Haiti

Haiti has been on our hearts for awhile now. We know and know of several people who have adopted from there. We know many of these people began the process before the earthquake. We know there are people out there who admire those people who adopted before the earthquake, and (I can't think of how to say this) think the rest of us who start the process now do it out of guilt.

I'm really not sure how to describe how they think. I've never had a conversation with them. I heard a guy on the radio say that it a family was admirable because they adopted prior to the earthquake. It made me feel like people who adopt after tragedies aren't admirable. They are. I think that God uses tragedies, like the earthquake in Haiti, to draw us to a need.

I'm going to be honest. God has been drawing my heart to adoption for awhile. Almost my whole life. I can't remember a time when I didn't want to adopt.  I always thought I would adopt from China. I wouldn't marry Paul unless he was willing to adopt. We've researched it. We took classes to adopt from foster care before we got pregnant. About 6 weeks after Julia was born we met a sweet, precious friend, that was adopting from Haiti, and I told Paul we needed to do it. We have since prayed about it, and talked about it, and God confirmed that we need to adopt from Haiti.

She's beautiful!

Now, I'm being honest, I've always wanted an easy adoption process. I really wanted to go the easy route. I want a child to just fall into my lap. Wouldn't that be nice? But recently I told a friend that we were going to adopt from Haiti, and she said "Don't you have to be 35?" Well, she is right...ideally. Not only do you have to be 35, but they want you to be married for 10 years and have NO BIOLOGICAL children. Can I just say we don't meet any of these requirements. Neither one of us are 35, we've been married for 7 years, and yes we have a biological child.

I've been researching adoption for many years now. And I always get bummed when I see the requirements. I get discouraged, and I decide "well, I just can't adopt from there I guess."

But God has been teaching me about His power lately. And the fact of the matter is, God is bigger than Haitian Law. (That was a shocking realization for me.) God doesn't care how hold we are, how long we've been married, or how many biological children we have. God has 2 children in Haiti for us. He has 2 children in Haiti that He is preparing to be part of our family. He is preparing our hearts and our home for 2 Haitian children. He's preparing Julia for 2 Haitian siblings. And if He is already doing all of this work, why would I not trust that He will remove the road blocks for us to bring our children home?

I've seen God move mountains for friends who are adopting. I'm watching friends go through many road blocks in the adoption process, but I believe that God has put those there to teach them (and me) to trust His timing. God is bigger than the laws and requirements of any country, and I believe that if He calls you to adopt from a country, He will bring you through the entire process in His timing. In His PERFECT timing.

So we are adopting from Haiti. We have been in contact with a couple of orphanages in Haiti. We've been referred to an adoption agency to start the process. And we are praying our children that are there.

Will you pray with us and for us through this process?

Life

Life has been so crazy! I had no idea how busy I would be with a little one at home. I feel like I never have time to get anything done. We are attending MOPS, and doing childcare at church one morning a week.

We are working really hard to get her on a sleep schedule. Dr. says that she is a big girl now and can make it through the night without waking up. That can be really hard on me. I hate to hear her cry, but I am getting to the point that I sleep through it so if she does cry Daddy gets up with her. I feel kind of bad, but most nights she wakes up at 5 AM which means she needs to eat anyway. However, we have been staying up late the last few nights...between 1 AM and 2 AM. So 5 AM is really early.

She also got sick for the 1st time with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. That made it really hard for me to let her cry at 2 AM because I knew she wasn't feeling well. We are slowly healing though and she has been a trooper through it.


So here are a few milestones:
-J is holding her own bottle (mostly) now.
-We can get her to laugh, and she has a super cute laugh. And some times it even sounds silly, and I laugh at her.
-She is sorta crawling. It started with her burying her face in the ground, sticking her her hiney in the air, and then inch worming.  Now she is actually army crawling and boy can she go! She's every where. I gotta keep an eye her!
-She is up to 16 lbs and 27 inches long.

She's a fun, gorgeous girl, and a blessing to this Mommy!  Love her!!