Connecting

I've been crushing on Facebook a bit this week,
and yes, I realize I am a bit late to feel that excitement.

Social media has connected me with adoptive parents of my son's friends in Fondwa,
allowing me to not only discuss things with them,
but share photos of their beloved babies from our trips!

It's so fun :)

It really is amazing how this application (and others like it) work to shrink this world down some.

How cool is it that an orphanage located remotely in the mountains above Leogane, Haiti,
where no agency has affiliation or license,
has three adoptions in process
and all three families are now connected?

Missouri + Indiana + North Carolina 

= a lot of love for Fondwa, Haiti

Dispensation!!

Today we saw the blessed version of Le Moniteur that we have been waiting for:
the one bearing the name of

Dimitry Gilles

Woo hoo!!!

Finally, we have received presidential dispensation for having biological children,

allowing our adoption dossier to move on to the next step of political processing.

Praise the Lord

The day of printing was March 12, 2013.

The day we arrived in Haiti and just before we filed our I-600.

Had we known, we would've purchased every copy we could get our hands on.

Hallelujah

I truly believe that my son will be home this year.

Saturday, March 16th

The time has come . . .

After breakfast and a little machine time,
Daddy "painted" brown faces with chalk and final packing was done.

We asked my dear friend Sister Claudette to talk with Dimitry with us.

Grant cried.
Claudette cried.
I was choked up, holding Dimmy and talking.

I told him he is part of our family, and we love him very much.
We pray for him every night.
He can't come home with us yet, but we hope soon.
It isn't our choice to leave him, or the sisters' choice.
We will miss him so much, but keep him in our hearts.
Soon, he will come home with us on an airplane.
He is our son.

Grant sobbed as we left Fondwa, and many times along the way to Port-au-Prince.

Friday, March 15th

Nights of not sleeping well are taking their toll.
It's impossible for me to sleep long anyway with a torn labrum in my hip,
but the springs sticking directly into my body are not making it easier.

Eric and I both are a bit tense and overstimulated today.

When the boys aren't in school, they are ALL at our cottage,
and as you might imagine,
they are not used to a lot of discipline while away from the nuns.

Samuel (quiet, cuddly and another child with Sr. Simone) likes to try and be the boss.
Along with Michel, Jed (wow, the lungs on that boy!) and Dimitry,
they make a lot of noise.

The camera only catches the calmer moments!

Grant is looking a bit rough with circles under his eyes, but Mr. Do Not Get My Hands Dirty is playing with the dirt with everyone else and having a ball.

He's even picking up a bit of Creole :)


Eric is craving ice cream, and Grant has mentioned McDonald's more than once today,but mama is only missing one thing:

We are all organized and packed to leave tomorrow,
which means we are going to have to talk with Dimitry soon.

Eric thinks it is best to say our goodbyes here as the separation at the airport was difficult last time.

We had a bit of a break from each other today.

Dimitry may be tired of hearing "no,"
primarily about the Nintendo DSi and Gameboy only being for him and Grant in the cottage,
not when other boys are around.

He headed to the orphanage for a while with Davidson and Jeb, and was a bit standoff-ish when he returned an hour or so later.
That is, until Samuel wanted to be loved on and came over to sit in my lap.

Dimitry wasn't territorial, but the second Sam got up to get a toy,
he took his place,
where we rocked and I loved on him,
and whispered in his ear how much we love him and wish we could bring him home.

I am not looking forward to tomorrow's goodbye.

I will miss seeing little brown faces, with a single peach one in the middle, at mealtimes.
I will miss his laughter and his sweetness.
I may even miss the hilarious way they all line up,
Grant included,
to pee off the sidewalk together.

Grant and Dimmy took their first shower together this evening.

What a riot!!

Combine two naked ham bones and some very cold water and the comedy comes naturally.

I tried to prep Grant that some of their parts won't look alike . . .

What a fool I am.

He said (afterwards), "Mom, he's just a different color than me."

Um, okay.

That other issue will wait for later then.

Thursday, March 14th

I told Eric that I could totally live here with our children for a couple of years.

I did preface it with "don't think I'm suggesting this, I'm just saying that my personality would lend to . . . "

His response?

Come visit us once in a while.

Nice.

The boys taught G to peel a mango with his teeth. Oh sweet treat!

Dark circles under his eyes; mango on his face.

The teacher (Eric) says we have cultural diffusion going on here: pit fart lessons.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Grant reduced Dimmy to a puddle of belly laughter teaching him to make fart noises with his hand and his armpit.
The mother in me had to roll my eyes, but the giggling was such beauty in my ears.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about Grant's roach experience yesterday.
Poor kid.
It was in the toilet house, of course, where some important business needed to take place.
His dad told him to do his thing or risk an accident, as he fiercely smashed 3 giant roaches.

No, that is not a typo -
they are giant.
Like something out of a horror movie.

The outcome was good, except for the bugs.
Good thing he didn't see the gray rat that ran into our room in PAP on Wednesday. EEK

Wednesday, March 13th

Today is the day: I-600 filing day!

We met another adoptive mama submitting her final visa paperwork,
preparing to take her baby home.

What sweet bliss!

We were at the U.S. Embassy for quite some time . . . 3 hours?
The boys were great
and it really felt good to be doing something productive for our process.

The boys played for a bit while we prepared for the drive to Fondwa.
Turns our that machins (mah-sheens) are universal.
Man, was that a good call on this mama's part.

Dimitry seemed anxious to take us to the orphanage,
but we found out that he really just had to find his boys to show off the machines :)

Oh yeah, snacks (ti manje) are also universal: no language barrier with boys and food.

The babies have grown and the older girls are now young ladies, but somehow, our little group of guys are the same - Samuel, Michel, Davidson, Jed and Johnny.
Such a handsome crew.

A lot of the boys joined us for dinner after cleaning up.
Grant's appetite is waning . . . the heat? fatigue? more beans and rice??

Oh, our "peach" son ran into some unexpected drama while I showered.
He was following after the boys, but went back for something and tried to catch up.
He took a wrong turn and headed towards the school instead of the orphanage where we assumed they went.

For any of you that know Fondwa, you understand what a big deal this is.

Our little American quickly became afraid and ran faster when so many strangers tried to stop him.
Imagine that, he looked a bit out of place ;)

Anyway, long story made short: Eric wasn't too far behind him,
thanks to an elderly gentleman who recognized the resemblance.

From the sound of it, I'm not sure who's heart rate was faster on that hot, dirt road.
I'm assuming it was one of those If I wasn't so relieved and you weren't so scared (with so many witnesses), I may have killed you for running off. 

At dinner,
Dimitry told the boys he is going to the United States on Saturday.

Oh Boy

He must've misunderstood the conversation at the Embassy.
How we wish you were little man.

Tuesday, 03/12/2013

Today, my sons met.

We were greeted at the airport by Sister Simone and Dimitry was there waiting,
in the car with the driver, when we reached the parking lot.

I greeted him with "Mwen pitit gason! Sa se fre' ou, Grant."

(My son! This is your brother Grant)

He smiled.

We stayed the night in Port-au-Prince at the guest house
where many important things took place:

Intro to Gameboy

Intro To DSi

My heart is so happy!

Checking the list twice

Toys for kids at orphanage

CHECK

Snacks for G-man and D

(since I seriously doubt my 8 year old will eat enough Haitian food to sustain his existence)

CHECK

Anti-malarials for 3 blancs

CHECK

Batteries for fan and camera

Giant roach killer

Sunscreen & big hat for my pale boy

CHECK

Shorts, flip flops, sneakers

Bed roll

CHECK

Passports

CHECK

Paperwork for I-600 filing

hee hee

CHECK

I have literally had nightmares about that one.

Oh, the appointment is today? 

I thought today was Tuesday not Wednesday.

eek
I better start packing.

Back to Haiti

My mood has improved some as I had a personal Haiti fix.

Once again, I was blessed to join my peers from Richmond and Boston in Jacmel, Haiti for a week of surgery.

What a fabulous crew

Dear friends and a blessed facility where new relationships were forged, filled my cup.
I was a little overdue.
I've decided that salt water, a little sea air and some Caribbean humidity is good for the soul.
Not to mention, rice and beans, plantains, mango and that excellent dark Haitian coffee . . .

Oh, the coffee

40 surgeries were done in 4 days.

Bassin Bleu was hiked,

by some.

Not me, but some hiked it.

I went up in a truck and then hiked.

It was awesome.

Having the opportunity to love on some sweet brown skinned babies did me good.
I did not see my boy, but being close still warmed my blan heart.

So, why didn't I see my little guy?
Because in the business of our surgical schedule, I would have had a couple of hours, at the most,
on one day to visit with him and hold him,
and frankly,
that's not fair to him.

 But, 
We are going back very very soon,
and this time,
my sons will meet.

 +

I am giddy with excitement over seeing my two boys on the same turf.
Toe to toe,
chocolate and vanilla.
hee hee 
I can hardly stand it :)