Could she be home in March???

Happy New Year's EVE!  This is going to be my LAST call for giving towards adoption!  Feels pretty great actually to say that!  I just went online to hypothetically books flights and I believe we're looking at close to $3000 for our ending travel.  Plus we need to pay per night to stay at GLA and also pay for transportation in Haiti.

Within the coming weeks we should hear that her passport has been printed!  It could take two months or so after that for her VISA to be ready.  This means we should be going to get her late winter or early spring!!!!

If you would like to give towards the final costs of this adoption process you can click the button on the upper left side of the screen and that gives you a paypal option.  Thank you so much un advance!!!!

Please pray for our family!  I am in prayer over the best school for kindergarten for these two Kraft kiddos next fall as well as where I should teach, be it their school or ?????

I am also in prayer over what the time should look like after she comes home and until I am done teaching.  Ideally, there would be as little time where she would be outside of my care as possible.  If she came home April 20 then I would need no care between getting her and summer.....if she came home a month before that, March 20, then I would look for family/friends to watch the two of them in our home for the last month of school, giving them lots of time to bond as brother and sister, rather than being in a school setting.  So keep this in prayer for us!  Obviously I am not in control of the WHEN, but God knows all of these little details and the time that we are given to go get her will be perfect.  Have a blessed last day of 2015 and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Adoption Time Line

Dossier to Haiti - May 2013

Dossier submitted to IBESR - November 2013

Referral - July 2015

Socialization Trip - July 2015

Exit IBESR - September 25, 2015

Adoption Decree/Exit Courts - November 2, 2015

Enter MOI - THANKSGIVING DAY 2015

Passport printing - yet to come

I600 Approval - yet to come

VISA - Yet to come

Travel to bring her home - COMING IN 2016!!!!!

Give To The Max - A.K.A. give to the Mack's Sister's "Let's Get Her Home Fund!"

November 12 is "Give to the MAX" day, a day set aside to encourage people to give above and beyond what they normally do! The adoption process is a cycle of highs and lows, because every ti,e good news comes, then lots of money is needed almost immediately!  There may be some out there that have this kind of money at the ready, but I have a feeling most of the families adopting children do not!  I am grateful to non-profits like "Lifesong for Orphans" who allowed adoptive families to raise money during their adoptions, offering the giver a tax receipt (automatic if your gift is over $50 and by request if it is less.)

God has worked in some really miraculous ways during Miss C's adoption.  Steps that were taking 14 weeks or longer have taken 4 weeks!  Steps that have taken 4-12 months for others happened in less than 2 months for us!  With these miracles comes the big bills.  I know as miraculously as He is working through these steps to get her home, He will also provide financially!

Please consider giving this week to help cover the costs of flights!  When we get to that point, I will have 3 flights to book (and hopefully a 4th, for my mom to come along and help!)  Mack is saving eery penny he finds for his flight, then I have my own flight and Miss C's one way flight home.  I likely will have only a matter of days to book these flights which ends up being much more costly that usual! Thank you in advance for your prayerful consideration! If you choose to give, you can click the paypal link above and to the left.  If you wish to pay by check you can mail your check to:

Lifesong For Orphans

Kraft Adoption #3660

PO Box 40

202 N. Ford Street

Gridley, IL 61744

The Newest Kraft!

It is with great joy that I announce the news of an adoption decree for Miss C!  The steps past my July visit have been nothing short of miraculous.  I have prayed and asked God for a miracle of course, and these steps have been just that!  We have sailed through 3 big steps VERY quickly, much quicker than has been seen lately!  Thank you all so much for your prayers!

There are many more steps to go that involve applying for her passport and the U.S. side of things with immigration and her VISA.  When I got to this step with Mr. M., I felt like I was truly on the downward slide.  We then got STUCK for a very, very long time in what is called MOI.  Please, please continue to pray!  My mind keeps fast-forwarding.  I initially was told to not expect less than a year from my July trip.  I have been secretly (and not so secretly) hoping maybe the end of April or early May....then I would take my leave and not return to school this year.  At this point it is very possible it could be earlier than that!

Thank you Jesus for your miracles and moving mountains to bring my sweet girl home!

Two Years Home

Two years!  Wow.  I can believe it and yet it's hard to believe!  We have been through so much!  HE HAS BEEN THROUGH SO MUCH.  He has grown tremendously.  I often grieve the three years I did not have him and then often I cannot remember ever not being his mommy!  The emotions are so complex.  The emotions he has to deal with are more than any little one should ever have to deal with.  I pray for more and more healing over his little life every day!  God has marked this one for greatness.  What an amazingly, special gift from God he is!  I could write a novel about how blessed I have been to be his mommy for the past two years.  Instead, as we finish a short week of school and head off on a little get-away together, I will leave you with some precious pictures.  I you have followed our journey you cannot help but see the hand of God in each and every photo.  God has truly transformed this child and is growing him more into His image and likeness day by day.

I Samuel 1:27-28

 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.

OUT OF IBESR!!!!!

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!  I was sitting on a bus, on my way to the zoo with my 5th graders when my phone dinged with an email.  Prior to going on my 2 week trip, I knew full well that it was taking people 6 months and even more than a year to exit IBESR after their trip.  It was a really discouraging thought to go and meet her and still be stuck in the "black hole" of IBESR for so long.

I open the email to find the miraculous news that after just a month and 9 days, IBESR had authorized the adoption!!!!!!  I was interviewed by IBESR on July 31 and on September 11, they had the papers ready and we could be out!  THIS IS A HUGE and incredibly FAST step that we just took here!!!!  Thank you JESUS!!!!! We are officially out of IBESR today, September 25!

What happens next is that our dossiers go to Parquet, then to Courts and after that time I will have the adoption decree and my Clara will have the last name KRAFT!  From there her passport is applied for, the adoption is finalized on the U.S. side of things and then her VISA!  We still have MONTHS to go here, but I was told to expect at least 4 months post Haiti trip in IBESR and God has cut that time in half!!!!!  Before we know it there will be a new Kraft!  Thank you so much for praying!  Keep it up!!!!!!  I see God is planning on doing amazing things in, through and for this little one and our family!  AMEN!

12x12 for Clara!

If you're gift is less than $50 please attach a note that says you want a tax receipt of you do!

Socialization Trip - Adoption #2

I've been home from Haiti for 10 days.  I was gone from home for 15 days.  Over and over again people tell me how lucky my kids are.  It's not the truth at all.  The circumstances each of them have found themselves in life are not lucky....they're not even good.  God does not wish for His precious little children to be motherless, fatherless, homeless, starving, abandoned, institutionalized......

I am the lucky one. The blessed one.  God has given me not one, but two incredibly beautiful, strong, resilient, lovers of life kiddos.  Leaving the one for 15 days tore at my heart.  He made it.  He survived.  He even had fun, lots of fun!

While leaving one, I journeyed to meet the other.  Bright....the name she calls herself means "BRIGHT."  Little Miss C is BRIGHT!  She is full of life!  Her smile is amazing!  The way she looks into my eyes, studies my face and snuggles in for cuddles is something my heart aches for tonight.  I leave one to meet the other and after 15 days, I leave her.  How do these little hearts, little minds, little bodies endure this!?  It's so unfair, unjust.  WHY?  I get asked EVERY DAY.  "WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG?"  

Often within the past 10 days I have forced myself to NOT think about the wait.  To NOT think about the effect on a little one's life to be outside of family care.  She is being cared for.  She is so loved.  I pray every day that somehow she can remember our 15 days, that she believes I will be back for her, that God prepares her the best He can for her to join a family, to have a mama and a brother.

Once she has our family name, I will share her face here....until then I will not....

Our 15 days....

I think any parent or for that matter nanny, child care provider etc, knows that filling a day with activities and things for a little one to do can be a challenge!  I had from about 8:30-5 with her each day minus two hours for a bit of school or rest.  I longed to be with her EVERY minute yet WHAT do we do for so many hours a day???  I felt ill prepared in the project/craft/time consuming activity department due to what I brought with me but we managed and some days the best moments for me were just spent watching/looking at her.  I have LOTS of photos of her where she is not looking.  I am just watching her.  Watching her think, walk, twirl.  She is curious and cautious and so observant.

We spent our days playing hide and seek, asking "Where is the music" and searching for the little green speaker I brought.  I carried her more than she walked and I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED that I could be there at such an age where carrying her and snuggling her all day was just the thing to do!  A friend outfitted me with some darling dresses for her and she loved to come into our little cabin each day and look them over, deciding what she was going to change into next.  She painted my nails (boy she has amazing fine motor skills!) and I painted hers.  Every little, normal, every day thing was so special because it was with her.  We enjoyed lunch together every day.  She loved doing things to help me like going to fill up my water or brushing my hair :-)

I was able to spend my birthday with her.  She got to bring me a cake and sing and celebrate.  What a treat (you see over and over again how it's me who's blessed, right???  To get to be a Mama to this child and the one back home.....I often think over why God chose me.  Why was I the chosen one?  He must love me a lot!) We did water balloons.  We went on walks.  We played pretend down at a little play house.  

I was thrilled the day I got to do her hair.  I think back to a Fall day way back when where I prayed that God give me the ability to braid and I braided!  Way back then I could not foresee that I would have a daughter!  She seemed pleased that I did her hair and I was overjoyed to get to do it!

By the second week we got to venture out and it was nice to just be able to walk, talk, and look at nature.  We made a fire pit area out secret hide out and would go there most days to dance, sing and play with baby dolls.  I enjoyed observing her with others when we got the chance.  She is clearly well-liked by most if not all of the kids and adults.  She's a small little one with a BIG personality.  She knows what she wants and does not want!  There is SO much more I need to know though!

This is their first look at each other outside of a picture. We got to do this a couple of times.  Both of them were really warming up to the idea of having a brother or sister.

At the end of the second week we had our IBESR interview.  This happened on my last full day with her.  After the interview we got to have ice cream and look around my childhood home in Haiti.   

So there you have it  Fifteen days.  We laughed, hugged, snuggled, tickled, and imagined.  We colored, blew bubbles, listened to music and read books.  I love her.  I deeply, deeply love her.  She is a gift, a precious gift from God.  I feel I stopped abruptly here....I have written too much and yet not nearly enough.....Most days I don't like to think about how long this will take.  It's easier to just NOT think about it :-(  Pray!  Pray that God would make a way for this process to speed up.  Pray for Miss C.  Pray for Mr. M.  Pray for me.  Thank you.

New Law

So, there is a new law in Haiti....while parts of the process will be the same as with Mr. M, parts will be different.  The first time around my paper work got to Haiti and then 9 months later I had a referral.  At that point our paperwork entered IBESR (Haitian Social Services) together.  Three months later we exited that step and a month after that I was off to see Mack for 3 short days.  The steps following my trip with M and those following my trip with Miss C will be similar.

With her adoption, my paperwork entered IBESR alone, not matched with a child.  Just over two years after my paperwork arrived in Haiti and 19 months after entering IBESR, I was referred a child.  Under the new law I file my paperwork in Haiti at the US Embassy but also stay in Haiti for 15 days bonding with my daughter.  I have MANY feelings about bonding with someone for 15 days and then leaving but we'll save that for another time....

I have my flight booked and will leave for Haiti on July 19!  While in Haiti I will spend almost every day with C and will also be interviewed by IBESR.  When I come home from Haiti we will still be in IBESR.  They must approve me adopting her before we can move on.  At that point the steps are about the same as last time around.

ALREADY lets be praying her home as soon as is possible with God!!!!!

We got our referral!

5 years ago....

It was more than 5 years ago that I felt God calling me to adopt from Haiti.  Five years ago today I was still 33.  I had two more years before I could adopt from Haiti.  Then January 12, 2010 came.  I thought adopting from Haiti was over for me.  I cried more tears than I can ever remember crying.  I had a hard time making it through some school days.  I could not peel myself away from CNN.  I could not stop watching it.  Today as I look at images like those in the link below it's difficult to hold back tears.

Since the earthquake hit 5 years ago, it's a bit hard to fathom what God has done with just me.  I am typing as I hear the deep breathing of my Haitian son in the bed next to me.  Five years ago today he was in the womb of his birth mother.  She lived in Cite Soleil.  I don't know the story.  I don't know where she was when the earthquake hit.  Cite Soleil is a slum in Port-au-Prince.  I cannot imagine being pregnant during a time like that or in a place such as that.  Seven months later he was born.  Then she died.  I don't know why.  I don't have the story for him.  But I do know that January 12, 2010 greatly impacted this little boys life and his future.

My heart hurts for Haiti today.  The anniversary of an unfathomably tragic day.  I pray for Haiti today.  Please do the same.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/haiti-earthquake-5-years-gallery-1.2073132