another baby milestone

I talked to Marialyn yesterday who visited Bedeline again on Tuesday. She said that in the few weeks since Marialyn saw her last she's learned how to stand up on her own! Even though Marialyn's camera was recently stolen, she borrowed a friend's so that she could document this for us. She returns to Indiana on Tuesday and we'll be watching our email inbox for pictures from both of her visits with Bedeline. Don't worry, we'll post them here when we've got them!

baby care class

Sean and I started our day at a baby care class at our adoption agency. It was designed for families adopting internationally who are expecting babies from 3-16 mos. of age. It was very helpful and we're realizing that in some ways, the older she is, the easier the "maintenance"! We had some giggles when the instructor talked about baby size, especially when she was explaining that when taking temperatures under the arm it helps if the baby has some fat rolls. SOME fat rolls? I don't think that will be a problem. :)

Two weeks after the Haiti party, donations continue to come in daily. Latest count: $2633! Thanks everyone!

teeth :)

On Saturday we got an email from Marialyn with the subject heading "bedeline" and our hearts stopped. Fortunately the email had only good news: Baby Bedeline has 2 teeth in and one on its way! She is currently eating regular food in tiny pieces, even meat! This is exciting and a bit baffling, causing us to wonder if we get to just bypass all the baby food stuff. She hasn't seen her again, but is hoping to this week.

Fortunately Hurricane Dean bypassed them! Marialyn said on the phone today that it was overcast and a little rainy, but that was it. We are so relieved, having thought that hurricane destruction is the last thing this poor country needs.

We continued to receive donations all this week and our total is now up to $2405! We are amazed at how generous and wonderful our friends and co-workers are.

That's it for now. If we hear that Marialyn has seen Bedeline again, I'll be sure to let you know.

One Country Down, One to Go!

Still riding the excitement of the party last weekend (our total is now up to $2350!), we got an email from our social worker on Tuesday saying that she received word from US Immigration that we have been approved! What does this mean? We think this means that we are finished with the US side of things. We think that the US will send our approval to the US Embassy in Haiti and that when things are approved by Haiti they'll see that the US has approved us and will be ready to issue the visa. This is good! Despite all of the fingerprinting mishaps, we were still approved and without losing any time, it seems.

We've got November on the brain, since that was our lawyer's last estimate and are excited that it's really just right around the corner. Now that we've been approved by the US, we might take a leap of faith and starting getting some of those items we were afraid to get before, like the crib mattress and a giant car seat.

Sean had his first day at Friends of the Orphans today and I'm eagerly awaiting his arrival home so I can hear all about it.

We've been amazed at all of the people and businesses quite close to our home that were affected by the storms last Friday night, losing power and trees, and are feeling even more fortunate that our house was somehow spared all of that and that the party was able to go on.

Sean's home and said his first day was great! If you haven't yet, check out the website at www.friendsoftheorphans.org.

Haiti Party a Huge Success!

24 hours ago we were in our backyard with 91 of our friends, under three tents, in the rain, drinking rum punch, and talking about Haiti. When the forecast called for rain we decided just a few hours before the party to rent a tent and borrow a few others. We are very glad we did because the rain came just 10 mins into the party. Fortunately we have amazing friends who battled the weather, some even biking here in the rain! A friend of ours catered the event and we had Jerk Chicken skewers, rice with beans, peppers, and onions, tropical fruit salad, plantain chips and salsa, and pineapple coconut cake. Sean and I gave a presentation in which we told a bit of the story of the adoption and our trip and then showed a powerpoint that Adam had put together with facts about Haiti. We had a silent auction in which we auctioned off items made in Haiti as well as some framed pictures that we took on our trip. In the end we made over $2,000! We ended the night exhausted, but feeling so very blessed to have such amazing friends and to have had an opportunity to tell them about this country and this family that mean so much to us. Our caterer is already talking about next year's party, but we may have to take a few days to recover before talking about that. Check out the pictures posted on the blog.

I talked to Marialyn today, who is still in Haiti until Sept 4, to tell her the good news of the night. She said she had talked with the lawyer recently who said the paperwork is still in the second stage. She said that once it leaves that stage it will only be about two weeks in the final stage, so it sounds like we may have some notice before we travel. She asked the lawyer about a timeline and the lawyer said she's thinking November. Marialyn mentioned again that the baby's birthday is Oct 18 and that we'd love her to be here by then, to which the lawyer replied, "Only God knows when she'll go to them."

I've been hearing more and more about all the different people who are reading this blog across the country. It's amazing that it's being passed from person to person and even moreso that many of you read it regularly. Sean and I thank each of you for taking an interest in this roller coaster ride that we're on. It's comforting to know that we have so much support, even from people we've never met, and that this baby girl is so loved already. If only she knew what a fan club she has!

just when we thought the paperwork was done...

We got a call yesterday from our agency, saying that there was a form we hadn't filled out for US Immigration. We thought we didn't have to do this one, since it appeared to be the one you do when you have NOT found a specific child yet and we skipped to the one you do when you HAVE found a specific child. Anyway, the good news is that someone at the Immigration office in MN was looking at our file to approve it and saw that this form was missing. It's wonderful to think that someone's looking at our paperwork and that it's not just sitting somewhere untouched. So we filled out the paperwork and are planning to mail it in tomorrow.

In the meantime I stumbled across some Haiti adoption blogs saying that files are often in the IBESR (the agency we're currently in) for 4-10 months! Not what I wanted to read. And that in the past the steps after that agency had been quick and simple, but now those are taking 4-10 months as well. But today I saw a post from last week saying things are running "more smoothly" again. I think I'll stop reading those blogs. We don't know if ours will go more quickly since we're working with a lawyer and not an agency.

I talked with Marialyn this evening who hasn't seen the baby since last week because she's been preparing for her VBS and dealing with problems like delayed flights, car troubles, getting the car stuck in a muddy trench, computer issues, etc. She has 3 family members with her in Haiti until next week when they fly back to Indiana. At that point she hopes to have a bit more time to see Bedeline. She was unsuccessful at emailing the pics because the internet cafe wouldn't let her download them. We'll just have to be patient (seems to be our theme) and wait until she returns early Sept.

Sean was offered and accepted a new position last week at an organization called Friends of the Orphans. They have orphanages in a number of countries in Latin America and the Carribbean (including Haiti!) and his job will be to encourage people to sponsor children in these orphanages, coordinate translation of letters between sponsors and children, and organize trips for sponsors to visit children, among other things. This is obviously a topic he's very passionate about and he is THRILLED about the position. They were quite thrilled with him, as well, since they canceled interviews that were scheduled for later in the week and offered him the job on the spot! The office is one mile from our house, just to make things even better. He starts August 15. Check out the website at www.friendsoftheorphans.org.

Well, Sean and I need to do some work for this gigantic fundraiser that we're throwing in just 9 days. Please pray that our little pile of paperwork moves through IBESR at an unusually fast pace! Love to you all.

We're safe

We’re safe. The 35W bridge that collapsed is only 10 mins from our house, but fortunately Sean, Adam, and I were all safely at home last night at 6:05 pm. We heard the sirens going past our house for hours. More later on the adoption front, but for now just wanted to let you know that we’re all okay.