Together At Last!

I wanted to give you an update on our lives this week, as it's been a huge one. We are now the proud parents of the sassiest, cutest, funniest, smartest toddler you've ever encountered!

Her birth mother was interviewed by the embassy on Wed and left Port au Prince on Thursday afternoon. Since then we've been thrown into parenthood and are trying our best to always have snacks, water, wet wipes, and toys on hand. The first night we could not believe it when we got to sleep with that sweet thing in between the two of us. We were even more shocked when, in the middle of reading, she said, "Dormi" (sleep), closed her eyes and went to sleep.

She eats as quickly and ferociously as I do and snores like me. She likes the same foods as Sean (Coffee, french fries, cheetos) and loves to sleep a lot like her dad. She had her first trip in the swimming pool today and LOVED IT. She's very self reliant and feeds, bathes, and clothes herself!

Because we're so in love and because things here have gone very well, we're not coming home without her. We will not be home as planned on June 25 and are not exactly sure when we will be back, but think it will be around the first of July. It's frustrating to have to stay here, especially because our money is quickly running out,after paying for hotel rooms, food, taxis, fees for adoption stuff, etc. , but we feel safe and are well taken care of.

The steps that still need to be taken before we go home is that the birth mother needs to find her own birth certificate, which will be ready by Tuesday, with that she and Bedeline will get a DNA test on Thursday, then we wait for the results, which e're having expedited (amazing what you can get done if you beg and say you'll pay more). As soon as the embassy gets the results (a week or less) we get our interview for the visa and then the visa is issued either that day or the next business day.

Since our arrival we have encountered so many angels and have experienced countless miracles. Everything from the Priest that works with Sean's organization being on our plane from Miami and therefore able to help us with a number of things, to the Embassy granting us the interview even though we had a ton of reasons why they shouldn't have (including that we just showed up w/o an appt) to a canadian dr at the DNA clinic making phone calls on our behalf. Even the fact that our hotel room ceiling started dripping last night, meaning we had to change rooms at 4am (B never went back to sleep after that) we think will work out as Sean's trying to use it to get us some free rooms. We have just been overwhelmed by the amazing amazing things that have happened so far. The time has not been w'/o frustration, but for the most part it's been wonderful.

Bedeline has adjusted SO beautifully. She is completely comfortable with us and is already callng us Mommy and Daddy. My creole gets stronger each day and we've started to teach her some words as well. It's an amazing joy to be able to walk around the hotel with her and answer "yes" when people ask if she's my daughter.

Love to you all! Keep your prayers, both of thanksgiving for this amazin beautiful child, and for speed of the process, coming. We cannot wait to introduce her to each of you. As for the original plan that everything would be overwhelming for her at first and we wouldn't be able to see people for awhile-this girl is happiest when she's in the car/eating/doing something new and she's won over the hearts of the hotel guests (she even got us invited to a wedding reception at the hotel tonight!) so you'll all get to see her when we return.

I'm not sure when Sean will let me announce her name, but she already responds to it and the people who have met her say it's a beautiful name. love you all and enjoy the pics!:)