Update

Quite a few people have been asking me about our adoptions and how they are going. Here is the update. Our paperwork is almost finished! It's getting translated to French right now and then after that we send it to the Haitian Consulate for "legalization". After that we can send our dossier (just a fancy name for the compilation of paperwork) to Haiti. We don't necessarily want to mail it because we don't want it to get lost in the mail system so we may wait until the 28th of July to send it because we know people who are going at that time. It may reach Haiti at the same time if we sent it with the people that are going and if we mailed it anyways. I don't know how long it takes to get things to Haiti. Anyways it's a small decision in this process and we will do what the Lord leads us to do, even in this small decision. Thanks again for everyone's prayers and support! We have been told that this process will take from 6 months to 2 years. We have also been told that it can take 2-3 years. And then we were told by yet another person that it will take over 3 years. We have been praying about this and we know God's bigger than anything! We are praying our girls home by December!!! If anyone wants to join us in this we would appreciate your prayers! Thanks to all of you that have been supporting us through prayer!!! This is just speaking in specifics to cry out to God for these kids. The group that we are adopting with are also praying for December so if you are a prayer warrior then please pray for our whole group. I think over 40 kids at HCRM are represented in our group! AMAZING!!! I pray that God just shows HIS power in all of this. It will only be by a movement of our Almighty Creator! And we know He is WILLING and definitely ABLE! Thanks again!

5 Haitian kids

There were 5 Haitian kids that were able to come to their forever families today! Kens5 did a news story on them. Here's the link if you want to check it out. http://www.kens5.com/video?id=96730049&sec=547077 You'll have to copy and paste it I think. I'm so excited! These 5 got here on student visas. This gives us hope that maybe our girls could make it here soon! I am almost done with the paperwork on our end. I think in about 2 weeks it will be completely finished and then I can send it to Haiti and they can start the paperwork on their end. If you can imagine the process for paperwork there is a lot bigger of an issue than it is here and it took us almost 2 months maybe more to get our paperwork done. Plus Pastor Jean Fritz has something like 40 or more adoptions to do!!! That's going to be a lot of work. Continue to pray for our Guerline and Fafane! We still need quite a bit of money to bring them home as well. We are trusting that God will provide but I also believe He sends angels in the form of you and I to help fund things like this. Again if you have any ideas for a fundraiser, want to do a fundraiser for us, or would just like to donate money to us, please let us know. Thank you all and God bless you!!!

God is good!
All the time!
All the time!
God is good!
Thank the Lord that these kids are home! Let's pray the rest out as well!
By the way the names of the kids that are home are Nahomie, Julie, Wisnick, Love Mael, and Kimberly. So AWESOME!!! It makes me a little jealous because I want our girls home but I know that we will get our girls in the exact moment we are supposed to have them here.

Skype

I absolutely love Skype. Even from a third world country like Haiti I am still able to talk to and see my girls! It's amazing. It's quite choppy and delayed but it still works. The girls like to just sit and stare at you because you don't know what they're saying and they don't know what you're saying! Alyssa, Samara, and Natalie fight to see themselves in the bottom of the screen and fight to see Guerline and Fafane too. It's so funny. I was able to Skype with them yesterday and today. I truly have loved it. Thank you to all that have allowed me to Skype with my girls. It's truly a blessing to be able to see them and talk to them even though they have a blank look when they look at me. I can't wait to get my paperwork done and the money we need raised so we can get them home as soon as they can get the paperwork on the Haitian side done. Lord, give me the strength to wait on you! The song called Hosanna that we sing by Hillsong is a wonderful song, one of the lines in it says "break my heart for what breaks yours!" I truly believe that it breaks God's heart to see these kids as helpless and homeless as they are! My heart is broken for all of them not just ours... although ours are special to us! Anybody who has any interest in adopting from Haiti or from any other country for that matter, don't hesitate to ask God if it's right for your family. And be prepared for the answer. All Christians should be looking out for the widows and the orphans so whatever that looks like to you, whatever it is God has called you to do for them, DO IT!! God will provide all the rest.

Friendship

Friendship is so important in this life! I want to share with you a few quotes I found on the internet this morning that are awesome!

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."
- Anais Nin

"A friend is one who walks in when others walk out"
-Walter Winchell

"A friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else."
- Len Wein - Sent by Paulo Louro

"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."
- Sent by Donna Roberts

"A friend is one who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in yourself."
- Sent by Lysha

"Your friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you."
- Elbert Hubard

"Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up."
- Bible: Ecclesiastes

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather is one of those things that give value to survival."
- C. S. Lewis

"The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him, his own."
-Benjamin Disraeli

"It's the friends you can call up at 4am that matter."
- Marlene Dietrick

Friendship is truly a strong connection! Thank you to all my friends!

Micah's trip to Haiti

Here are just some of the ton of pictures Micah brought back from Haiti. Some I have no idea how to explain. If you have ever been to an orphanage you may just understand that it's not something you can explain. It's so much different than you could ever think.



This is Fafane and Guerline with the cars that their Daddy brought them.


Being silly. These are some more people that went with Micah plus the kids they are adopting.


Jumprope! One of their favorite things to do!

Looking down from the upstairs balcony.

One of the nannys.

The street outside the orphanage. It's on a steep hill so you kind of have to get a run at it to get up it.

Braiding hair

Daddy with his girls!

At the Baptist Mission in Haiti.

Standing outside. Pastor Jean Fritz is amazing! That's him in the white and blue shirt.

Guerline. They all wear clothes that are way too small for them. I can't wait to get them home and get them clothes that fit them properly! Lord, make the process go by quickly and smoothly.

Guerline being camera shy.

Fafane eating a footlong hot dog. She also had a piece of pizza. The girls were so hungry (grangou).

Micah with his girls.

The footlong!

Eating... Yummy!

Fafane saying my daddy.

The girls really clung to Micah. It happens when they know you want to adopt them... and even when they just want you to adopt them or sometimes for no reason at all.

Guerline taking a picture.

On the computer with Skype. We love Skype!

Guerline on the ladder. They hang clothes to dry on the rooftop and they use this ladder to get up there. It rains a lot at night but the clothes end up getting dry somehow.

Looking down off the balcony again.

Should I jump in? They don't get baths very often so I'll bet it'd feel good if she was able to get in.

Beautiful!

Sunglasses

Eating Ice Cream! Yummy.

Random kids being silly.

Micah was so awesome with the girls. He taught them little bits of math with playing cards. How awesome is that. They caught on quickly he said.

Star-tacular!

Such a sweetheart!

Stephania looking at pictures that Micah was taking.

Guerline taking a picture of Micah.

Where Guerline slept each night, on the floor!

Babies sleeping. How awesome is this!

Taking pictures of herself. I have a ton of pictures of Guerline but Fafane is my shy one.

My Guerline loves to be silly.

Rummage Sale

We had an exciting and fun-filled day yesterday doing a rummage sale at the church. It ended up being just that a RUMMAGE sale. We tried to get stuff out of boxes and bags but a lot of it stayed in bags and boxes. It was nuts! We started setting up at 6:30 AM. People started coming by around 7:30 and of course it was not enough time to get all the way set up so people rummaged through boxes and bags while we set up. We had two trucks lined up for the event to help us get all of our stuff from our house to the church. One owner of a truck blew out his knee and couldn't walk so that was out of the question and the other guy... well, I don't know what happened to him. So we ended up with only our truck... it's a Chevy S10 (very small). A guy from our church came to the church to drop off donations and asked if we needed any help... oh boy he didn't know what he was asking for. Of course I said yes because all we had was the van and the truck to get the stuff over there. He said that he would help out with his truck (thank you Jesus) and started over to the house to get things loaded up. Anyways the sale went on and the kids sold lemonade. It was so cute I wrote on a sign Lemonade for 1.00 or more donation Refills .50. Alyssa apparantly didn't like that because she kept yelling out to people saying Lemonade 1.00 OR LESS! Haha... It was hilarious. We made quite a bit of money and got really sunburnt and sore! The kids were at the church all day and did an excellent job! They were so good. I love those girls! The day was hard and hot (94 degrees I think) but we made quite a bit of money off of it. We have quite a bit of stuff left over so we're going to have another garage sale sometime within the next couple of months. We started packing up at 5:00 and it took us until 10:00 to get everything packed up and back to our house. It was a long day but knowing that we are doing these things to get our girls home, it makes it all worth it! Thank you so much to all who helped out!!! We couldn't have done it without you! You will be blessed beyond measure!

Fundraising Ideas

Hey,
I wanted to get everyone's input. I need fundraising ideas for our adoptions! What is something that you think would sell or I could do to fundraise for our girls to come home from Haiti? Any ideas are appreciated! We need to raise this money so that they can come home! Thanks for all suggestions.

-Kim

P.S. If you live far away from us and would like to put on a fundraiser for us that would be awesome to! Thanks!

Thoughts of Haiti

One of our friends is in Haiti and I would like to share something that he wrote home to his wife. I didn't ask him if I could use what he said but she posted it on her blog so I don't think they would mind.

"I literally had to take a break for a while and try to collect my thoughts. It's a bit overwhelming to be grabbed at and touched by this many children. Not to say that I have attained Christ-likeness (is that a word?), but I wonder if this is how He felt as He traveled from place to place. No wonder He taught us to make sure we go to our quiet place everyday to connect to the Father and get refreshed. Maybe this is more what life should be like for all of us? We should NEED to get in our quiet place everyday because we are giving so much of ourselves away for others. God help me live this daily."

Wow! I agree with this! I went to Haiti in April and know exactly what he is talking about. It was absolutely crazy there. You have to get out of your comfort zone. You have the chance of getting lice, scabies, skin infections, ring worm, etc. just by being with the kids and letting them touch you so much. But you can't tell them no... you don't want to tell them no. All you want to do is hug them and kiss them and tell them that they are beautiful.

I'm having a really hard time this week. I am trying to put on a fundraiser and I just feel like only a few people want to help. I completely understand that people have things going on but it's hard work to put something like that on and I need people. God give me the strength to get through! The other thing is that trying to fund these adoptions seem impossible. We have gotten a few donations and are planning some fundraisers but it just seems so far away. God is a BIG God and I know that He will come through, most likely when I least expect it. I've learned waiting on God is the ONLY thing I can do. Lord, show me your way and help me to give this whole process up to you so that your GLORY will shine!