Timeline of My Adoption

• 1970s-80s - My introduction to Haiti through missions trip to the Baptist Haiti Mission.
• 1986 - I can't get enough of watching orphanage footage on 20/20 in Romania.
• 1999 - My Romania chapter is complete as I visit Romania and visit an orphanage.
• 1999-2000 I begin teaching 5th grade in the inner-city and I am introduced to the first of many children living in our foster care system.  The child I met would never leave the foster care system except through adoption. The Lord used him and other children to cultivate my heart, preparing me to love, care for, and feel connection with kids in a way that only He could orchestrate.
• Pre Jan 2010 - I had decided I would adopt from Haiti.  I had contact with an adoption agency.  I was not yet old enough so I felt like things were on hold.
• January 2010 - Oh NO!!!!  The world watches, I watch.  I am devastated!  I cannot believe what is happening in Haiti.  I can't stop watching CNN.  My students at school become engrossed in what's happening as well and raise over $1,000 for Feed My Starving Children to send food to Haiti (www.fmsc.org).
• The rest of 2010 - I put adoption on the back burner.  I heard the news, "No more adoptions from Haiti."  That's what I heard.  I had so many other things going on in my life that I attempted to put the idea out of my mind.  God kept bringing it to the front.  I had to listen.  Since I was a teenager I adopted Isaiah 6:8 as my own.  I told him to SEND ME, and that I WOULD GO!  
• Winter/Spring 2011 - As I feel the calling stronger and stronger to adopt from Haiti, I get creative and figure out my own way to make this work.  I find Haitian kids on a waiting children's list already in the United States.  Sounds perfect, right!  Easier, faster, less expensive!  I went to my first and last meeting through my county to pursue this option.  This was not what God was calling me to do.
• Summer 2011 - Much of the summer, I don't even think about adoption.  Then my birthday comes and I turn 35.  What's stopping me now?!?!  Nothing!  I email God's Littlest Angels in Haiti.  My mom friends someone on Facebook who is adopting from Haiti and we plan to get together the next week.
• August 2011 - After meeting with Stephanie and getting some numbers, I call an agency in Minnesota, and officially this part of the journey has begun.  I believe this journey started when I was first introduced to Haiti.  I have an agency, God's Children Adoption Agency http://www.adoptgodschildren.com/.  I have an orphanage, God's Littlest Angels http://www.glahaiti.org/. I have A LOT of paper work to begin!
• Later in August 2011 - Began Home Study Process and began compiling my Dossier.
• September 2011 - financial gifts/support begin to come in from friends and family from Adoption support letter I mailed out.  I travel to Nashville Tennessee to attend "Empowered to Connect" Adoption Conference empoweredtoconnect.org/ put on by Show Hope www.showhope.org/.
• October 2011 - Home Study Complete and I begin applying for adoption grants from Show Hope http://www.showhope.org/AdoptionAid/AdoptionGrants.aspx and Lifesong For Orphans Lifesong for Orphans www.lifesongfororphans.org/.
• November 2011 - Dossier Complete
• November 28 - Dossier Arrives in Haiti
• December 2011 - The wait begins for a referral, which I anticipate getting EVERY day! :-)  I am accepted to raise funds and do a Both Hands Project through Lifesong!
• January 9, 2012 - Word that my dossier had just returned from being legalized (pre-IBESR)
• January 18, 2012 - Awarded a grant from Show Hope!!!!
• February 14, 2012 - I am how with stomach flu so I figure I should start this blog that I have wanted to start!  I have stalled in starting cause I have not known how to make it look "cool" like others I have seen.  Oh well!  I am hopeful that when the director of GLA returns next week that perhaps I will get a referral.  The wait for this first step in Haiti is much longer than I expected but I know it's all in the Lord's time!  Happy Valentine's Day <3
• Between February and August, there are some things that happened.  I just cannot share that part of the story here, yet.
• September 7, 2012 - Referral of M who turned 2 one month earlier.
• September 14, 2012 - Entered IBESR.
• December 21, 2012 - Exited IBESR.
• January 22-25, 2013  Trip to Haiti to meet M and go to US Embassy interview and Haitian Court.
• January 28, 2013 - Entered Parquet.
• March 12, 2013- Exited Parquet and Entered Courts.
• April 10, 2013  - Exited Courts, Mackenley is a KRAFT!!!