[sis2kensia]

Hi everyone,

Any news from Haiti for you waiting families? Hope your soon-to-be children are doing well and your adoptions are processing quickly!

Kensia (adopted from Haiti @ 22 months) turned 4 last week! Its amazing how fast time flys. She is such an incredible little girl. Finn is 18 months old now (home from Haiti @ 10 months) and is such a ham. He's has us laughing all the time. I'll try to post some pictures of them sometime soon. They are really getting big.

Anyway, just wondering how everyone is doing.

S.
sis2kensia@yahoo.com

[emzierose]

Hi. I haven't been on the forums in a while. You probably already know this because of the yahoo group though. We decided to go ahead with the adoption of two girls, Delienne (almost 8) and Samantina (almost 6). This is not what we had planned at all, isn't that the way it usually works We just got our loan and are now getting ready to do our home study. We hope that we will be home with the girls this time next year. It would be great though if things suddenly started moving faster and were back to what I have heard they used to be. We would love to be able to bring them home by spring. I know...I have to be patient. I'm not very good at that though. Oh the waiting! I'm sure you understand. I haven't even been waiting long yet, it's just the anticipation of it. I hope the next year flys by.

Emily

[monami7]

Our Dossier officially arrived in Haiti last week. No one stole it. We are very relieved. I have gotten word that Lilly is getting bigger. Hopefully we will get more pictures of her next week. I miss her so much. Now we are waiting to be in IBESR. They say it takes about a month.
Heidi

[sis2kensia]

Originally Posted by emzierose

Hi. I haven't been on the forums in a while. You probably already know this because of the yahoo group though. We decided to go ahead with the adoption of two girls, Delienne (almost 8) and Samantina (almost 6). This is not what we had planned at all, isn't that the way it usually works We just got our loan and are now getting ready to do our home study. We hope that we will be home with the girls this time next year. It would be great though if things suddenly started moving faster and were back to what I have heard they used to be. We would love to be able to bring them home by spring. I know...I have to be patient. I'm not very good at that though. Oh the waiting! I'm sure you understand. I haven't even been waiting long yet, it's just the anticipation of it. I hope the next year flys by.

Emily

Congrats Emily - I think I do remember reading that on Haitian Angels (?).
I hope your process is a quick one - our 1st adoption was painfully slow (met her in June 2003, she came home in July 2004) but the second was a fast one (1st met him May 2005, home Decmeber 2005). The waiting is painful no matter how long it takes. ~sigh~

S.
sis2kensia@yahoo.com

[sis2kensia]

Originally Posted by monami7

Our Dossier officially arrived in Haiti last week. No one stole it. We are very relieved. I have gotten word that Lilly is getting bigger. Hopefully we will get more pictures of her next week. I miss her so much. Now we are waiting to be in IBESR. They say it takes about a month.
Heidi

Yeah, so glad your dossier arrived in Haiti! Now to wait....are you guys in 1st legal right now? Hopefully IBESR will be quick for you! So glad Lilly is growing well....

S.
sis2kensia@yahoo.com

[ggman]

Hey all--

We just returned from Jacmel, Haiti.... Oh how we love it there! We did NOT get to see our son. (Go figure.) However we still had a great time. We stayed at an orphanage run by some of our friends. Check out the web site at www.helphaitikids.org.

While we didn't get to see our son, we got to love on all the kids at their orphanage which was FANTASTIC. This is not an adoption orphanage but a permanent home for these kids-- they are amazing kids. My husband and I have made a committment to helping develop the child sponsorhip program there, so one it's launched, I will let you guys know all about it.

I will attach some pics below. One is me and a little baby named Jabez. His mom died in childbirth last year, and was fostered by our friends in Haiti from day one. THey have recently decided to adopt him. He's the greatest. I like to say they he is my second favorite Haitian baby. Meeting him last year was actually the main reason we decided to pursue Haitian adoption.

The other pic is of a waterfall in Basin Bleu. The white person jumping is my husband Nick. (I jumped from that high too-- scary, but SO MUCH FUN!)

We got to really work on our Kreyol when we were there. We hired a tutor for an afternoon to help us. It was so great. And we are now working through the Ann Pale Kreyol course. We hope to spend a couple of months each year in Haiti in the future, so we really want to learn the language. We even drove in Haiti-- YIKES! I will post more pics later, but I just wanted you to know we made it home safely with no problems what-so-ever.

Much love,
Gwenn

[sis2kensia]

Originally Posted by ggman

Hey all--

We just returned from Jacmel, Haiti.... Oh how we love it there! We did NOT get to see our son. (Go figure.) However we still had a great time. We stayed at an orphanage run by some of our friends. Check out the web site at www.helphaitikids.org.

While we didn't get to see our son, we got to love on all the kids at their orphanage which was FANTASTIC. This is not an adoption orphanage but a permanent home for these kids-- they are amazing kids. My husband and I have made a committment to helping develop the child sponsorhip program there, so one it's launched, I will let you guys know all about it.

I will attach some pics below. One is me and a little baby named Jabez. His mom died in childbirth last year, and was fostered by our friends in Haiti from day one. THey have recently decided to adopt him. He's the greatest. I like to say they he is my second favorite Haitian baby. Meeting him last year was actually the main reason we decided to pursue Haitian adoption.

The other pic is of a waterfall in Basin Bleu. The white person jumping is my husband Nick. (I jumped from that high too-- scary, but SO MUCH FUN!)

We got to really work on our Kreyol when we were there. We hired a tutor for an afternoon to help us. It was so great. And we are now working through the Ann Pale Kreyol course. We hope to spend a couple of months each year in Haiti in the future, so we really want to learn the language. We even drove in Haiti-- YIKES! I will post more pics later, but I just wanted you to know we made it home safely with no problems what-so-ever.

Much love,
Gwenn

Thanks for the update Gwenn! I'm sorry you didn't get to you see your boy - hopefully you'll be able to do so soon...are you planning on travelling to the orphanage anytime soon?
Jabez is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen - oh my goodness! :-)

Glad you had a good time.

S.
sis2kensia@yahoo.com

[monami7]

Well Lilly has been sick again. They are suposedly expediting her thru IBESR so that we can get her home. She needs to be at home with her Doctors care. She has a parasite and they cannot seem to get rid of it. We have talked to her doctor here and it seems that everyone feels that once home she will get well very quickly. It is so frustrating.
Heidi

[ggman]

Heidi--
I understand your frustration. When Nico was in the hospital, all I could think about was getting him home because he could get much better care here.

When we were in Haiti last week I went to the hospital with a boy who had an infection in his face that was spreading rapidly-- his eye was swollen almost shut and it was spreading down into his mouth. We got him to the hospital in Jacmel and they told us that there were no doctors available that day. Fortunately the friend we were with was persistant and didn't take no for an answer. We hung out outside and walked around the building until we saw someone with a stethescope. We asked if he was a doctor-- he was. We showed him little Ricardo's face and he said he would treat him. We waited for him for another 30 mins or so before he came back to treat him.

He looked at Ricardo's face, determined that he needed to drain the wound and give him some antibiotics, so he wrote a prescription for what was needed. Danny (my missionary friend) went to the pharmacy to get the needed items. (In Haiti you have to supply ALL of your medication and supplies-- even syringes and gauze and stuff!) He had to go to 6-7 pharmacies (LITERALLY) before he could locate everything that was needed. Then they walked us over to the pediatric sugery area where used the syringes to drain the wound. (With no anethesia mind you!) It was HEART WRENCHING to watch.

I am attaching a few pics... the first one is Ricardo before treatment. The second pic is in the hospital-- you can't really make out all the details but that tape on the "King Cola" bottle is labeled "alcool" (Alcohol). Yes, folks, they are storing alcohol in an old soda bottle. The third pic is Ricardo three days later-- all better! Praise God.

All of this is to say, Heidi-- I am with you-- we're in a similar boat.. knowing that our son has a severe allergy to something (we have no idea what) that caused a severe anaphylactic reaction (which in many cases is fatal) is really hard to just sit on. I don't mean to sound like an arrogant American (as I know I do in this case), but this is my baby-- my very heart. I just want the best for him.

This process is very frustrating at times like this. We are just hoping and praying for a speedy trip through IBESR so that we can have him home and get treatment. We've been in since the end of May-- I know that's only 3 months, but for some reason our orphanage tends to get through IBESR faster than many. (For instance I recently spoke with a woman who was out in 4 months... I hate saying things like that knowing many people wait up to 9-10 months.)

Do you have any idea how quickly your "expedited" trip through IBESR will take? I will be praying for your little girl.

-Gwenn

[monami7]

We aren't sure but the director seems to think we should have her home by nov. or dec. We aer praying this is true.
Heidi

[shibaowner]

We just arrived from PAP with our sweet son Colin. We received the referral in March 2005. IBESR is where the dossiers really languish (ours did for nearly Nov. 2005 until May 2006). Mr. Cadet, who must sign the authorization, is currently on vacation. When he is in office, he signs three per day accdg. to his rep. Sorry, but hold fast. Our children do eventually come home.

[ggman]

Share a pic of your new sweetie when you can. Congratulations! I know that IBESR is a pain, but I also know it will be worth it. (Childbirth wasn't exactly a breeze either, but that's proved worth it-- I am assuming IBESR will be too!)

Thanks for sharing your story! I have heard that Cadet is on vacation... for like a month or something! Our agency seems to be holding to the 5-7 months from DTH to home, but I just don't see how that is possible. We'll keep you posted!

-Gwenn

[sis2kensia]

I know someone who just spoke to M. Cadet today - so he hasn't left yet. Last I heard he is he's only going to be gone 5-7 days...hopefully thats true!

S.
sis2kensia@yahoo.com

[ggman]

well that's fantastic news-- hope it's true!

[emzierose]

It's great to hear how everyone is doing.