As I have mentioned… we are planning to adopt from Haiti.  There are 3 (yes, 3. That’s not a typo) children waiting for us to bring them home.  We know who they are!  Very exciting!  We even have pictures!  We have an agency!  And even a Coordinator! 

Briefly, I would like to share how this information was found.  In a previous entry I explained how I felt motivated to look for our children and found Crystal Chevalier, who has become a very dear friend.  While searching for the children I also felt a pull to find the agency.  So I started looking.  I felt that we would be working with another LDS member, so I originally thought that we would be working with CASI.  I knew through Crystal that Bobbi was a member.  But then I found out that CASI does not allow the adoption of more than one child unless they are siblings.  After I found the first child, with Crystal’s help, I knew that that was not the case.

 NOTE:  Please understand that I am human and have misinterpreted promptings from time to time.  This information may change, I may be wrong about some of it.  As I inform my DH on occassion… “This is not an exact science.  And even if it was, science was never my strong point”.

Anyway, I kept looking.  I contacted Adoption Guides.  Not the one either.  Then I found Wasatch International Adoption Agency.  Shannon Cox was my contact person.  Hmmmm.  I emailed her and felt peace as I typed.  So we plan on going with WIAA.

So to sum it all up… we’ve found Crystal, an invaluable friend and contact.  Crystal works for Foyer de Sion.  Foyer de Sion is run by a wonderful LDS couple.  We will do our adoption through Wasatch and Shannon Cox, also LDS.  Now our first adoption was through another LDS member as well, whom we accidentally met in Taiwan through another member.  I am seeing a pattern here, and it goes far beyond coincidence.

We’ve found our beautiful children waiting for us to bring them home: 2 boys and a girl; ages 1,3,and 6.  We are anxious to begin the process of adopting these little angels… BUT first we need to know where we will be living.  We are unsure if we will be in Taiwan, or moving back to the states soon.  We also need to start gathering the funds. 

I am waiting for an estimate from Shannon, but it looks like it will cost around $30,000.  YIKES!  We know these funds go to excellent use.  Please, never think that these people are trying to get rich.  The agency gets part of the funds, while the orphanage gets another part.  The agency uses the funds to help bring the children home in paperwork, visas, etc.  The money the orphange gets goes towards the welfare of the children.  Obviously, it would cost much less to adopt one child… but we’ve been led to bring three home.  We have a modest income, and live very modestly despite our living overseas at this time.  Please remember the $30,000 does not include other things like; beds, a van, the homestudy, traveling expenses, a bigger home, etc.  This is indeed and expensive undertaking. 

  As Nephi said, “… for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them”.  This has been our mantra since we began the first adoption.  Now that we are going to begin another we say it much more often.  We have no idea how this money will come to us.  But perhaps some of it will come from some of you.

Now I know it may seem in bad taste, but we’ve felt prompted to put  the request out here.  Anything you can donate will be greatly appreciated.  All funds donated will only ever be used for our Haitian adoption. 

We have three little ones to to bring home, and no matter the costs we know that it will be well worth the money, the effort, the emotion, the everyhing.  Children are the ultimate blessings in this life.  Maybe you share this belief.

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Our adoption of Heber is in the works… there is paperwork to be completed and Fedex-ed hither and yon and back again… to be approved by Hong Kong, the US, and Taiwan. But we hope that in a few short months, it will be all done, so we can do all the exciting things we are looking forward to.

We are looking forward to giving him his Name Blessing; going to the Temple to be sealed together; and going to the States to “adopt him again” and get that ever coveted American Birth Certificate!!! It will happen, it just takes patience and faith.

Several weeks ago, I was reading some posts on one of the groups I’m a member of for international adoption. I was reading something someone had written about their experiences in Haiti. And for some reason the word “Haiti” lit up before my eyes. I put it in the back of my mind and went throughthe rest of the day with that one word niggling around in the back of my mind, refusing to be still. Dh worked late, so after the kids were in bed I decided to have a look. I went to a few websites and groups and read a bit about Haiti. While I did this a number popped into my head, “3″. After I acknowledged the number, which sometimes takes a few minutes when I’m slow, I understood. We have 3 children waiting in Haiti for us. Now, to be completely honest, I did NOT embrace this thought and feeling with enthusiasm from that very moment and run to DH enraptured in the idea that we were supposed to adopt again. I mean let’s be realistic! Heber had been home for only 2 months!

I was in shock! What??? Already??? I mean, when we brought Heber home, I knew he would not be the last adoptive child in our family. But let us adjust a little before we start looking for more children… please?

Well, I let the idea sit in my head for about a week, while I prayed about it. I thought and thought. I even tried to figure a way to make the thought fit into the much later future… but that was not to be. I was supposed to look at this and accept it for what it was… and THEN tell DH!!! Dumm Dumm Dumm!!!

I have to admit, accepting it was not as difficult as I initially thought it would be. I mean I love children, and I knew in my heart there were more out there waiting for us. The very day we brought Heber home I told him, quite before I thought about it, “We have another out there waiting for us. I don’t know where she is yet, she’s older than Heber already.” He GLARED at me of course. So I reassured him it was not going to happen right away… And I knew it was all true as I said it. But that’s where we always get surprised when the phrases, “right away, soon, and later” are used. DH and I always assumed different time frames and we are always both off.

I took this information I had been given and horded it for another few days, like a happy secret. I worked up the courage and then!!!–

I told DH. He says that whenever I say, “We need to talk,” he never looks forward to it. Nevertheless, we talked, or rather I talked and he grimaced. I naturally stumbled over my words, knowing his displeasure, as I told him that we were supposed to look into adopting 3 children from Haiti. He said very little beyond he was willing to fast and pray about it. I asked if he would be okay with me researching it while he did that. He grudgingly said alright.

So away I went! And I felt motivated in a couple different ways. Let me clarify here, when I say I felt motivated I mean I felt a pull, almost a physical pull to do these things. I could have tried to ignore it, but it would have hurt, emotionally if not physically hurt. I was to find our children right away, and find the proper adoption agency.

So I looked, and looked, and looked at all the photo listings I could find. Those photo listings were full of gorgeous kids, but none of them were ours. I had made a new friend through one of my groups, a fantastic lady, Crystal! After a few emails I discovered not only had she adopted from Haiti, but she was an adoption coordinator! WOW!! And on top of that she’s LDS! WOW!! What are the odds? I began asking her questions about the orphanage she worked with, and sharing the few facts I had about our waiting children. The first name and picture she sent was one of ours. Beautiful little girl, who when I looked at her name had another.

I have not always been, but am now, a firm believer that we do not name our children. We are gently told their names, and so we name them. It has always been thus. We try out new names, and a lot of the time we find the right one before we meet them. It is an amazing thing, a small amazing thing.

And so back to the story… we found our little girl. Now, something unexpected happened soon after finding her. Crystal spoke with the director of Foyer and for some reason this little girl was no longer at the orphanage. I cannot go into details, but I was so hurt and worried. It has been several weeks later, and I still love her deeply.

I am not supposed to forget about her, but I feel a great sense of loss where she is concerned. She is in our daily prayers, as we trust Heavenly Father to take care of her and perhaps even show us why we found her when we did, only to lose her.

Before I saw the picture I knew we were looking for a girl under the age of 8 years. I kept her almost secretly, because she was no longer available. Then I continued on my search as prompted…

Now that we had one one mystery solved, I was out to solve the next few. Crystal sent me information about a few little boys, and as I looked at them I was given new information.

We were now looking for a little boy, not yet 4 years, and a baby who had hair.

Now, in Haiti they usually shave little boy’s heads, so when I saw hair in my mind I thought girl. So I though we were looking for a little boy and another little girl. I also *knew* that one of these children was born in January, though I did not know the year. Crystal said she needed to go to Haiti to meet the new kids before she could help me further, that I had exhausted her info. So I waited, not very patiently, while she prepared to go. But I felt prompted to ask her again… almost as though I knew she knew the children I was looking for. I knew they were at her orphanage, Foyer de Sion. So I asked.

While Crystal and I exchanged emails, I was emailing different agencies that worked with this Orphanage. Very nice people, but when I read their responses, the *Feeling* wasn’t there. SO I kept looking. At one point I thought I found it, but it didn’t feel right, and we were going to adopt unrelated children, as the little girl had no siblings.

So I looked. And finally found it! I emailed the contact person, Shannon, and the *feeling* had been there all along while I wrote and read her responses.

I kept seeing these kiddos in my dreams and in my head, a little girl, younger than Gavin, with a slow smile; a little skinny boy under 4 yrs., and a baby with hair. Now I got another flash of big, intense eyes, but I couldn’t tell if they belonged to the 4 yrs old or the baby, or even how old the baby was.

We were doing scripture study one night, and we were reading the Doctrine and Covenants. It was my turn, and I read a name, and suddenly, I knew. I asked my husband, do you feel that? I read it again. “Yes, but what does it mean?” he asked. That’s his name! WOW!  We were both moved.

Crystal wrote back before her trip and sent a few pictures of two brothers. She was initially going to show them to someone else, but they ended up choosing to adopt only one child, so….  The oldest was just 3, and the younger was turning 1 soon. The baby brother had a head full of hair! He also had the eyes. I felt such a feeling of peace, while looking at their pictures. What a feeling of relief I had!

There they were– perfect little angel-boys!  Later while doing Family Scripture Study another name came to us as we read it.  And we said it aloud.  Gavin said, “That’s good, but what about_____?”  WOW!!!  What a feeling!  The name that we read was to be a middle name, and the name that Gavin suggested was to be the first name!  Amazing!!  Everyone was touched by the Spirit that night about the same thing!  Now we had everyone’s names.  Nothing ever happens the way you expect it.

And now, having found them and the agency the pull lessens. I am feeling “wait”… like we’ve done exactly as we should, but now we need to wait.

Several happened at once and when I received the notice to “wait”, DH’s job became unstable, and remains so at this point. So we’re waiting… for something. We know that Heavenly Father will take care of things, and let us know what the next step is and when to do it.  With Faith, all things are possible.  And things only come to pass in Heavenly Father’s time, not ours.  Keeping these bits of wisdom in our mind, we wait… as patiently as we can.

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