that gave a bit of insight into the first few months home for us. It will be a time of cocooning with our boys. A time when Craig and I (and eventually our kids) will be the only ones holding them, feeding them, changing them and tucking them in at night. We will be the only ones to kiss their owies and attempting to help them with their fears. It is a time of them learning that we are now in the role of Mama and Daddy.

Here is the blog discussing this a bit further:

http://we2wits.blogspot.com/2013_10_01_archive.html

Here is an excerpt from that blog that I think is especially important to share with all of you:

“We will be cautious at first with visitors...we will need to begin with close family only and then we will gradually progress to a larger circle of friends when we feel the twins are ready for that. Believe me when I say that when we come home with the boys, I will want to show off their handsome faces to all of the people that have been praying us though...but we have a responsibility to do this right...and we only get one shot at this. Please, please do not be offended when we tell you that we can't let you hold the twins for the first few weeks when they get home.

The twins missed out on developmental stages that they would have naturally had if they would have been in our family from day one. We need to be the ones to hold them, change them, feed them and comfort them for a very long time. It is almost like reversing the clock so we can give them all of the nurturing and love that they missed. The twins are used to being independent and this might be a tough transition for them. They will be learning how to be a part of our family.”

We also wanted to take this opportunity to share with all of you that we were able to secure August 23, 2014 for the boys’ baptism and for the official Welcome Home Party. It will be held at Abiding Savior Free Lutheran Church from 3:00-5:00 pm. We will begin with the baptism and then will have a time for socializing to follow.

Many people have asked how they can help us with the transition with the twins and we are still learning what to expect. There are a few things that we have thought of so far and would welcome help in these areas if you are willing and able.

·         Prayer for a smooth transition and successful bonding.

·         Meal preparation-call in advance to arrange if possible.

·         Older kiddo assistance as needed for transportation or outings (I would like to make a list of people willing to assist with this if we need.)

·         Date night assistance list as needed (for when we are able to break away for small segments of time)

Your prayers are more important than ever as we are preparing to travel and transition home. We can’t wait to introduce the twins to all of you! Thank you for walking along with us as we journey down this path!

Anticipating their arrival,

Rebecca

Praising an Awesome God... homecoming plans!

It is with a heart of joy that I write today to inform all of you that we have officially made our travel plans. I have been meaning to write this blog for several days now, but all of the excitement and planning has gotten the best of me. I guess that I am nesting full force and forcing myself to sit down for any length of time is harder now than ever.  I think that I should rewind and give you a bit of a recap over the last week as it has been a bit interesting.

Last week, we learned that our boys' Visa appointment had been set and amazingly it paired up with the mission trip that we had been planning on being a part of perfectly. We had been praying for months that God would make His plan for us clear and that we would know whether we were supposed to attend this mission trip, and we are pleased to share that our God is truly an amazing God. He didn't have to plan for all of this to fall seamlessly together at the end, but we are without doubt of His unshakable love for us, because the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

I think that this process has been a bit confusing for those families that have never adopted from Haiti. Each country has such unique timelines and processes....and Haiti is no different. I received a couple of comments wondering why we weren't going down to get the boys right away when we received our USCIS approval. When we received our USCIS approval on June 20th, we were still a few steps away from having everything completed. We had to receive our Visa appointment date, the boys had to receive their medical checks and we also still had to receive the exit letter from the Haitian government. So, we have been trying to restrain our excitement as we continue to wait for all of the pieces to fall into place.

We had a little excitement Thursday, July 3rd when I received a call from our agency with some new information. Craig had been contacting them several days a week for over three weeks asking how we were supposed to fill out our final two documents. We thought that these documents needed to be sent to Haiti in time for the Visa appointment. Well, we didn't receive any response...until the 3rd. We were informed that we needed to fill out the two documents immediately, and they would need to be overnighted to Haiti prior to the Visa appointment on Tuesday, the 8th. Then she informed me that one of the documents needed to be notarized as well and of course the next day was a holiday. So, Craig buckled down over lunch and got all of the documents lined up, thankfully one of his employers was still in the office and was able to notarize the document. It was placed in the mail with the fastest delivery to Haiti and is scheduled to make it to the orphanage director in Port au Prince tonight (Monday) since it needs to be brought to the US Embassy at 8am tomorrow. Just in the nick of time, hopefully. (Craig just check FedEx tracking seconds ago and it's still in Miami.)

So, we got that piece of the puzzle in place and we are asking our prayer warriors to be praying that the documents do not get held up in customs. We were told that the Visa appointment would not be able to take place without the originals, so your prayers are appreciated. Apparently an "overnight delivery" to Haiti takes a few days.

I should also clarify that our agency advises that the adoptive families wait to travel to Haiti for several days after the Visa appointment to make sure that all of the final documents are ready, and just in case of any delays. This works out beautifully with our mission trip and allows us to serve the people of Haiti as well. Our whole adoption process began as a result of a mission trip to Haiti with Mission Haiti and it seems appropriate to praise the Lord through missions as He finalizes our adoption and allows our boys to come home.

So.....drum roll...we will be leaving for Haiti on July 15th with a team from our church headed to Toussaint, Haiti for mission work in the rural mountains (a 6 hour drive plus 3 hour hike from Port au Prince). We will be teaching teachers, instructing pastors and leading youth group for approximately 25 youth and VBS for 250 children!!!! What a huge blessing. We are thrilled to reconnect with several of the youth group members in Ti Riviere, the children at Mission-Haiti's orphanage and to meet the children and staff at Toussaint, the school that our church sponsors. We will also get to witness first-hand three women from our congregation experiencing Haiti for the first time. What a blessing that God paid attention to all of the details and enabled us to be a part of His plan.

On Tuesday, July 22nd, the team will drop us off in Port at Maison, our orphanage, prior to them leaving for the US and Sioux Falls that same day. We felt that it would be better for the boys to slow down the transition and allow them to warm up to us a little bit first instead of us going straight to the airport with the mission team. We haven't been able to be there for over a year and it doesn't seem natural to just swoop in and whisk them home. We are planning to spend much of the day at Maison reconnecting with the boys and loving on the nannies. We hope to take many pictures there with the boys so they can remember their friends and their orphanage home as they grow older. We are also praying that the boys' birth dad will be able to come to the orphanage to meet with us. We have several questions written that we would like to have the answers for the boys. What did their mom pass away from? What was she like? How did they meet? What are their siblings' names? and so forth. Please pray that God would orchestrate this and allow this to happen.

Later that evening, still on the 22nd, we have flights out of Port-au-Prince and are headed to Miami. We decided to stay a night in Miami so we wouldn't have to stress about connecting flights as we are going through immigration with the boys. We know that it can be difficult and can take quite a while, so making a connecting flight would be tough and flying with the boys for multiple flights on the first day would be tough as well.

We leave Miami around noon the next day (Wednesday, the 23rd) so will get a slow start in the morning, which might be good because we haven't had toddlers for several years, and we've never had two at the same time!!! We will then fly through Chicago and will get into Sioux Falls at 5:20 pm!!!!!! (American Airlines Flight 3469) We thought that this flight would be perfect because then we would be able to invite our family, friends, and coworkers to the airport to greet us at our homecoming!!!!!!  We are completely pumped for this moment. In many ways it still seems so surreal that this is even in the near future.

We are planning to have our immediate family (Aftyn, Haley and Aiden, Grandparents, Great-Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins) meet us at the top of the airport greeting area so we can spend a few moments just with them prior to coming down to the lower airport area. We are going to have a few photographers up there with us too capturing the moment, and then we are going to come down the escalator to greet everyone else as a complete family of 7!!!!

I would like to personally invite you all to attend if you are able, and look forward to sharing the joyful moments there with those that have prayed us through. We have also now booked our church for the twins' baptism and welcome home open house. This will be on Saturday, August 23rd from 3:00pm to 5:00pm. We'll have the baptism right at 3:00, which you're all welcome to attend, and then snacks and fellowship after that. Our amazing/supportive church is Abiding Savior Free Lutheran at 49th and Bahnson.  Please join us!

We began our countdown the day that we booked our flights and currently today, July 7th, we have 16 days left!!!!! Crazy exciting! Haley even fabricated a countdown chain, and we remove a link every morning! The chain already seems to be shrinking quickly. Praise God! You are such an Awesome God!!!!!

I'll be in touch soon with details of our "cocooning plan." :)

Bubbling over in joy,
Rebecca

Official USCIS I-600 Approval!!!!!

Official USCIS I-600 approval was received yesterday. Now we move on to the Visa's!!!!!  Once the boys have a Visa appointment date set from the US government, we can schedule our flight for FOUR out of Haiti for roughly five business days after the appointment. The government needs a few days to print the Visas.

*********************************************************************************

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dewit,

USCIS in Port au Prince, Haiti is pleased to inform you that the I-600 petitions, which you filed at this office on June 12, 2012 on behalf of  __________ Elysee and Elie, seeking to qualify them as your immediate relatives have been approved. Your case has been transferred to the Adoption Unit of the Consular Section for the visa process. This completes all action by USCIS on the referenced petition. The Consular Section will soon contact you to follow-up on your case.

Should you have any question regarding the visa process, you may send your inquiry to the consular section at papadoptions@state.gov.

Regards,


Adoption Team

Department of Homeland Security
U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
US Embassy, Port-au-Prince

*********************************************************************************

The last couple of weeks have been an interesting emotional adventure. Craig and I have had some significant ups and downs. By the end of last week, we had had enough of all of the broken promises. We had been told a ridiculous number of times that our paperwork would be submitted only to have further delays for no apparent reason.

I spoke with our adoption counselor on Thursday afternoon and told her that if our paperwork was not submitted on Friday the 13th as promised, again, that Craig and I were going to be very upset. We told her that we wanted to be given updates of any movement with the paperwork. She seemed to understand our frustration and said she would be in touch. The orphanage director had an appointment 6/13/14 at 9:00 am Haiti time which was 8:00 am our time.

On Thursday night, Craig and I had a discussion and decided that if the paperwork was not submitted the next day, Craig was going to jump the first flight south to Haiti to bring the paperwork to USCIS himself. We knew that we couldn't take one more day of delays and needed to push to bring our boys home. It felt good to have a plan. Craig also sent a message out to the director of the USCIS immigration department and notified him of the  plan for our paperwork to be dropped off and our intent to bring the boys home with us following a potential mission trip.

The next morning, we prayed from the minute we woke up. I told my girls before leaving for work, "our paperwork is going to be dropped off in 5 minutes! Pray that they get it and by some miracle that we would get approval." I knew that it was not likely we would get approval and was just hopeful that it would be dropped off! We rallied our friends and families to pray. So many of our loved ones were praying over the adoption.

It was at 11:45 pm our time that we received the email indicating that the boys' dossiers were received by USCIS! The second sentence of the message brought on dancing in the office of my work! They had already reviewed the documents and concluded that they were free of errors and met their expectations!!!!!

This was the day that we had been waiting for....for so very long. The message indicated that we would be receiving our official I-600 approval early the following week...so we decided to wait to inform the world on our blog once the official message came. Well, "early the following week" came and went without any message. Finally at 2:02 pm Friday the 20th, we received the official message that was copied and pasted above!!! It is official, they are approved!!!!!

Now we wait again...but just for a short bit. We should be receiving an update soon with a date for the Visa appointment!!!!

So.......I have been nesting like a crazy woman. Totally loving filling my grocery cart with diapers, wipes and snacks for the plane ride. I have been sorting through adoption paperwork, organizing all of our files for the trip and starting to choose clothes to bring for them. I have started lists, lists and more lists. :) Lists for plane supplies, a list of questions for the birth dad in case we get to meet him,  lists of translated simple Creole/English words, and lists of the remaining steps and what we need to remember as we come back into the states with our precious boys!!! My head is spinning and sleep is rare, but all of it feels so magical! Such a blessing.

Continue to pray with us as we are moving closer to the final date. We are still tentatively planning on going on our church's mission trip just prior to bringing the boys home. So far it looks like God intended this all along because the timing appears to be perfect. If we get notice that the boys will be ready long before the mission trip, we will be backing out of the trip and going to get them as soon as possible...only God knows how this will all play out...but we are excited either way. Mission trip or no mission trip.

We will let you all know as soon as we have a timeline and flights. We will then be letting you all know the plan for our arrival and what "cocooning" (or bonding) will look like for our family.

Thank you so much for all of your love and prayers!!!

Beyond grateful,
Rebecca

Praying Us Through

Sometimes it is difficult to know where to even start. Sadly, I feel like I am saying the same things week after week after week for the nine months now! I really look forward to the day that I am able to tell all of you that the end is truly in sight and a date has been given to us, but unfortunately this is not that time.

Instead I am here to tell you that your prayers are powerful, and we are really feeling them. With as many delays as we have been having at the end of this process, I have to admit that there have been many moments of frustration, defeat and sometimes even anger. I think that having these emotions in the face of something so central to the makeup of our family is to be expected. However, I really believe that we have survived these negative feelings because of prayer. Dozens consistently and likely hundreds periodically have been lifting our family up before the Lord pleading for patience, health for the twins and for this process to move forward. I am certain that the spiritual realm is bristling with energy with all of the prayers that are surrounding our family. I firmly believe that your prayers have protected us from the lowest of lows. Without our faith, and without our family and friends praying us through, there is no way that we would have been able to venture into the adoption world.

The end of last week, we made some decisions that required much prayer and wisdom. We spoke with a local lawyer and received some information from an international lawyer as well to make our decision. I don't feel that this is the place to elaborate, but I feel that for the first time in a year we have some leverage. I am not sure if it will truly make any difference in the grand scheme of things, but it has given us a sense of peace that we haven't had for a long time.

Last week two other families that had been submitted to USCIS found out that they had errors that needed to be fixed as well. Our international adoption counselor informed us that there might be these issues with our paperwork as well. My anger flared when she said this. I really felt a bit hopeless at that point but was able to express to her that they needed to examine our paperwork immediately to determine if we would have these issues as well. It was incompetent to NOT be looking for these errors in our paperwork when we should have been submitted NINE months ago! Let's just say that my assertive communication was working at its best in those moments. Point taken....she discovered early this week that we did not have those same errors. Supposedly.

It is now Saturday, May 31st, and I am reflecting back on a week that I thought might be OUR week. Our week for re-submission. I rallied for prayer support this week, hopeful for everything to finally be complete.

We were told that this week our director would be checking on our adoption decree attestations which are the last documents that we need for our file to be ready for re-submission to the US visa process. Sadly it took until Friday for our director to go check on them and they were not ready. I do not know how long it normally takes to do this portion of the process, but next week I will be clarifying when our documents were dropped off for attestation and how long that usually takes. I want to know if there is an issue causing the delay with wrapping up this step. None of this seems to make sense to me. All of these delays are maddening...but your prayers kept me from hopeless anger.

We had been sending many messages this week checking in with the new Haitian lawyer that we are going to have review our case prior to resubmitting to USCIS. He was ill at mid-week but thought that he would be able to pick up our dossier to review it sometime on Friday. Well, late Friday I contacted him to see if he was able to get it, and he was at Parquet court all day Friday so wasn't able to pick it up. Sigh. What a strange feeling to always be hopeful and guarded at the same time. It has to be your prayers that kept me from freaking out at that moment. 

Surprisingly, in the face of all of these disappointments, the emotion that I feel the most today is hope, HOPE! Crazy. After nine months of broken promises, dealing with a broken system, with a broken heart...I feel hope. The only explanation for this irrational feeling at this time is your prayers!

I cannot tell you enough how much I appreciate all of you! Those praying that we see regularly or talk to often and those praying that we have never even met!!! I received a couple of messages this week from strangers that have stumbled across our blog and lift us up in prayer regularly. That gives me a lump in my throat and swells my heart with what I can only describe as HOPE.

This world is so broken. Broken like my heart, but with people like you praying consistently, we are given something irrational in our situation...HOPE.

Craig and I took another step this week that we have been praying about for many months. We have been trying to figure out when or if we should schedule a trip to see the boys. This waiting is torture. It has been one year and three months since we saw them last. They have changed so much in that time. I really try to keep myself from thinking about all of the firsts that we are missing with the boys. That is survival. If I dwell on the bruises and battle wounds I see in their pictures or think about the parasites and other organisms that are likely affecting their health and growth, it eats me up inside. This is what pushes us forward, but it also makes us want to jump the next plane and just go hold them. 

In the meantime, we have also been asked by our pastor to join a team from our church to go on a mission trip with Mission Haiti in July. Our church is traveling to Haiti several times a year to the area that we have done all of our mission work. Every time a team heads to Haiti without us, I have to admit....both of us are filled with jealousy. I guess it is a good form of jealousy. It means that we are completely in love with the people of Haiti and love and support what our church and Mission Haiti are doing there. So....we have loosely committed to join a team from July 15th-22nd and would stay after the team heads home to spend time with the boys.

As much as I am excited to head back to Haiti to do missions again, I am hoping that we won't be able to go. If the boys come home before the travel dates, we won't be going along. Our pastor and Mission Haiti is aware of this and are very supportive. They have been praying for us in our adoption since the earliest days of this journey.

So, it is with a spirit filled with hope that I plead for you to continue to pray for our family. 

Pray:

* that the adoption decree attestation would be completed.

* that the new lawyer would obtain our dossiers and find them error free

* that we would be submitted to USCIS for visas and it would take less than the normal 6 weeks

* that we finish our 4th home study update paperwork

* that the boys continue to have good health

* that we would have the patience we need

Thank you for praying us though,

Rebecca