Cotton Candy

 Cotton candy blew his mind. And then he wanted ice cream.

Video at festival eating cotton candy.

Over the wall!

We made it over the wall! There was an Easter festival at the school on the other side of the Guesthouse property and for a small admission $, we were allowed to enter. You can see the townhouses in the distance.

The festival was a big deal for Jonathan. He had never seen anything like it.

Video of bouncy house.

Mosquito Net

 

Playing in the intergalactic force field. Also known as a mosquito net.

ROH Boys

 

Samuel had a pretty good time with the ROH boys. Rebecca Johnson McAndrews

Excursions

 

At the National Museum in Port Au Prince

Hotel Olafsson, Port Au Prince

Hotel Olafsson, Port Au Prince

The road to The Lodge restaurant, Kenscoff

This is a hotel room at Rustik

Rustik in Furcy

Wynn Farm and Ecological Preserve

Wynn Farm

Baptist Mission

Sunday snack at The View Point

Wynn Farm

Wynn Farm

Picking potatoes at Wynn Farm

Wynn Farm

Playground at the Baptist Mission

Baptist Mission

Thomassin 36

 Thomason 36. Walking back to the guesthouse from Rivers of Hope.

Video of the boys.

Sharing His Backpack

 Video sharing the backpack. 

Majesty

Video of the boys in the mountains.

Worship

We worshipped yesterday with Saima and Rachel at Rachel's church in Port Au Prince. The church sings so loud it feels like the walls are shaking. The singing fills your whole being, leaving no space in your ears or your heart for anything else but worship! The boys had to sit still in metal chairs for the 2 hour service. They were wiggly for sure and Samuel asked every 5 minutes for a time check and Jonathan was rifling thru my purse for "gums." At one point I looked over and saw that Samuel had pulled Jonathan on to his lap and was holding him as they both sat there singing in a language one understands and the other doesn't. Sitting content together, like this most profound moment is totally normal. And I sat there, trying to wrap my head around all this goodness. It's beyond me. This is about so much more than I can conceive. I give up trying to understand and just receive His gifts and revel in them. All I want to do is sing to the giver!

Then sings my soul!

My savior God to Thee!

How great Thou art!

How great Thou art!

Lekol

We spent some time reviewing the workbooks Jonathan's teacher, Madame Louizette, uses to instruct the kids, trying to get a feel for where he's at developmentally and what kind of curriculum he's been exposed to. We laughed when we saw that he is already in pre-calc. :)

Papaya!

Haitian fruit is intense and luscious.

Kenya from the Uncles

 

For Uncle B and Uncle Kevin

Prayers for a special boy

Oh, how I would love your prayers for this special boy. This is Robinhio, and at 9 years old, he is the oldest child at Rivers of Hope. He has been at ROH at least as long as Jonathan has which is 3 years. There is something about him that you can't forget. His smile is endearing and he speaks with such respect and sincerity which is a soft contrast to the tall, strong, healthy rambunctious boy that he is. He has worked very hard to learn English so that he can talk with families when they come to ROH. He goes out of his way to formally introduce himself and ask for your name. Based on the conversations we had, I think he is approaching fluency.

He is watching as his creche brothers and sisters are 1 by 1 going home to their families, but he still does not have a Mama Blanc or Papa Blanc. When Jonathan brought his backpack to ROH to show the kids the clothes we brought for him that were packed inside, the kids gathered around and watched with excitement as Jonathan pulled each item out of the backpack. The only one not excited was Robinhio. He watched and he was happy for Jonathan but the look on his sad face broke my heart. I can only imagine what he was thinking and questioning.

There is a family in the states interested in adopting Robinhio. Rachel has gone to IBESR (Haitian social services) and pleaded with them to match Robinhio with this family, but IBESR is giving no indication that they will approve the match. His paperwork is ready, all that is required for him to have a family is a yes from IBESR.

Rachel doesn't say it but I know that if Robinhio doesn't have a family soon, she is going to have to find another place for him to live. He is already much older than what she is set up for at ROH.

We watched Rachel lobby for Robinhio hard when she had the ear of one of the IBESR leaders. Pray that Monsier Guillaume will find Robinhio's file and put it at the top of the pile of folders on the IBESR desk Monday morning and somebody will look at it and move it along. I really think his referral could come any day if IBESR says yes.

Please pray for this kid. He deserves a family who will love him. He needs to know soon that he has a family before he loses hope. Just to know that he has a family would reassure him as more of the kids are getting closer to going home.

The pot of magic

Nana loves to make a stop at the Caribbean Market at least once every other day. There is a Selecto coffee stand at the back of the store that gives free coffee. You drizzle a teaspoon of this sugary sweet  goo into your coffee, making that little cup of Joe magical.

Bucket Shower

Samuel's first bucket shower. He thinks bucket showers are a blast.

My Samuel

There is something about Samuel's expression in this photo that gets me. It was taken in that first hour that the 4 of us were together and it was one of the first times Jonathan initiated with Samuel versus Samuel initiating with Jonathan. First day of being a big brother wasn't all easy, but Jonathan is exposing a kindness in Samuel that I haven't seen before. 

Watching the two of them start to really gel yesterday, Day 2, was pretty amazing. It's not like they want to do everything together, they don't. But they're starting to get one another, and they steady one another. Jonathan is quite content in Samuel's presence and lights up when Samuel cracks a joke. Samuel reaches out to Jonathan at the most unexpected times to give him a kiss on the forehead or put a reassuring hand on Jonathan's shoulder. Even Saima who helps run the creche saw it. She took a photo of the 2 of them to put by Jonathan's bed. 

Jonathan still calls me Rebecca, but he's also calling me Mama about half of the time. (Not Mama Blanc.) The mama rejection from our first trip seems to have gone away. I catch him sneaking peaks at me with a big astonished smile on his face and once he knows I caught him, he gets kind of embarrassed but still hold my gaze. It's the sweetest thing! 

He picked up with Dodd right where he left off and frequently asks to be held by him. In a funny twist, besides Papa Blanc, he's now calling Dodd "Dog." He apparently thinks this is Dodd's name. He pronounces it with a long o like "Doag." Never one to miss out on a joke, Samuel has picked up on this and is also calling his father Dog. Dodd feigns being offended and then Samuel laughs and laughs.

And Samuel, Dodd and I are calling him "Samwell" like it's pronounced in Creole and so many other languages, but Jonathan picked up on the American pronunciation and goes back and forth between calling him Samwell and calling him Samuel like we say it at home. Toward the end of yesterday Jonathan began adding "me" to the front, as in "Me Samuel", or "My Samuel." Samuel LOVES that.

After a full day yesterday, exhausted, we all sat on the comfy sofa at the guesthouse and watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs waiting for the driver to come pick Jonathan up. Jonathan was snuggled on my left and Samuel was snuggled on my right and Dodd was next to Samuel with his arm around us all. 

It felt a lot like family.

A couple firsts

Jonathan experienced a couple firsts yesterday. First cupcake and first time with a hand dryer in a public restroom. This video was his third time. The first time was at the market and Dodd said you could hear his shrieking laughter on the other side of the store.

We think this was Jonathan's first cupcake because he didn't know about taking off the paper. He was so excited!

Happy St. Paddy!

Especially for Uncle B, Uncle  Kevin, and Rebecca Johnson McAndrews .

Waiting for his brother to arrive

 

I love this photo.

The photos you've been waiting to see

The photos you've all been waiting to see. Rachel sent Jonathan over this morning in his Little Brother t-shirt and Samuel was ready in his Big Brother t-shirt. The first hour or so was a little rocky because Jonathan was shy and taking a while to warm up and Samuel thought that meant Jonathan didn't like him. Once Jonathan started to feel comfortable tho, and they started playing things went better and better. Samuel was so sweet with his hugs and whispering to Jonathan that he loves him in Creole. It was a really really good first day. Our hearts are full.

We made it in yesterday with no trouble. Youngo picked us up and drove us to the guesthouse. It feels good to be back. Now I am enjoying the morning sounds at Thomassin 36 while Dodd and Samuel sleep some more and Fred prepares food in the kitchen. 

It was too late to see Jonathan last night so Rachel will bring him to us at the guesthouse this morning. Time for brothers to meet!!

Flight Announcement

The pilot invited Samuel in to visit the cockpit before the flight from Fort Lauderdale to Port Au Prince. The pilot got an earful as Samuel chatted away with him about all sorts of random things. Later in the flight the pilot came on the speaker to give his standard update to the passengers and included a little surprise. 

"A special note to a little visitor who came to our cockpit this afternoon before boarding. His name is Samuel. Welcome aboard. He's also heading down to Port Au Prince to see his little brother for the first time. So, we're happy to hear about that and hope he enjoys his visit."

Going to See a Fourth

"We are three going to see the fourth." 

Samuel to the flight attendant as she took his boarding pass.

Couldn't take it any longer….going to visit this one soon

Progress report - we're moving along

Wanted to get a quick update on the blog to celebrate some of the progress we've had the past few months. I forget to post progress here, because, well, for so long there was no progress. :)

There are so many steps and approvals and legalizations and signatures that take place after meeting your child. To keep it simple I will condense them all into 4 major milestones. At the time of this post, I believe we are nearing the end of milestone 2.

1. Exit (IBESR or Haitian social services)
This part is sometimes known as the black hole because it represents the most unpredictable timeline in the process. They are all unpredictable but this one is really unpredictable. Getting IBESR's final approval can take a couple months or a couple years.

When we were in Haiti we sat at a table in the garage turned classroom at the creche with Brother. We were interviewed by two social workers from IBESR. With the help of a translator, we answered questions for over an hour about our motivation for adopting from Haiti and for adopting Brother. I didn't expect to be nervous but I was. Fortunately, Dodd stepped in and handled the interview well.

In early October we learned the social workers finished their report and submitted a recommendation that our family match become permanent. Once that was done, the report was reviewed by several different offices within IBESR and several signatures were required.

We prayed earnestly to exit IBESR before the end of the year and that prayer was answered! I am so happy to say that sometime at the end of November or early December we received an Authorization of Adoption and left IBESR.

This was such a relief. We are sincerely thankful. Receiving this news I gave myself permission to start doing some tangible planning. My whole outlook brightened. I think this is actually going to happen!

2. Adoption Decree (Parquet or Haitian courts)
After IBESR, we entered the Haitian legal system called Parquet. Parquet's primary deliverable is an Adoption Decree which transfers legal custody of Brother to us. Once in Parquet, we learned there was a 30 day waiting period before the process could get underway.

Now we have reason to believe we have an Adoption Decree which means that Brother is now legally a Miller! The decree then goes through a series of legalizations so that is where we are now.

3. Passport (MOI or Haitian Ministry of the Interior)
To come.

4. Visa (USCIS or US Immigration)
To come.

We are cautiously hoping that Brother will be home this summer. It would be so so good to have the summer together to work on being a family and attaching to one another. That would give some time to figure out if it makes sense to enroll him in school in the fall. Keyword cautious.

Now, because we can't stay away any longer, because we want him to know we come back, because we want our boys to meet, because we want Bear to see where Brother lives, we are planning a visit to Haiti this spring. I am so excited about seeing Bear and Brother together, allowing them finally to begin the process of becoming brothers. It's almost too good to think about. Maybe I will finish writing about the socialization trip while we're there. :)

This old post showed up tonight on Facebook….and it made me catch my breath. I posted this video in June of 2014 with the following comment "This is a quick little video featuring some of the children at Rivers of Hope in Haiti. We love each one of these kiddos! We watch them grow up while we wait to find out which one will be our son or daughter. Hopefully we will know who soon!" The boy below is Jonathan. Little did we know that 1 year later HE would be the one we were waiting for!

New photo arrived from Haiti

It came with a note that said he requested for this photo to be taken and sent to us. It was very important to him that we get this photo and see him. No information about the spiderman cape. I think it might have been a Christmas gift. Santa visited the kids at Rivers of Hope and each one received a present.

Those eyes and that smile. How handsome is he? Sigh. Hard to express how much a single photo can mean as we wait.