I am OUT OF IBESR!!!!!

Expecting!  A couple of weeks ago a colleague asked me where I was in the process and I was explaining how ANY DAY I was waiting, hoping and praying to hear news of EXITING IBESR.  She said, "This is a long 'pregnancy' and you truly are expecting!"  Yes, I am expecting! There's just way more than 3 trimesters!!!

So, I have exited IBESR.  The next thing will be to go to HAITI!  My little guy will not be coming home just yet.  But I will meet him. Hug him. Play with him. I really just can't wait to LOOK at him!  To see him!  Thank you Lord!  I know I was getting impatient!  All I wanted for Christmas is this!  I know, I wanted it weeks ago, but as YOU and I talked this morning, this is in YOUR hands, in YOUR time and in YOUR will!  

Oh how I cannot wait to share a picture of my little guy and me together!!!!

Stay tuned, that will be January's post!!!!!

Merry Christmas!

Can you give at the end of this year?

As probably everyone knows, international adoption is a big expense!  At this point I am starting the round of renewing many things!  My home study expired last month and so I had to renew this which added big costs that were not in my initial costs.  Other unexpected expenses as well as the current needs are here or coming up!

If you look for places to give at the end of the year, please consider giving to my adoption from Haiti.  On the upper left hand side of my blog, there is a paypal option.  When you click that you will be brought to my Lifesong for Orphans account where giving is tax deductible.  I will also include the link below.  No gift is too small.  Please prayerfully consider.  I will also include the address for Lifesong if you would prefer to send a gift through the mail.

I pray with all my heart that I will be posting again SOON to announce that I am out of IBESR!  I awoke this morning after having a dream where I did get the news!  :-)  Even though it was a dream, I was filled with peace and joy and thankful to the Lord for such a dream!

Thank you all for your prayers, care and support!!!!

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=lhomUlBLKbHbgOrZB6oeNUI3IZPipr4d5SqKEGyju41UsfhDpnGfdk1ygYW&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8d0b7e678a25d883d0fa72c947f193f8fd


Lifesong for Orphans
Kraft Adoption 2438
PO Box 40
202 N. Ford Street
Gridley, IL  61744

THR33

Well as I know there are things weighing HEAVY on everyone's hearts and minds tonight...I think of M.  I hoped, prayed, expected to hear by today that I would be out of IBESR.  It has been 3 months.  I will keep hoping, praying and expecting.  I pray HIS will and HIS timing reign over this process.  Thank-you for praying and please continue to do so!

All I want for Christmas....Take 2!

YIKES!  As I was looking at my post, I realized some of the text was hard to see and as I was editing it was deleted!  :-(  So, as I had just reread it, here goes the post again :-)

Ok, so now as I am writing this again, I am getting choked up...yep, tears coming, my heart is being squeezed as I look at those eyes and that smile....

So, CHRISTMAS....yes, I can't wait for it.  But I will wait!  And I will decorate, play music and of course put these FABULOUS pictures of my little boy around my house and share one with everyone else who loves him!  M will NOT be here this Christmas!  He will happily play in Haiti with all of his friends and wonderful GLA staff. He will be getting some gifts...and I can't wait to see him in a MINNESOTA Twins shirt (maybe sooner than that as I am going to send one with my friend who is going SOON to meet her daughter.)

Right now my paperwork and M's paperwork is in IBESR and I pray, hope and feel certain that it will be out of IBESR very soon, and this is "ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS!"  To be done with this step, even though there are so many more to come would keep me smiling and floating on Cloud 9 ALL MONTH LONG!

After this step comes a TRIP TO HAITI!!!!  A good friend of mine is going on her trip in just over a week and I believe this will be the last week for trips of 2012....as offices and such close and people go on vacation for Christmas and New Years.  So I am not at all anticipating going to HAITI in 2012 (yes, that is what I had hoped for...but NO that is not what I am expecting now).

OH how I cannot wait to be holding this little dude in a picture to show you!!!!  I have suitcases packed already!  And last Christmas I had a suitcase packed too (upon putting summer clothes away, I packed a suitcase for Haiti...I was "new" and "young" to the adoption process and thought I would be traveling to HAITI soon!)  Now 12 months later, I trust and know it will be soon!  :-)

Here are some things that the WONDERFUL person who takes these pictures each month had to say about M (It get's overwhelming to keep records for all of my students at school, and there are WAY more kids at GLA than in my classroom....HATS off to the staff for making these pictures and updates possible....and yes, if you ask my students at school, on November 15 began to the countdown to new pics!  I received the update after school hours on Friday, so they will see his new pics Monday!)

This month we took hand and foot prints of all the kids at the Main House.  I do my best to have this done about every three months so you have an extra treasure to take home with you when you come and pick up M.   Each child reacts a differently to having their hands and feet painted and then pressed against the paper. The entire process intrigued M.  He enjoyed getting his hands and feet painted and stamping them on the paper.  He wanted to touch everything when his hands had paint on them as soon as he realized it would make marks on whatever he touched.  He was then allowed to just finger paint on paper for a little while.

M really does seem to be most happy and content when he is moving.  We had a volunteer who played guitar for the kids on the nursery balcony for a little while one morning and M just could not help himself from dancing.  The kids were suppose to be sitting nicely to listen but M could only sit for a few moments at a time and would pop up to move to the beat.  It was really sweet and fun to watch.  His nannies had a great time watching him groove as well. 

M weighs 22 pounds and is 31 inches tall (hmmmm that is 2'7")  :-)

I thank this Lord for this SEASON!  I thank HIM for this journey he has me on.  I cannot wait to hold this little boy....to tell him I LOVE HIM....to tickle, kiss, and watch him laugh and dance!

Have a BLESSED 1st of December!  I know you will be hearing from me soon with a post "I AM OUT OF IBESR!"  Pray with me!!!!!

JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THIS SEASON!!!!!!

Proverbs 25:25

 Finally hearing good news from a distant land is like a drink of cold water when you are dry and thirsty.

This verse was shared with me by a fellow adoptive parent.  I have read the verse before but it did not mean what it means to me now!  Each month I receive news from Haiti with new pictures of my little M.  I cannot tell you how good that news is!  I look forward to it ALL month!!!!

M got some news from a distant land last month.  Pictures were taken of him as he opened the gift I sent :-)

I sent him a book of pictures.  He sees himself on the cover :-)

I LOVE THIS ONE! <3

He enjoyed the crayons and made a picture.

Oh how I cannot wait to sit and color with him!

Last week my mom and I put together Christmas gifts for M.  My heart's desire and prayer all day is that I will exit IBESR soon, that I will get this good news from Haiti and then be able to travel before Christmas!  We shall see!  Pray with me!!!!!

It wasn't easy deciding what to send him.  We picked out a MN Twins shirt...a couple books, cars, and candy canes!  I send a package and grandma and grandpa sent one too.   They will all arrive together and M will have good and super fun news from a cold and snowy land very far away.  I can't wait to see him with his new little things to play with when he has volunteer.

 Gifts from Mommy :-)

Please pray that I hear news soon.  I have been in IBESR just over 8 weeks.  It is time!  I pray for news this week!  Of course I pray HIS will be done.  I pray that HE, the way-maker, would make a way.  That my documents would be moved to the hands that would complete this step!!!  I will wait and be patient until then!

What's Happening Now?

Well, it has been 39 days since my dossier and M's dossier entered IBESR (Haitian Social Services).  Remember, the next step is the first visit to Haiti!  Last night the prospect of that being soon kept a BIG grin on my face....I know I was glowing!  To hold him, hug him, tickle him, read to him, kiss him, take pictures with him.....I CANNOT WAIT!

There have been some families that exited this step in 7 weeks....so that is 10 days from today!  PRAY WITH ME THAT THIS HAPPENS!

I am already packing :-)  Packing things to bring to M.  Packing things to bring for the orphanage.  Thinking about what to bring to wear....Oh, I cannot wait!!!!

SO, I hope in November I give you news that I am out of IBESR and before year's end I announce that I am going!!!!!

The building all my precious paperwork sits in!  Let it move to the desk that signs it and announces that I am out of IBESR!!!!

Screen shot of my proposal video!  

I love this face!

PLEASE PRAY FOR M AND ME that in HIS timing things move along!!!!

Thanks!!!!

Brothers!!!!

Well, FINALLY I can share some news that I know readers want to hear!  I have not had much to tell anyone over the past 9 months, but MUCH has been going on.  Last September the Lord laid a little boy on my heart and I began to faithfully pray for him.  As the months went on I wondered, "Who is adopting him?"  I googled his name and a blog in Haiti came up.  One from God's Littlest Angel's.  My purpose in googling his name was to possibly find a blog where parents were writing about him.  That I did not find.  Some time in January the Lord brought to my heart the fact that this child may actually be my child.  Well, we'll see!  When paperwork arrives in Haiti the director and others at the orphanage spend much time praying over the families and children, I the adoptive parent do not call them up and say, "Hey, I want this kid!"  That's not how it works.

Eventually though, my paperwork was matched with a child and the child was in fact the boy I had been praying for all of these months!  I was in complete AWE!  Many road blocks were placed in the way over the months to come.  Now it is September and I am no further along in the process with this little guy than I was months ago.  I was asked if I would like to consider being matched with another child, as it seems the issues surrounding my child I love and have prayed for for nearly a year will not be resolved anytime soon.  I said no, that I would wait for as long as I needed to wait.  I prayed and prayed.  I asked God to make it clear to me what to do.  If he wanted me to go with a new child and not this one I had been praying for for so many months, then I would be obedient.  This is not what happened though.  I just continued to feel more confirmation that I was to wait for him.

Now, when I began this process over a year ago, I intended to adopt 2 children.  After reading books, going to a conference and praying I realized that as a single mother, bringing 2 children home at the same would be extremely difficult/overwhelming.

What the Lord did begin to bring to me is, "You are going to adopt 2."  Hmmmm...all of that paperwork again!?!!?  All of that money!?!?!  Yep!  And when HE is in it and in control then I can trust and have the faith to know it will all work out.

SOOOOOO.....#1 I will be waiting to adopt my little guy that may not be able to be adopted for some time! God nows.  But this little one will have a little brother!!!!  And his little brother will most definitely make it home before he does.  And I pray even now that these two begin to form a special bond with each other.

So, I would like to introduce to you Mr. M!  He just turned 2.  He is about 10 months younger than his older "brother."  Continue to pray!  Continue to consider helping me in this process financially (I have paypal on the page and all giving is tax deductible!)  Here is my baby boy.......Sorry M that you are just in your diaper but this is my favorite picture of you!!!!  You already have so many people praying for you and your big "brother!"  You are going to lead the way home for him!  You will come home first and when he comes home you will be such a big help in helping him adjust!  Oh what fun the two of you will have!!!!