To Do List

1. Tie up some paperwork loose ends.
2. Practice patience.
3. Keep learning.  Learning new words, reading expert perspectives, taking classes.
4. Remember that we are never in control.
5.  Interview counselors to find someone with the right blend of knowledge, compassion and expertise.
6. Continue to pursue grants and other fundraising efforts. 
7. Find a travel clinic to begin rounds of shots.

While we continue to work on the things we can control, we are often met with news of what we cannot control.  For instance, the U.S. State Department recently posted news that the IBESR (Haiti's governmental entity overseeing adoption) has ceased taking in new dossiers and will open the process again on June 1st.  Last week, we received word that this timeline has changed to August 1st.

We don't really know what this will mean for us.  We hope that we will still travel to meet the girls in the next few months.  In the meantime, we’ll continue to have faith and focus on learning along the way.

Paper with Purpose

You might remember that we had a few documents that were rejected by our government's authentication department.  We received word today that our final document needing revision had been completed.  So, we can now take these several documents to be authenticated.  At this point, the documents move on to be translated, and make their way to Haiti.  


In the meantime, we need to work on picture pages that will be given to each girl to introduce who we are.  On 8 1/2 X 11 pieces of paper, we need to provide a glimpse of who we are and seek to establish that first bit of connection.  While we know the few pictures we'll probably use, our more important task is determining how we will personalize the picture pages for each girl.  


-What should we write?  
-How do we make each of the girls feel unique and special?  
-How do we communicate all the hopes we have for their futures through such limited vessels?     


Our current plan includes trying to harness the tiny bit we know about their interests and talents in an effort to express our hearts and begin to add on to their definition of family.  We'll let you know how it goes.  

Why No Pictures??

You may have noticed that our blog is decidedly vacant when it comes to pictures of the girls.  You also may have noticed that we haven't included the names of the girls either.  

From the moment we read a brief paragraph about the girls, our hearts were wrecked.  We had often talked about how great it would be to adopt siblings who could go through this crazy adventure together.  How amazing that we've been given the blessing of being considered to be worthy of these three amazing young ladies.

We have made a deliberate decision to protect the identify of the girls for many reasons.  We are not yet their legal guardians.  While they know a family exists who wants to adopt them, they do not know the specifics of "us".

Our plan is to share more details when more the process is closer to being finalized.  Once the girls have met us and allowed us to become part of their family, we will be thrilled to introduce them to you.