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The Waiting is Almost Over!!

 I know it has been a while since my last post!  A lot has happened but I just wasn't sure about posting until things were more final!  We have been in this process since October of 2016...almost 4 years.  The adoption is final and now we are just waiting for immigration stuff to be completed so that we can bring our girls home to the USA!  

Last July we got our official match for three little girls.  That began a crazy couple of weeks of getting ready for Greg and I to travel to Haiti to meet them and have some time bonding.  We spent the last half of last August in Haiti.  It was such a sweet time of getting to know the girls.  (I have a whole blog post about our trip that I will post when we get them home.) Leaving them there was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do!

It is so strange to come home to the US knowing that 3 of your children are miles away.  It is a feeling that I cannot describe.  The craziest thing was that no-one (other than Greg) could understand what I was feeling.  It didn't even seem real to our bio kids.  It took several weeks for my emotions to level out.

One thing we felt was very important was to have our bio kids take a trip to Haiti to have a kids bonding trip.  We scheduled a trip for November of 2019 but with all the political unrest in Haiti we were unable to travel.  We finally got to go down as a family in March.  

The trip in March was full of so many emotions!  Getting off the plane in Haiti felt like I was coming home!  I was so happy to be in Haiti with my WHOLE family.  It truly was a feeling of completion.  We only had a short time to visit with the girls but the time was sweet.  We also got to spend some time with our friends at Haiti Awake.  It was a wonderful few days!

We came home from Haiti to chaos here in the US as COVID 19 was hitting and everything was going crazy.  The flights home were strange in themselves.  There were not many people at all in the airports and everyone was acting standoffish.  I don't have to tell you much about all that...you know how things have been.  

We finally got out Article 23.  The Article 23 is the document that states that the adoption proceedings were all done in compliance with the law and the adoption is final.  The girls now have our last name!

The race is on now to get them home.  They need passports and visas to come into the US.  Once we get all the proper immigration paperwork done...we can go get them!!

We have spent this last year preparing for them.  We redid bedrooms and bathrooms.  We have been buying little clothes.  We have been trying to embrace every moment we have together as a family of 6 before we become a family of 9.  It has been a crazy long "pregnancy" with the birth of 3 littles as the reward at the end!

One quick note about funding.  As big as that mountain looked and as many costs that came up that we weren't anticipating - GOD PROVIDED!!  It truly is a story in itself how God provided for every detail of this adoption.  We cannot thank everyone enough for all of the gifts that you gave to help us get these girls home.  Every little bit helped.  When I think about the amount of money that God provided and all the little "Wow God" moments we have had along the way, it makes me realize how truly blessed we are!

Speaking of blessed...Many people have told us how blessed our girls are that we have done this for them.  I'm never really sure exactly what to say to that.  I don't feel like we are doing anything extraordinary for the girls.  We are just being obedient to God!  In all reality, the girls are so much more a blessing to us than we could ever be to them!  I'm so grateful to God that he chose them for our family!  

As we get closer to bringing the girls home, I know that this is not the end of the journey but truly just the beginning!  Life as we have known it will not be the same.  It will be richer!  It will be harder!  It will be sweeter!  It will also be overwhelming at times.  We are almost 50 years old and have a 2 & 3 year old!!  

I am super excited to parent in this new season.  I've learned so much as a parent and I'm excited to embrace things I didn't think I had time for the first time around.  I'm ready to see how our bio kids are going to grow from this experience.  

We need your prayers!  Please pray for this phase to move quickly and the girls to get home SOON.  Pray for us as a family that we will bond well and the girls will fit in seamlessly!  Please pray that this act of obedience will encourage others to follow God's calls.  Please pray that we will be the parents the girls need.

Thank you for following our journey.  As soon as we get them home, I will post pictures and the rest of the story!

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