Mother’s Day

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Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.  ~Oprah Winfrey

Last year I was honoured to spend Mother’s Day with this little one.

I won’t say that I don’t miss Giselle like crazy – especially today. But I am thankful that I am not where I was year ago. Receiving the news that her file had not made it to the president’s office like we had been told. Wondering how long until the new president would start to sign dispensations.

Instead we are hopefully nearing the time to bring her home! I can’t wait to celebrate Mother’s Day next year with my 3 children in tow.

Today we celebrated by going to the zoo. Amara hasn’t been there since she was a baby, and I was excited to see this new experience through her eyes. Before we left, I gave her some antihistamine medication as she seems to be developing some spring allergies. I thought about going to get a non-drowsy formula, but we were in a rush. Sadly, she was definitely not herself all afternoon, and it was only as we were preparing to leave that she was doing her usual dancing/skipping run that we are familiar with.

I couldn't seem to get a single photo of her with her eyes open today.

resting on the "backbone chairs"

 

Lucy the Elephant out for a stroll

The thing that seemed to stick out in her mind the most about the whole trip was how big Lucy the elephant’s poo was! Typical Amara :) Kylar was delighted to see a Fennec Fox as that is one of his favorite animals.

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers, and those who are waiting to be mothers!

Easter photos

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I know – I’m super late to post these, but they are too cute not to share.

I should hang this on my fridge to remind them they love each other on days they seem to be driving each other crazy!

every time I see this photo, I am shocked at how grown up he is looking.

The “Big Chop”

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I have done small trims on Amara’s hair many times. Often after taking out a style that consists of many small twists. But this is the first time I have actually tried to even out all her hair to be the same length.

I started out by banding her wet hair the night before to get it as stretched out as possible.

Often a stylist will use a hot iron to straighten the hair before cutting it. I didn’t want to do that, so this was as close to straight as I could get without using heat.

This is how uneven it was in many parts – especially near the back where much of her hair is longer. It was really hard for me to cut it all even as I cut some parts down by about 4 inches.I confess I was tempted to cry just a little bit. 4 inches is a lot of length for a very curly haired girl!

Gulp!

All done. The best part of having the hair trimmed so well is that brushing/combing it out is a breeze when there are no damaged or dry ends. Now that all her hair is even, it also looks more uniform in the styles we do.

Something I realized from this is that I have become too rushed when doing her hair, which is resulting in me damaging her ends. I have had to remind myself more than a few times since doing the trim to slow down. I would rather never have to chop off more than 1 inch of hair at a time if possible.  That should be doable as long as I take more care with the ends of her hair by taking more care in brushing, removing styles and keeping them moisturized.

And This Morning Came…

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A wonderful way to start the weekend – an email from Rachel stating that our file entered MOI this week!

Praising God!!

“So how long now?” you ask? Well, that is a great question as MOI has become another one of those steps that just doesn’t have very much rhyme or reason to it. IF they don’t find any errors on the documents, her file could pass in about 4-6 weeks, but 2-3 months is very common. If they find errors, it could take much longer and I have heard of a few cases taking up to 8 months.

And so we hope and pray that there are no errors. Hope and pray that she exits in a timely manner. When her file is released from MOI, we wait 1-2 weeks for her passport to be printed. As soon as it is printed, we can make plans to travel. If her visa hasn’t been issued by the time we arrive, we will go to the embassy and have it in our hands shortly :)

I am still hoping, wishing, praying she will be home by July or August… and yet fearful to have any expectations that could easily be crushed. But, it does feel more reasonable now to start making my freezer meals, and organizing her clothes for late summer/fall.

To celebrate, we test drove mini-vans in the morning, then cleaned Kylar’s room all afternoon. For those of you who have seen his room recently, you know that was no small feat, and that this momma is in serious nesting mode now!

 

Not a Hair Post After All

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I was planning on writing a fluffy post about doing a “big chop” on Amara’s hair. But my laptop won’t load the photos, and I don’t have the energy to transfer them to my PC.

And so instead you will get the real story.

That I’m really tired. I feel I have been “waiting well” for the past 6 months, but now I just feel like having a royal, screaming, throwing things, breaking something – tantrum. Sorry – there isn’t even a spiritual lesson in all this. I’m just a human mommy who is ready to turn “mother bear” – on whom or what, I have no idea as non of this is any one person’s fault. It just is what it is. But what it is, is just all taking much. too. long. One day short of 5 weeks since we exited Archives, and our file (to my knowledge) still hasn’t entered MOI. I did hear from Rachel last week saying that the Minister of Justice had signed off on all the documents (again), so I *think* that means her file should enter MOI this week.

photo taken last week by Mica's family

This morning I woke up in a foul mood. I felt like I was mad before I even woke up. I flopped over and grabbed my phone to check emails and in my head I was like “God, I really need to hear good news today. Please? I’ve been a really good girl… please just give me those words “in MOI” today?” I didn’t read those words for us, but I read them from a few other families I am following on this process. Which is good news – but those of you who are in the thick of this process know that you can somehow be really happy for other families while still be really sad for yourself.

I know that tomorrow I will likely feel sheepish for even posting this and not persevering and just writting the dang hair post :-D

And yes, I am still praying like crazy that God will make a way for me to go visit her very soon. I can’t wait another 3-6 months (or longer!) to see her again. Every cell in my being just wants to be on a plane to Haiti.

On a VERY happy note… a friend of Giselle’s at the orphanage went home to her family in BC last week! I think this is the first start-to-finish adoption our orphanage has done to Canada. Welcome home, Mica! Hopefully we can Skype with you and Giselle very soon. Another little one from the O is going home this week, and a third child will be home next week! So thankful to hear of the movement. THAT is encouraging no matter where in the process I am.

 

Happy Birthday Amara

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Happy 4th Birthday

to the girl who lights up my day

who says “Sorry” even when it wasn’t her fault

who loves with all her heart, without reservation

The girl who’s presence is a gift in our lives every. single. day

Her laughter, her contagious joy, her dancing – her beauty

Who laughs with her whole, entire body!

…and cries with her whole heart

 Who wants to grow up and “help lots of people”

The girl who is “big” now, and can’t wait to be a “great big sister”

but will still always be a little sister to the brother who adores her.

Happy 4th Birthday, Amara!

Every part of you is a gift – you were aptly named…
Amara:
 Inherent Meaning: Wished-for Child
Spiritual Meaning: Precious Gift

James1:17 Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father who created all the lights in the heavens.

(You might not be perfect Amara… But you are perfect for our family)

May the Lord bless you and keep you.
 May He make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
 May the Lord lift His countenance upon you
 and give you peace (all the days of your life).

I love you – always and forever, no matter what.
~Mommy

Links and Tidbits

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Just a few things I have wanted to share with you…

~If you haven’t stopped by my friend’s blog Adoption Magazine in the last few days, please go check it out as she has posted a Real Adoption Blog hop. If you blog about your adoption, please link up – and check out the well over 100 blogs posted there by adoptive families, adult adoptees, and first family members… it’s so good to read all perspectives of the adoption triangle. This blog hop isn’t moderated at all, so if you find a blog that is really negative or upsetting, just keep looking. I have found a very real, yet encouraging blog written by a birth mother…and I still have so many more to look through!

~My cousin and her family are moving to Haiti for the summer! Maria and Ken have adopted their 3 beautiful children from Haiti, and have devoted large chunks of their lives to living and serving there. You can check out their blog here. I’m also excited that they are raising money for a dear Haitian friend of theirs. Please read this post, and consider if you can’t be 1 of the 150? And yes, I have a fantasy that Giselle will be ready to come home in July or August and we will go visit my cousins while enjoying the beaches of Jacmel. Truthfully, I am trying to talk Darren into just quitting his job and our whole family moving there with them for the month of August. So far he isn’t buying it. {Hmph}

~I heard from Haiti yesterday that the Minister of Justice did not sign Giselle’s revised documents this week (they are delivered every Wednesday of the week). Please pray with me that they are delivered next week so that her file can FINALLY enter MOI!

~And…Have a great weekend!   We will be reorganizing our basement AGAIN. Seriously, I think junk just breeds down there constantly and it surprises me every single time. On a happy note – Amara has finally decided that she is ready for a big girl bed, so we will actually be taking the crib out of her room (yay!!!). I think it would be good to do this before she turns 4 so we can say she only slept in her crib until she was 3 years old. She turns 4 next week, lol.

 

 

 

The Perfect Weekend

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You know how you visualize and dream about something you are so looking forward to? I had been visualizing last weekend for what seemed like a very long time. I knew I needed to get away, but it was only about 6 weeks ago that the perfect solution came to mind.

A quiet getaway with a wonderful friend. We both started adopting at the same time 5 years ago. She is about to bring her 3rd child from China (7th child) home next month, and hopefully Giselle will be home this summer. It was the perfect time for us to escape life for awhile and recharge.

How I visualized our weekend away became reality in every way. It was simply a perfect weekend.

Thanks, Paige. Your friendship is a treasure I don’t take forgranted.

*See Paige’s beautiful post about our weekend here.

Adoption Update – Finally!

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I have been anxiously waiting to share our good news with you since this post April 2nd, but it isn’t exactly what I was hoping to share.

I was told April 2 that our file had come out of Archives and she was hoping to bring it to MOI the next week! I was so excited as I didn’t think we were that close to MOI.

I emailed her a few days ago to see if her file had gone in, but didn’t hear anything. I emailed her again today, and this was her response:

“Denise, When last Monday I went to take the last legalization, I thought it was done but they ask for the IBESR authorization. I gave it the day after, so they will finish on Monday I hope, and as soon as I have it will go to Immigration that will send the dossier with a new number to MOI. Usually when you give the dossier to Immigration, they send it the day after to MOI.”

Understand? Me either. But I really feel for Rachel as there can be SO much running around to do for one simple little step. The encouraging thing is, that all these little details being done now will hopefully mean that when Giselle’s file is in MOI, there will hopefully be very few if any mistakes for Rachel to correct. If that is the case, hopefully her file will exit this stage quickly. (notice all the hopefully’s?)

After MOI, we wait for her passport with *usually* (hopefully?) takes 1-2 weeks, and then about 1 week for a visa for Canada.

MOI will be a very difficult stage as I have heard of families passing in as little as 2 weeks, and as much as 8 months, the average being 2-3 months… it all depends on how many errors they find, and how difficult those errors are to correct. But, I will be very excited when I can finally say we are officially in the last stage of Giselle’s adoption!

Please Lord, let it be soon…

The exciting thing is there has been MASSIVE movement on adoption from our orphanage! 3 families have received their Presidential Dispensation, 2 families have passports and are just waiting to travel, and we are almost in MOI. This SO encouraging for all of us tired, waiting families. The next best thing to going to pick up our own child is seeing that other families are bringing theirs home. It brings so much hope on the days when it feels like this will never end.

“How to Be The Village”

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I have been working on a certain blog post for MONTHS. Only to discover, I don’t need to write it.

It’s all here. And written so much better than I ever could have. Especially the part where she talks about “God’s Timing is Perfect!”

And if after reading all that, you still have room in your head for more, this post is also bang-on.

Thanks for loving us enough to read these articles as they will truly help you to understand the insanity and blessing that is adoption.